Lake Michigan Summer Vacay 2015: Day 2

It took me a while to wake up today, but I got up, showered, and got ready as my mom went for a walk. Then we started off to Traquamenon Falls further north. First, we stopped at an IGA for things - a brush, some things to drink (I got blueberries), Q-tips, and maybe some deodorant for me. We got most of the things, but no deodorant. Then we were off to cross the Mackinac Bridge back to the U.P..

Soon enough, we realized that Mom still needed gas, so we stopped at a gas station in a small town. I bought some art and got an ornament for my mom. My mom got some balm, and maybe something else, and we left. After an accidental detour based on a wrong turn, we were on pace and made it to the Upper Falls in time for the 2 pm tour.

The tour guide told us about the Hemlock trees.

And I saw a cool spider on a fence. See the spider in motion here.

Then we saw the falls.

After that, we went down some stairs to get closer to the falls.

For video footage and information about the falls, click here, here, and here. After all of this, we went up the 80-something stairs to the main trail.

I took this on the way up.

We walked over to another staircase to go down to "The Gorge" for a different view.

At a landing about half-way down.

There were trees and things along a path we walked after getting down to the bottom. There were also more sections of stairs - some going up and others going down - before we got to the destination.

I think that the first two of those photos may have been taken at that other landing, whatever. Here is the view and where our tour guide told us that we were now ON OUR OWN! Then she flipped us the bird and ran off.

No, she didn't do that. She took our photos and said goodbye, very nicely.

On the way back, I stopped to photograph a neat looking tree.

Look at that!

We stopped at another lookout.

And then we went up the 100-some stairs back to the main trail. We took a different path to get back to the car.

This tree fell over and I told Mom to stand by the roots.

After we exited the forest, we went to find the restrooms, to have a little rest. I talked to a lady on a bench while I waited for Mom, and she claimed that she was expecting the falls to be a lot bigger. I said that it was "no Niagara", but that my expectations weren't too high, and I thought it was nice. Then I told her about why the water was deeper and a little darker at the far end of the falls. After Mom came back, we were off to the car, and we decided to not go to the Lower Falls. However, during the short drive, I recalled that someone said that the Lower Falls were easier to see, without any stair climbing, so we changed our minds. We found a parking spot and checked them out.



After that, we went to the store for souvenirs, including two more smashed pennies. I also bought a water at the concession place. We then set out for the drive back to Mackinaw City.

Back in Mackinaw City, we parked on Central Street, or Avenue, or something, and walked only far enough to find a place with food that would satisfy and be appropriate for our location. We found a family restaurant, and I got the fish and chips dinner plate.

The fries were wicked good. They had a hint of whatever is put on curly fries. The fish was also good, but I only ate half of it. The vegetables.... they look nice, I guess.

I also ate fried cauliflower and a salad. The tables were covered in pretty plain paper, and had a can of crayons, so my mom and I drew while we waited. My mom's drawings were of a tree and a horse or something, but I decided to make a statement.

Later, I added "Age 34" in green, to the left of my name.

We paid the bill and walked off. I went into a wine place and did some tasting with a very uninterested European guy, but bought some wine anyway. Then (or maybe before, I forget), we went to a little shop where we got a little nativity scene with moose. The one with cardinals was really cool - and it had the Wise Men, not just Jesus, Mary & Joseph (JM&J) like the moose one - but decided against it. As we left the mall area, there was a penny smashing machine, so I got yet another penny.

We continued to walk.

We saw this thing from across the street.

I believe that we made more purchases, and then walked to the car, where we also were by the Dairy Queen. We got some soft serve, and I learned that the Small size Blizzard, while enticing, has way too much ice cream, so I should go for the Mini. We then drove back to the hotel and ... went to bed?

No, we didn't go to bed, we went to the International Dark Sky Park and watched a string concert at the little historical village with poetry recited between movements. I saw the moon or Venus through a telescope, then Jupiter. I went up to the front during the quiz bit to see if I could win a t-shirt, and surprise surprise, I knew the answer to a question, so I got a t-shirt! They wanted to know the year that the park was created, and since I kept looking at the park website, saying it was made in 2011, I raised my hand and answered. We then drove to the park, parked, and sat by the water as the sky got darker.

Taken at about quarter after 9.

There was so much chatter at the park, so I put in ear plugs. The host lady then started talking about the stars and telling us what was what in the sky. It was nice, but I could tell that I could probably see the stars as well or better at my parents' place. My mom agreed. Eventually, we ventured back to the car and went back to the hotel. THEN we went to bed.

Lake Michigan Summer Vacay 2015: Day 1

I woke up a little late this morning, showered and realized that I had not packed deodorant. I figured that I could find a replacement soon enough, and I had showered, so I wasn't too worried. I packed up all my stuff - all my clothing into one bag and other things into the other - and took it downstairs. I asked the front desk guy to keep it in their equipment room instead of taking it back up, then got my breakfast. I sat next to a couple in town from Lansing, MI, for a wedding, and ate my food. They took off and I wrote out the directions to my aunt's place in Shawano (pronounced shaw-no, for some reason), which took a very long time. Next, I got cash for the tip for the maid, talked to the people at the front desk and showed off my Houston Art Car Parade photos (they were talking about a local car show), and went back to give a tip to the maid. I was finally on my way down and driving out at about 9:30 am.

I enjoyed the new 70 mph speed limit in Wisconsin.

After stopping for a bit around 10:30 or 11 at a Love's that didn't have post cards for the time being, I was back on the road.

There was a go-cart, or something, behind me for a little while.

