Mimi and the girls big adventure part 4

We decided to stop in Mackinaw City and do a little shopping and thought we might get something to eat. One bad thing about Honey Mustard Pringles is they don't last very long. So we started looking for some fulfilling nourishment.

Sorry, but I have to interupt myself here and insert one of the most insane things that I think I have ever seen. A petosky stone vending machine. WHAT!!!! really WHAT!!!! I understand that people have just about picked the beaches clean of petosky stones and they are getting harder and harder to find, but seriously. When you find them in the gift shops they are polished and all pretty, sometimes you find them in jewelry or used as a paperweight - but WHAT!!!! These were not polished and they were not in jewelry or some other type of souvenier. They weren't expensive, if you don't mind paying for something that with a little work you can find for free. Oh wait I guess the same could be said for bottled water and heck I buy that, so what am I thinking - Crud, I could have bought a petosky stone and missed the chance. Oh well, there is always next year.

Back to the fulfilling nourishment, we start looking around and there is Subway, Pizza, Burgers, wait we can get this stuff at home. So back in the car we go and decide to cross the bridge into St. Ignace there could be something there to eat. Wait, halt, hold the phone, back the bus up.........Did I just say CROSS THE BRIDGE. I did, I said cross the bridge. Not just the proverbial "we will cross that bridge when we get to it" bridge. THE bridge, the might mac, the largest suspension bridge in the continental united states. Maybe even the largest suspension bridge ever. Heck, I think it may just be bigger than the great wall of china. I am pretty sure it was what Simon and Garfunkel were singing about when the sang "Bridge over Troubled Water". And I was going to drive across it. Remember me, I am panicky, and can't drive to the nearest shopping mall by myself. ...........

And there goes the last exit in the lower pennisula. Um..... Hello...... I am driving across the bridge and you know what it is kind of fun. It is really high and there is a slow moving vehicle in my non-grated lane, My youngest is sitting in the front seat and has never seen the bridge from the front seat and we are singing and this vehicle is moving so sloooooow. So being the great adventurer that I am passed this slow vehicle. Now passing this vehicle means that I have to drive on the grating here we go and it made a cool humming sound. For years when riding across the bridge I wouldn't let my driver go onto the grating and here I was driving on it - Woooo Hooo

The last few weeks

Hey - remember me. I have been crazy busy lately. Here are my excuses - property tax time at work. That means hours and hours and hours of calculating and smiling and collecting and balancing - in between all of those numbers - I have been running the female brat pack to cheerleading and volleyball and band practice and theater. After all of the rain we got, I had to mow the lawn (It needs it again now) and then the carpet needed vacuuming and then one day last week the dog wanted to go outside and then the darn canine wanted back in again. Didn't he know I was busy. Oh yea and I had to go to the grocery store and then I had to feed my darling offspring and then they needed help with their homework and then...and then....and then.... and then..... and I still need to tell you about crossing the bridge. Okay okay Deborah calm down, I know that you are my only reader and at the very least my only commenter. How do I know that you ask.. because even Mom's comment the other day was really me!!! Yep she was standing behind me but it was me.......

Mimi and girls big adventure (part 3)

So off we went. Headed North, Mamma Mia soundtrack blaring, snacking on our new favorite Honey Mustard Pringles (only available for a limited time). I should also mention that Kirsten is driving, so I can sit back, relax, read and wait until one of us screams, "Hey, I want to stop there". Well it wasn't too long and we passed a little giftshop that looked right up our alley. Woodstock gifts in Lake City. Now to say this was right up our alley was an understatement. We love cabiny (new word) stuff. There were bears, there were moose, there were indians, there were tractors (?), Lots of wood, t-shirts, sweatshirts, candles and even a bathroom. Wow, why did we think that we wanted to go any further? We hung out here for about an hour and then it was back on the road.

Kirsten was getting tired of driving (after mis judging a four way stop in Lake City - but hey it could have happened to anyone and will) so I jumped in the driver seat and off we went. Now right after we left Lake City we decided to head East and get on I-75 to head up to Gaylord. We thought (acutally I thought) we might stay there for the night but the girls wanted to keep driving and it was early so off we went. Our next stop was the last rest area in the lower pennisula with - Yes, you guessed it - a scenic overlook. So off we went to the scenic overlook - it really is beautiful. The girls were waving at the cars passing below and we were all thrilled when someone waved back or honked. We are easily ammused, but the entertainment was free.

Next stop Sea Shell City. The man eating clam. The City of Sea Shells. We had never been there. Oh, we had seen the signs, we had the desire to stop and see the city where the streets are paved with sea shells. We just knew that we would see pirates and mermaids and shipwrecks. What else could be at Sea Shell City. We could taste the Salt Water Taffy already. (Get it, Get it Salt water taffy, man I crack myself up). Off the exit, into the parking lot, take a picture by the sign to prove that we had been there. Here we go.......

What...... just another gift shop. No paved in sea shell roads... No mermaids.....No shipwrecks. Okay really you could buy all of those things and every conceivable type of shell you could think of. There really were alot of cool things to look at and maybe, I really did know all of this going in, but it is fun to dream. Maybe I will go watch The Little Mermaid.

