Our Summer so Far

I know I have been teasing this post for a couple of weeks now.  I think the last two weeks have been the busiest so far this year.  On June 1st we went to Logan Wilson's Celebrity Softball game. If you do not know you Logan Wilson is, he is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals and he brought together most of the team to raise money for the Brooks Joshua Anderson Foundation. Brooks Joshua was a sweet baby boy who died unexpectedly from SIDS. Logan Wilson is close with the Anderson Family, so this cause is close to his heart. 

Many of the Bengals players were there, and we were seated just a few feet away.  It was nice to see their personalities when they were having fun for a good cause. 

After the game, the players met and gave autographs to some of the people in attendance. 

This is Amarius Mims our first round draft pick.  He is a very large man. His stats say he is 6' 8", and 340 lbs.  It was so much fun watching him having fun with the team, and he proved it can run.  

Let's talk about this guy... Evan McPherson!  He is the kicker for the Bengals. We were so impressed with his athletic skills during the game.  Not only is he a great kicker, but he can also hit and catch! He could easily play professional baseball if he chose too.  He had 3 home runs during the game, and won MVP!  This is going to be an annual fundraiser event, and we will definitely be going back. 

On June 2, we attended the Strawberry Festival in Troy, Ohio. It is a great place to go if you love strawberries.  

If you were a music fan in the 90s to early 00s, you will recognize who we went to see in concert this past Saturday.  It was Joey Fatone and AJ McLean, and their Legendary Night Tour.  I have to admit I was fan girling pretty hard.  I love NSync and the Backstreet Boys! We also heard Joey say something out of his own mouth, there will most likely be a NSync reunion tour soon. I plan on going when it actually happens. 

AJ debuted some new songs that he will be releasing soon.  I am sure one in particular will become a new fan favorite.  He looked amazing, and shared the news that he is feeling great. He is up on coming up on his 3rd year of being sober.  He brought many of those in the audience to happy tears :) 

We have several more fun events coming up this summer. If they go as well as the first part of June, I will be happy.  

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Our visit to Mackinac Island

  

After we saw the sunset in Petoskey (read about it here) we moved on to Mackinaw City for the night.  The next morning we stopped at the Old Mackinac Point lighthouse, and to see Mackinac Bridge from the shore.  It is the the bridge that connects the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan. 

The lighthouse is another nice one that we would like to go back and visit when it is open to the public again.  It has such a pretty view of Lake Huron and the Mighty Mac.  (the nickname for the Mackinac Bridge)  

To get to the island, you need to take a ferry.  You can take a ferry from Mackinaw City, or you can cross the bridge and take one from St. Ignace. We decided do the latter, because we were planning on going north into the Upper Peninsula after our trip to the island.

There are a couple different ferry companies to choose from.   we chose to take the Star Line.  Since we had about 45 minutes before our ferry was due to leave, we decided to check out the small lighthouse that was very close by. 

This is the Watawam Lighthouse.  It is much  different than the other lighthouses we saw on our trip.  It was built in Monroe, Michigan and then moved to St. Ignace in 2006.

While on the ferry we passed the Round Island Lighthouse. It was built in 1895 and help the ships find their way through the Straits of Mackinac. 

When the ferry pulled into the dock, this is the first beautiful building we saw. The pink flowers were gorgeous.

The Mustang Lounge claims to be Michigan's most historic tavern.  When I went to find out why, I saw that the building is made from 200 yr old timbers from the fur trader warehouse that used to be located there.  

The Lilac Tree Hotel is the only all suite hotel on the island. As you can see there is a horse drawn carriage hauling supplies parked in front.  There are a lot of horses on the island, because cars are prohibited. 

This beautiful bed and breakfast has a beautiful of the water and belongs to a relative of a friend of mine. 

This is the equivalent to a traffic jam on the island.  A carriage carrying supplies to the Grand Hotel and the trash carriage met up at the corner. 

There are approximately 500 people who live on the island year round, and this is where the children go to school. 

