Tuesday, August 21: Several weeks ago when I was anticipating Emma's 16th birthday, crowned by her GOLDEN BIRTHDAY, I was struggling to come up with something extra-special to do to celebrate this great occasion for her. I began to pray about it! My sister had mentioned that she and Terry were going to go up to Mackinac at the end of August for a short vacation ... my heart right away skipped a beat ... I wanted to go up north too! But it would be very rude to request that my sister take me along with them but I certainly couldn't go alone!
And then it dawned on me ... how perfect ... how fitting ... how wonderful ... what an adventure to take Emma and the two of us have a northern adventure--afterall, it was MY birthday on the 22nd, and Emma's on the 16th--we could celebrate them as ONE!
I asked permission of Emma's folks (they said YES!), asked Emma if she would like to go (she said YES!), made reservations at Hamilton Inn Select Beachfront Hotel (because that's where Ruthanne and Terry said they were staying--which was a good recommendation), and we drove away from Emma's house at 12:36 pm Tuesday afternoon. Mackinac, here we come!
Emma had sophomore orientation that morning and was awake a little after 4:00 a.m. to get prepared for her morning at school; consequently, she was a bit exhausted. She (like me) is a sleepy passenger. That was okay! She slept, I listened to and sang beautiful songs and we made good progress, landing in Mackinac City at about 4:20 p.m. Below is my first picture of the trip ...
I'd forgotten, truly, how magnificent the Mighty Mac is! Isn't she something?!?! I fell in love with her all over again.
I can't even tell you the name of this little park. Emma refused to get out of the car for a look-see ... she had been soundly sleeping until this point! She later apologized for being "grumpy." No problem, Emma--I'm grumpy, too, when I get woken from my sleep!
So I took a few pictures of the bridge and then we drove to our hotel on South Huron, unloaded our stuff, and drove over to Headlands International Dark Sky Park to scout the place out. We planned to view the stars the next night, as Tuesday night was too cloudy.
Dark Sky was probably five miles from our hotel--not difficult to find. We parked the car and began the hike into the woods. I think it was probably one mile to follow the trail all the way to the end where the viewing was located.
The woods is very thick, very beautiful here. They keep a very nice pathway, though--although Emma was wearing flip-flops, which are not good for hiking. I forgot to remind her to wear her tennis shoes.
I'm just going to run pictures of our hike without much narrative, although I do want to say that Ems and I enjoyed a very nice conversation as we walked along.
This is the view of Lake Huron when you get to the end of the trail ...
What a gorgeous place ...
The shops close in Mackinac City at 9:00, and we still had not eaten dinner, so after looking around for awhile and enjoying the beauty, we drove back to the city to eat and do a bit of shopping.
Our first encounter (I think this was prior to eating) was this spook house, that for the life of me and I cannot remember the name! It was $7 each to go inside and have your brains scared right out of your head. I was very reluctant, but Emma thought it would be F-U-N ... so we tried it. Emma was much braver than me ...
First of all, I don't like dark places! I also don't like scary music. I also don't like unpredictable LOUD sounds! And I truly hate gruesome pictures and body parts that look like they have rotted for 10 years ... etc. SO ... I did a lot of screaming. Emma was cracking up at me. We turned around and came back out the entrance (not the exit) two separate times before we both gave up. The thing that "killed" it for us was this wierd roller wall that you had to squeeze yourself through and end up ... in an unknown place. NO WAY. First of all, we are both claustrophobic; and secondly, I don't just squeeze myself into anywhere that I don't know the final destination. SO ... we whimped out. It WAS funny, though; and it was worth the $7 each just for the pure fun of it!
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