Next up...... crossing a bridge

Mimi (and girls) big adventure part 2

In our last installment, Mackenzi had to take in a (clear throat) sample. I forgot to mention that everything was perfectly fine - she just had changed soap and it didn't agree with the ummm area.



So we are off to breakfast with in Hastings with Grandma and Grandpa. Nothing to exciting to mention. Grandma is in food love with the multigrain pancakes at Mill's Landing in Hastings.






So off we go north on M-66 we had no itinerary or schedule. We only knew two things, we were going to have fun and we were going to stop whenever we got the whim. So off we go, through, Ionia (we were there once this summer to attend the B-93 birthday bash) and further north to Stanton, this is where something happens. I'm not sure what happened but all of a sudden we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. All of a sudden the road wasn't - um - how should I say it - of the best quality anymore. Seems the asphalt was a little more - um - bumpy. Apparently we zigged when we should have zagged, Jigged when we should have jogged. Anyway we ended up on a road that was not north M-66.






Now the girls tend to get a little panicky if they think we are "lost". They have asked many times on road trips - "Where are we" - not because they are wondering when we will arrive at our destination, but, they do not trust me to get them to the destination. I do not have a history of becoming extremely lost, so I really don't know why they would question my capability. I on the other hand think that it is fun to get off the beaten path - I have said for years that you can't get lost in Michigan. You either run into water (that being one of the great lakes) or Indiana or Ohio (two of the lesser states) (Sorry Deb, really I am just kidding) or a really big bridge (one of the bigger bridges).


Another funny thing that has happened since I have gotten more mature is that I actually use that little navigational tool that is built into my car known as the compass. I am directionally challenged. I know, I know, look for the sun and I know where it rises and where is sets and blah, blah, blah. Well it was overcast and you couldn't find the sun and because I was driving Mom's car I was not able to use the little directional thingy. So I was not 100% confidant that we were headed in the right direction, however, I was about 82% sure and we know that the odds were with us. Well, after about 30 minutes we ran right into M-66 again and all was right with the world. So here we go again, North on M-66. Through six lakes (actually the place that we found M-66 again), through Remus, Barryton, (during this time we have been discussing when we should go East and get on I-75, just haven't decided when to).






When all of a sudden we pass the cutest little church. Seriously little church. We just have to turn around and check it out. That is what we are doing on our adventure, checking out new things.









So we stop at the "Wayside Chapel".





The most adorable little chapel. There is room for four parishioners and a pulpit. There was a "guest book" and some of the people that had visited had left prayer requests also it seemed that the chapel was non-denominational as there was several different versions of the Bible and several different types of hymnals.



We thought this was an appropriate way to start our adventure and a little prayer to keep us safe didn't hurt at all.



To be continued.........

Mimi (and girls) big adventure (part 1)

First a little history. Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan is just about my favorite place on the whole earth. Not that I have traveled the whole earth because I haven't even traveled my own country let alone the whole earth.



Every labor day weekend for the past 29 years my extended family has migrated north to Sault Sainte Marie, henceforth referred to as the Soo. This Labor day weekend was a little different. Oh don't worry we still traveled north to the Soo, but.....

The trip was going to be made by myself and my two wonderfully adventurous daughters. They may not have know that they were wonderfully adventurous when we started out. However they know now without question that they are wonderfully adventurous.



Now if you have ever been on a road trip there are certain essentials that you need. Pringles, chips ahoy, bottled water, Pepsi (I think you get the idea). So off to Wal-mart we go the day before the scheduled departure.



My beautiful youngest daughter mentions that she needs to use the rest room. When she returns to me she tells me again that there has been some discomfort when (you know ---shh - whispers) going.



I am in quite a quandary because we have planned to leave at 7:00 a.m. the next morning and I don't want her to not feel well while are gone and I am having major guilt cramps because she has complained about this for a couple of weeks and I have not reacted to it (I know bad Mom).

So I call her ever so supportive Dad and ask if he could call the doctors office and try to get her an appointment, because I didn't have the number and I was out and if they could get her right in I could take her right over because I have all of a sudden become a great mom and would do that for my second born child. So she could get in to the doctor that afternoon.

Hooray, she can get in and we have time to go home and clean up a little so the doctor doesn't think I am a totally negligent mom (remember we are going out of town and all of our good clothes are packed).

There we are at the doctors office and the very nice nurse and very nice doctor were treating her very respectfully and understanding what a girl of her age must be going through and asked her for a (don't read out loud) urine sample. Well my sweet little baby gets shy bladder and can't go. So we (her and I, because doctors and nurses are way to busy to worry about sbs (shy bladder syndrome)) run water, then we put her hands in cold water and dance around the bathroom and drink two juice boxes, you know the routine. Well she just couldn't go and the harder she tried to go the more anxious she was getting the more it just was not going to work so the doctor told us that we could take the bottle home and she could "collect the sample" at home and we could bring it in in the morning.

We knew that would put us way behind schedule . But what choice did we have?

So we took the bottle home - collected the sample and the first leg of our big labor day adventure was stopping at the doctors office to drop off an urine sample.

To be continued....................