Well we got back yesterday from an amazingly short and quick trip up north to Mackinaw City.  We might have been there 24 whole hours.  We like to do that though, take spur of the moment trips and stuff.  We figured that since we don’t know what his work schedule is going to be like, why not take advantage of his last weekend free.

We did manage to see quite a bit in our short time.  We stayed at the Clarion Inn hotel this time, which was nice.  We’ve stayed at practically every hotel up there, and so far I have a few favorites, although they each have their downfalls.  My biggest peeve with Mackinaw is the lack of “HOTELS”.  Why are there no hotels or chain restaurants in this city? Ok there is a Big Boy but that don’t count.  My only guess is because it’s only open 6 months of the year…but still.  I like variety.  All the places to stay up there are motels, which means that you enter your room from the outside.  That’s great in some respects, but considering the massive bug problem that they have in June up north, I don’t like it very much.  My favorite is the Best Western Dockside – and it’s great aside from it’s small bat problem.  They have bats that sleep in the stairwells.  They can be a bit pricey in the middle of the season though.

So anyway, our room was nice.  June bugs weren’t out yet when we got there, thankfully.  We unloaded our stuff and then went to eat at my new favorite restaurant up there called Nonna Lisa’s.  It’s italian, and it has the worlds greatest food.  We used to frequent Mario’s Ristorante, but as of this year it looked like it turned into some bar/grill place.

We came back from the restaurant and the boys played in the lake and we went swimming for a while. Andrew loves to swim, Chris loves to swim too, but hates getting his head wet.

Then next we went to Colonial Michilimackinac which is a joke.  If you’ve ever been to the island and went to see Fort Mackinac, it’s much better.  We went to the one in the city because we didn’t feel like going to the island, and they advertised pretty much all the same stuff that goes on at the Fort on the island.

So we get there, and there’s like practically nobody there.  We pay our outrageous $10/each or something like that, and walk down to the fort.  We walk in, and pretty much it’s a large wood fence with a few shacks inside.  We sat around and waited for the musket firing, which was advertised as a bunch of actors doing it.  So like one lone guy dressed in colonial british battle wear (red coats) comes out and says he’s alone today and that he’ll be calling his own commands.  So he yells out his own commands, and fires his musket twice.  It was loud and the kids liked it, but whoop-di-doo.  So then we left.

After that we wondered what to do next.  I am very familiar with driving in the North… i’ve done it many times, and pretty much know where everything is at.  I remembered this place called the GarLyn Zoo in Naubinway, MI.  It’s about 40 miles off the bridge on US 2.  I decided that we should go there.  It’s one of those places like on a griswold family vacation that’s kinda gay, but kinda cool.  We get there, pay the fee and go in.  Immediately you hear this crazy sound really loud.  This place has peacocks everywhere and they were screaming at each other.  Let see, they had a bear, skunk, donkey, alligator, cougar, buffalo (bicen), deer, reindeer, pygmy goats, llamas, porcupines, wolves, and a fox.  Ok, so not your typical zoo…. but it was very cool and worth the money.  Afterwards I felt like I had actually done something fun.

Next it’s the VERY boring drive back to the bridge.  We stop on the side of the road halfway so that my men could splash around in Lake Michigan because it was so picture perfect and the waves were high.  The water was cold though so we didn’t stay long.

We got back, went to bed, etc.  Woke up, the whole place is infested with June bugs.  They are the most hideous creatures i’ve ever seen.  As we were packing up to leave they were like flying at us, and sticking in our hair.  They were all over the hotel walls and everything.  Needless to say we hurried out and got home.

Today is Matt’s first day on the job with Pfizer and he says he loves it.  Every employee gets a half day on every Friday so I guess that’s a perk.  They also said that they do contract-to-hire, which is excellent.  Matt needs a stable long-term position with possible retirement benefits.

I’m off to get my boys down for a nap…. they are being loud.