On Sunday I mentioned that Josh and I were going flying all day. We were going to fly up to Mackinac (that's pronounced Mack-in-aw for those of you who can read and don't know that in Michigan "ac" = "aw"), refuel there, and then scoot down the coast of Lake Michigan back home.
That was the plan anyways.
We had a great flight, although we had to fly over some pretty amazing clouds. The view from 8,500 feet is incredible.
What actually happened was that we went to Mackinac/St. Ignace as planned, refueled, and were ready to head back down the coast to home... whenI got distracted by the shiny island on the Lake Huron side of Mackinac Bridge (the famous bridge in these parts - it's on the license plates, drivers license, everything). It's called Mackinac Island and cars are strictly forbidden.
(Psst... that's Mackinac Bridge!)
We should have just gone home then, Josh needed to get more flight time in, and wanted to cross a few more airports off of his "I've been to these airports" list; but I was enchanted by the island and Josh lovingly indulged my fancy...
...so we went here instead.
This is Mackinac Island. The entire island is a state park, and cars are strictly forbidden on the island.
That means that the only means of transportation is.... yep, horse and buggy. Or bicycle, if that suits your fancy. If you ever decide to go to Mackinac Island - choose a bicycle. It's much, much faster.
There were some breathtaking views, though. This is Lake Huron. Can you tell I was enjoying myself?
This is the Grand Hotel. It's an old-fashioned American-style hotel with all the bells and whistles. They charge you $10 a person just to go in the door if you're not a registered guest. The cheapest rooms start around $400 per night, per person. Yowza.
Loved seeing The Little Stone Church!
LOOK at those flowers. Swoon. All the flowers on this island were enormous and vibrant. Love.
Oh, and when you see a big hill, try to resist flying down it at warp speed; the cops have radar to catch the speeders. If you're caught speeding on your bicycle, they give you a ticket, and it goes on your driver's license.
We hung around long enough to grab some dinner, listen to the cannons at the fort, and wait for the "taxi" to pick us up and take us back to the airport so we could go home.
We didn't get to cross anymore airports off of our "to-do" list, but we did have a great day of flying and sight seeing on a beautiful island. I felt bad that Josh didn't get more flight hours because of me, but he says it's okay and that I worry too much.
He's probably right.
At the end of the day, we had to avoid a large storm moving across the Lake; but once we got past it, it was smooth sailing... er, flying, home. We were tired, and we hadn't accomplished exactly what we had set out to do, but we had a good time doing it, and made some fun memories to carry with us.
I just love my life.
Labels: adventures, aviation, michigan, travel
