Travels of the Rennhack family
⭐ Milestone 6/14/2014 – 6/16/2014
We packed up in Coloma and set out for St. Ignace, driving north for the rest of the day.
We crossed the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula that evening, the Straits stretching out ahead of us. By the time we got settled in St. Ignace the sky over the water had gone soft and blue, and we stayed the night there.
We picked up carriage tour tickets for four first thing, reserved for a nine-thirty departure, then walked over to Fort Mackinac. Butterflies, orange and green ones, had landed on one of the wooden benches along the fort's wall and sat still long enough to get a good look.
From the fort we walked out to Arch Rock and looked through the stone arch down to the water below. Back up at the fort there was a costumed-soldier photo op set up, and one of the kids tried out a pioneer washtub and butter churn at one of the hands-on stations. A crowd had gathered on the lawn below the fort's white ramparts, with the harbor and the marina spread out beyond them.
Lilacs were blooming all over the island, heavy clusters on bushes wherever we walked. In the afternoon we caught the carriage tour coming down Main Street, a rider in a feathered headdress waving to the crowd from a white carriage pulled by a team of horses.
We checked out of St. Ignace in the morning and stopped at Mill Creek Discovery Park, just outside Mackinaw City, for the zipline and ropes course. Kathy went first across a wire rope bridge strung high between the trees, with one of the kids right behind her, both giving a thumbs up for the camera. There was a climbing wall to get up and a tall wooden tower with a rock face built into one side. From the top the trees opened up enough to see Lake Huron out past the tree line.
A staff member helped get everyone buckled into a harness and helmet before the zipline itself, which ran out over a quiet pond below the course. After that we packed back into the car and drove the rest of the way home to Coloma.