The Grand Hotel is probably the most famous building on the island.  You may have seen it in the movie Somewhere in Time.  It was built in 1887, and every single room is decorated  differently.  It is also pretty expensive to stay there. We checked the prices the week we were there in August, and they were over $700 a night. There is also a $10 a person fee is you are not a registered guest, and you want to go up to the grand porch for pictures. We decided not to do that this time, but might on our next visit. 

The main type of transportation on the island is the bicycle.  They are everywhere, and can be rented for the day. This was the bike parking lot outside of the Grand Hotel  

All of the buildings on the island have historic significance. This beautiful house is the medical center. 

If you get in trouble while on the island, this is the police station and courthouse. 

Douds Market is America's oldest grocery store. It was founded in 1884 by James and Patrick Doud. 

After dinner the sun began to set, and we knew it was time to head back.  The last ferry back to the mainland was at 9 pm. We decided to go back on the 8 pm ferry just in case it was too crowded.  While waiting for our ferry we saw the pirate ship ferry that we did not know about until the end of the day.  It looks like fun, and we might try it next time. 

One look back at the Grand Hotel as the sun began to set.  It was such a beautiful day and visit. We will definitely be going back again, hopefully one day soon! 

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Our visit to Lake Michigan - Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petoskey

If you have been following my posts from our trip around the state of Michigan, you know I ended my last post  in Traverse City where we saw the most beautiful sunset I think I have ever seen. 

Our first stop of the day was Clinch Park. It is right on Lake Michigan, where they have a beach, and a lot of things for kids to do. 

Right next to the park is the Clinch Park Marina. It is a beautiful sight to see all the boats sailing out on the lake. 

After a couple of hours, we left Traverse City and head north about an hour to the town of Charlevoix.  One thing very unique to Charlevoix are the mushroom houses.  They do have tours where you can learn about all the houses. Since we missed the last tour,  I did my research on google. :) This is Boulder Manor, one of the biggest mushroom houses.  Back in 1924, a man named Earl Young purchased several acres of land.  That land was full of boulders left from the glaciers many, many years ago. He started this house in 1928, but could not finish it until after the depression in the late 1930s.  I do not have a picture of the entryway, but there are large boulders built into the house. 

The Thatch House is a big reason why these unusual houses are called mushroom houses.  This house probably looks the most like an actual mushroom. It was built in 1918, and its thatch roof was made in Europe and shipped to the US. It took two years to built because of the extra timberwork needed to make it is unusual shape. According to the site I found on google, you can rent this house for a vacation. 

Another one of the more famous mushroom houses is the Half House. It is called that because it is the smallest of the mushroom houses.  It was built in Storybook style. (as were many in this neighborhood) Storybook is a type of architecture popular around the time these houses were built, and as you can see they look like they are straight from a storybook. You can almost image Snow White and the Seven Drawfs living  there. 

Our last stop in Charlevoix was the South Pierhead Light Station. It was not as crowded as some of the lighthouses we visited, but it was still fun to see.   At this point we decided to travel just a little bit farther, and have dinner in Petoskey. 

Petoskey is known for Petoskey stones.  There are a large number of rocks along the shoreline.  We loved the quaint downtown, and gaslight shopping district.  We decided to eat dinner at the Noggin Inn at the Perry Hotel. Reading up on the Perry Hotel, Ernest Hemmingway stayed there during his time in Petoskey. 

This was our view at dinner.  We ate outside in a garden overlooking the lake. It was such a nice place that had reasonable prices. We really enjoyed our dinner there. 

After dinner we walked around a bit more, and got some pretty pictures of the area.

Since it was getting close to the time the sun was going to set, we went down to the lakeshore.  This is what I was talking about earlier about all the rocks, they were everywhere. 

We found a comfortable place to sit, and watched another beautiful sunset.  

Afterwards we got back in the car, and decided to head to Mackinaw City for the night.  The next day we had an exciting day planned, we were heading to the Upper Peninsula and going to Mackinaw Island. 
 

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