I finally arrived at my aunt's at about noon, but my mom had not arrived yet. I found my aunt mowing the lawn, and she let me pet two of her more friendly cats. My mom showed up, and she joined us. Then I put my bags in mom's car, gave the rental keys to my aunt, and said goodbye to drive to Michigan.

So we drove and drove, and decided to stop for lunch in Peshtigo, which was once burned down in the most fatal fire in US history, yeah.

Mom had the Friday Fish Fry, and I had their Cordon Bleu Sammich and some coffee. After lunch, we checked out the little shop attached to the cafe and got some neat items for very reasonable prices. I really like their tissue box cover design.

Then we were back on the road and suddenly in Michigan.

I also got some shots of the boats on the water, but they aren't very good.

We also saw some weird things on the side of the road, but didn't get a great photo of it.

We stopped in Escanaba because I thought that there was something interesting there. I think that I was creating a memory of something based on MST3k quotes, but we found a candy shop anyway and I got my first vacation selfie.

We got some candy, post cards, U.P. souvenirs, and some Packers stuff and headed back out. We eventually were off to find the Rapid River Falls on S .15 Road or something, which we did find. We were supposed to find the falls "2.6" miles up this dirt road, but "2.6" miles passed and there was no falls. We kept going and going, wondering what else "2.6" in my mom's handwriting could possibly be, and around 4 miles in, we found a park and the Rapid River Lodge.

Mom and me at the falls.

Some shots of flying insects that had landed.

Video of the falls.

And finally, some information about the falls and our location.

Then we were off through the rest of the U.P. and off to Mackinaw City.

First, the Mackinac Bridge.

Just after paying the $4 toll to cross to the land of the trolls.

We checked into our hotel and walked down to get a Pasty for dinner.

I got a chicken version and my mom got beef. I asked for some gravy later, since it was otherwise pretty dry. We went to some souvenir shops where I got a few things and we spoke with a nice Romanian girl who was in the town to work for the summer. She really liked Chicago and the big buildings there. I showed her photos I had from buildings in Houston. After that, we walked to our hotel and went to bed.

Lake Michigan Summer Vacay 2015: Day 0

Hoo doggies, this vacation snuck up on me, so I did a lot of cleaning and packing on the morning of my flight. My cab for the airport left my apartment building at 10:30 am for my scheduled 11:50 am flight to Milwaukee. One problem was that I had not eaten a thing all morning, so the cab ride triggered my motion sickness a little. Another problem is that the cab smelled like a barn at milking time. But soon enough, we were at the airport where I got my boarding pass, then checked both of my suitcases, and went through security with just my purse.

I stopped at the TexMex place in the terminal and butted in line just to ask if they had Topo Chico. They didn't, and shockingly, the two women I spoke with had never had it either. I told them to correct that mistake, and they offered me a club soda with lime in it for free! It was very touching, especially since I had already told them that I wasn't going to buy food there. Then I left and walked down to my gate where I saw that my flight had a 20 minute delay. I went down to a Dunkin' Doughnuts and got a sandwich and some coffee, then back to my gate. I drank my drinks, but stashed my food in my purse because it was time to get in line. I asked a Boy Scout to hold my coffee as I dug for my boarding pass, which said A 21. During the wait, I chatted with a lady behind me, and we were on our way to the plane.

On the plane, I picked my normal spot - a right-side window seat near the back - and waited to see who my seat mates would be. It was really nice to not have to worry about putting a bag in the overhead compartment - a small thing, sure, but it was still nice. Eventually, a woman and her kids sat by me - three kids in the row behind us, and her and the youngest next to me. At first, from her accident, I thought that she was from a Caribbean island, but instead, she was from Nigeria. She was shocked that I knew enough to ask if she was from Lagos, where she went to school, but wasn't from. She was taking her kids to visit her mother in Philadelphia, so they were getting off at our stop in Atlanta. I talked to her for a little bit, then showed her and her daughter - who was turning 8 today - some photos from my parents' house during winter.

But once the plane started taking off, I had to remain motionless lest my motion sickness get the better of me. I asked for club soda, no ice from the drink person to ease my stomach, then had some doughnut holes to at least have some food in there. We landed in Atlanta, and I explained some things about flight and landing to the soon-to-be 3rd grader - like why we barely felt the landing (springs!), why the runway was so long, and why parts of the wings changed while we landed.

Soon, I was saying goodbye and in a nearly empty plane in Atlanta. I reconnected to the internet on my phone, used the facilities, and set in for the flight to Milwaukee. Some guy asked if the aisle seat in my row was open, and I nodded, but no one sat in the middle seat, thank goodness. The plane took off and I continued to work on my photos on my phone to free up space. We finally landed in Milwaukee and I texted my sister. Walking through the airport, I got my first photo of the trip.

PACKERS!

I went to the baggage claim, got my bags, then went to the rental car counter and got my car. I found directions to the hotel and was on my way. Right away, I was struck by how CLEAN Milwaukee was.

I checked into the hotel, checked my email, and asked my sister to come over. She and her boyfriend showed up and I needed to let them up to my room. We talked for a little while and then were off to find dinner. It took a while to find dinner, but we settled on Cafe India Bar & Grill and it was good. After that, we went back to their place to talk and also see their kitties, Kitty and Fluffy. I got some photos of their new decor too.

They had a holographic dog portrait too, but it would not be recorded.

Photos didn't work.

And video failed.

After that, they took me to my hotel where I tried to watch TV. For a while, it looked like the only thing on Milwaukee television was Public TV and dead air - I saw a test pattern on one channel. Eventually, I went to sleep.