Wednesday August 5th

So I wake up kind of early. I head off to the shower and check to see if the office is open, it isn't. So I run to a convenience store and buy laundry soap and dryer sheets. I start the morning putting the sleeping bag in the wash with some of our clothes (if you are doing the laundry anyway). I go up to the game room and have a major flash back to when we used to camp, mainly because half of the games are from the 80's. I go and have breakfast at the campsite go back put the stuff in the dryer, and then we start to plan the day. We are going to Mackinac Island, what coupons do we have for the ferry? We settle on the Star Line as we have a buy 2 adults get a child free coupon, and it is my guess they are all about the same. Not knowing what the rest of the trip will entail I decide to catch the ferry from St. Ignace so we can cross the bridge (people not from Michigan might not know when a native says the bridge they mean Mackinaw bridge). Tanis isn't really impressed and wouldn't you know it there is road repair on the bridge. So our timing is right we get there just in time to catch a ferry and I hear for the first time on my vacation the word free, Ditzy rides the ferry for free. I told Tanis she had to be dragged behind the boat like a water skier but mommy steps in and tells him I am teasing (although after the sleeping bag incident it is not that unappealing). We get to the island and start to do touristy things. We buy some fudge and walk the main street. We look around to see what we can see and start to walk down the other side of the street and see the carriage tour. I wait in line to see if Ditzy can go with us and she can AND SHE IS FREE. So we buy tickets as this tour will take us around most of the island and allow us to see most everything. Our first leg takes us down the street after main street and then past the Grand Hotel. We learn some interesting facts and watch as our horses get switched out. We then go to the carriage house where we switch to 3 horse team. It takes us past the graveyards and to the arch. We get out and look at the arch and then go to the fort. We are offered to be able to tour the fort. So we get out and do the fort. Tanis really enjoyed it, and even became an enlisted man and learned to march. The rifle fire scared Ditzy half to death and I think she blames me. I knew it was coming so I tried to brace her, but it was still funny. A lot of the shops and all of the fort was pet friendly so we were able to take Ditzy most places. We caught the carriage back to the starting point and realized we hadn't eaten. This description seems short but we had pretty much passed close to 5 hours by now. We found a restaurant that wasn't pet friendly but had a patio we could sit at, it was a pizza buffet, not the greatest but a real value on the island. We feed Ditzy some crusts as she really hadn't eaten all that much. I tried to warn everyone not to feed her too much but they didn't listen. Tanis had been talking about wanting to go to the haunted house. So I had seen it and we had told him if he was good we would go. So we get there and Kellie is going to stay with Ditz and Tanis and I will go through it. That bummed Tanis out as I think he likes to scare mommy but daddy is a little harder to scare. So we go through part of it and there is a chicken out door that he wants to take. So we get out and he is still talking about Kellie going as well trying to act cool, but he is scared a bit. The clerk gives him a flashlight to use and we decide to go back through it. It is supposed to take about 15 minutes, and we do it in less than 5. We meet up with Kellie and Ditz do a little shopping including a candy store. We started to head back to the ferry, Kellie dug through a pile of clearance shirts finding Tanis one that was a good deal. We all rode the ferry back and crossed the bridge. We bought some firewood and a screen to be able to cook over the fire. We lit a fire and told a few stories. We also decided not to go to Leelanau, but stay here another day and head to Traverse city on Friday. Tanis had purchased another squished penny (I like souvenirs that cost 51 cents). We went to sleep and in the night Ditzy got up but I will tell that story as part of the next day. All in all it was a good time, we enjoyed the island and really got to see a lot of it. it wasn't as fun as the last time Kellie and I had went, it just seemed different and it also seemed rushed. This day had a lot of timed things. Departure times for ferries and carriages. Time for washers and dryers. It wasn't able to take on the relaxed pace, but it already seemed like we had been gone for days. A lot had occurred already. love ya guy.