If you live in Michigan, Labor Day weekend means a lot of things. The last weekend to BBQ, vacation, swim, camp, clean up cemetary plots, buy school clothes. It also means, that very soon, school busses will be in your way on your morning drive, football games, bonfires, color tours, hoodies and jeans, and of course, the Annual Labor Day Bridge Walk, the one time a year you can walk across the Mackinaw Bridge :)
I set a goal for myself when starting my weight loss program, "be fit enough by Labor day to walk the bridge in 1 hour". I soon learned that making it across the bridge in one hour with the hordes of people, would require running, for pretty much anyone, not just me. When we walk at home, we do about 3.5 miles in an hour. So, I adjusted my goal to be an actual attainable goal, do it in 1.5 hours. This would mean picking up our pace and walking more like 3.8 miles per hour. So, we made plans to head to the Tip of the Mitt for Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend.
I've been to this area many times in my life, my husband has only been twice now. Once to walk the bridge and once to drive over it on our way to Drummond Island, both times were with me. So, we landed a room in Mackinaw City, right on the lake and near the ferries and the busses for the walk. Here's a summary of our amazing weekend away!
Sunday, September 5, 2010:
6 AM - Wake up, get ready load the car
7 AM - Hit the road!
11 AM - Arrive in Mackinaw City, Traffic was great going up and in the city! We couldn't quite check into the hotel yet, so we borrowed their parking lot and moved on
12:30 AM - After waiting for about 30 minutes for a Ferry, we boarded Shepler's Ferry at $21 a piece and headed over to Mackinaw Island! It was a great Ferry ride, a little windy and wet, but fun to see the bridge up close and watch the island get closer :)
1:00 AM - 6 PM Arrive and play on Mackinaw Island. I haven't been here since I was young, probably 9ish. Mackinaw Island, if you don't know, is an "old time" island. There are no cars allowed (although we did see one truck out at a pier that confused us, we think it was a state truck). Transportation consists of your own two feet, bikes, horses and horse and carriage.
So...our first insight into Island life was that A. it was crowded (but this is a busy weekend, we expected it) B. the whole place smelled of horses...I think it is permanently embedded into my nostrils. We decide, it's a great time to explore some and let the bike rental lines get a little smaller. We hit up some tourist trap type shops. Luckily, we aren't in the market for touristy garbage, so we left thoe unscathed :) Next, Ralph was determined that you couldn't come to Mackinaw and not try the fudge :) So Murdick's fudge was the place of choice. We ordered up 3 blocks of fudge for family and so that later we could sample a teeny sliver of fudge :) We got 'Granola' - suppose to taste like a No-Bake, it did, kinda, but all I could taste was the sugar! 'Cranberry' - which tasted like nothing to me...just more sugar and 'Peanut Butter' - Was as delicious and Peanut Buttery as I remember! YUM!
Next on the agenda and the main reason we came to the island....get some excercise! We decided to bike the island and while getting our excercise for the day in, also see the sites and smell the smells...okay, not the horse smells, the fresh air smells away from the city. We rented our single, one speed, bikes from Ryba's Rentals for $5 per hour and after trying to get use to getting on a bike again, we headed out. It was pretty crowded on the roads between the bikers and the walkers, but it was a nice ride. The air was brisk, and the sun was shining! We went about 2 miles and found the stairs that lead to Arch Rock. This is a Rock formation that basically looks like a huge hole in the side of it. It's shaped like a Stargate (if you're a Sci-fi fan ;)). I have no idea how many stairs this was, but it was a lot, and it was treacherous. The stairs leaned in ways they shouldn't, some of the wood was questionable, but we arrived at the top, safe and sound. It was so crowded up there that we took 2 pictures and scrammed. The climb down...much easier :D The next stop on our 7 or 8 mile trek was a gorgeous rocky beach that had an amazing view of the Mackinaw Bridge. It was nice to walk on our legs too ;) We got about 1/2 way around the island and came to a path that allowed us to cut inland towards Skull cave and some really old cemetaries, as well as battlefields, a whole lot of endless roads and trees and hills....did I mention that apparently Mackinaw Island should be names Mt. Mackinaw Island? I realize that all islands are the top of a mountain of sorts sticking out of the water, but phew....this place was hilly the more inland you got! At some point, we stopped trying to bike our single speeds up the hill, and we walked them. Our major excitement happened right after we realized we were on the backside of Fort Mackinac (A British fort from like the 1700's or something like that). We stopped for a picture, and a nice lady that was walking offered to take a picture of us together. It was a great picture....after restarting our engines and starting back towards town, my husband decided he wanted an up close and personal look at the fencing around the fort property. He managed to ride off the road into the mini-ravine on the side of the road and all I heard was "crash". I turned around and there he was, both hands gripping the top of the fence, body pressed against the fence and legs still wrapped around the bike behind him. Since he wasn't screaming in agony, I ventured he was okay, so I start giggling as I ask him if he's alright ;) He is, physically, other than a bruise or two. But mentally, he is obviously embarresed and worried that he damaged the rental and was going to have to pay for it...so that was the end of riding for us...we headed straight back to the city and returned the bikes.
Since, we are bikeless, and there is still plenty to see, we start out on foot again for an hour or so, checking out the cute boutiques, the views of the water and the immense amount of kites being flown. But, alas, our day on the island has come to an end...so back to the mainland we go. The ride back was FREEZING! Why oh why did we ride on the top of the ferry?! But, we got some good quality snuggling in :)
7 PM - Meet some friends that we almost never see for dinner at Noona Lisa's. It's a cute little italian place that has taxidermy all over the place!
8:30 pm - head back to the hotel, and check out the Jacuzzi tub in our room :D After a long day of riding and what will become a long day of walking the next day...we needed the relaxation!
Monday, September 6, 2010
4:30 AM - curse out loud as the alarm clock goes off.
5:30 am - head to the bus line. for $5 a person, you get to ride a school bus across the Bridge, since the walk starts on the St. Ignace side...or if you start in St. Ignace, the busses will take you back across to your car. Now, I realize, this seems like a lot of money, but it does pay for the gas and use of the busses. And your other option is to have a car on both ends, and since it costs $3.50 to cross the bridge everytime, in either direction, it's just cheaper and less of a traffic hassle to ride the busses.
6:30 AM - arrive safely in the UP and join the massive crowd that is waiting at the starting line. We listen to a horrible DJ, get rained on some, get some neat pictures of the bridge at night, wait in line to use a port-a-potty one last time before the walk starts, then listen to the Governor of Michigan speak as her last time as Governor when she heads up the Labor Day walk with a group of runners.
7:00 - AM The walk starts! We get caught up in the slow, very slow, moving mob for the first 5-10 minutes, we made sure we didn't start our stop watch (iPhone app) until we were on the bridge...and not still in the waiting hole. After some manuevering, pushing, and grumbling at each other for pushing and shoving, we finally make it past the mob, and into a mostly free-moving crown of people. I had a goal to meet, and these people were slowing me down! It was a great walk, a little slippery over the grates, but great nonetheless.
8:17 AM - Crossed the finish line! We were person 1893 and 1894 to cross the line :D This means we tackled the 5 mile trek in 1 hour 14 minutes and 19 seconds! WOOT! :) We ran into some friends from our Weight Loss Group and they made it in 1 hour 8 minutes, and did some running in there. We figure we nailed 4 MPH as we crossed :D This made my day! I beat my goal! :D
9 AM - Arrive back at the hotel, after looking for our "crossing numbers" in the store shop windows, to change into real clothes and hit the shops!
10:30 AM - our legs are about falling off and about to stop moving, period, so we decide it's time to find some food, we've only had one shake and some fruit since 4:30 am. We stop at the Dixie Saloon. They are only serving sandwiches, this is really difficult when you are on a plan like ours! So, we settle for some wraps, at least then we can take the tortilla off (after a couple bites with the tortilla on, just cuz it's yummy and we miss bread!). I also hear from my parents and their crew at this point. They have all survived the bridge crossing, some for the first time! We tell them, the Dixie Saloon is not busy and yummy, so we get to chat with them while they are waiting for their table for 14 to be set up :)
11:30 AM - More shopping, we are on a mission for some hoodies and a temporary wedding band for the hubster. We had success! He found a Stainless Band that he likes, and for $20 he is okay if it gets destroyed! Also, found our hoodies...since we were freezing, this was a great purchase :D Time for a bathroom break, so we trudged all the way back down to the bridge for the port-a-potties and to check out the beach under the bridge. It's a nice area, that we will check out again :D
12:30 PM arrive back at the hotel, we are beat, and it's time to head home and try to beat the traffic
12:30 PM - 7:30 PM The drive home. What should have been a 3.5 hour drive home, turned into a 7 hour one. We love road trips, and love checking out great scenic routes. So from Mackinaw, we took 31 over to Harbor Springs. We then discovered that the Tunnel of Trees on M-119 runs crom Cross Village to Harbor Springs. Cross Village is 20 miles North of Harbor Springs....so North we go. It was a great scenic drive along M-119 and the Tunnel of Trees. It's winding roads that aren't really two lanes wide and has no shoulders. The trees surround and go over the road like a tunnel. I recommend the drive! From Cross Village, we tell Tom-Tom to head home. As we get closer to Harbor Springs again, we realize that we aren't far from M-22. This highway has a great spot on it that looks like you are going to drice right into the ater as you come over a hill, then there is a scenic roadside park. So, what the heck...we head towards M-22. We found the hill (which was very neat) and stop at the roadside park and because our legs are already failing us, make the intelligent decision to climb the 117 stairs to the top for a spectacular view! It was totally worth it! With a minor scare from the neighbor that our cats got out (the wind blew the back door open), we rushed home and arrived to find our neighbor rocks and had locked the house back up and located all the cats!
8:30 PM - Exhaustion sets in...and we are in bed!
So that's it...my great weekend! It was super busy, as they always are, but it was unforgettable and amazing too :D
I hope everyone enjoyed their labor day!
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