July 29 - August 9, 2009 Trip to the Michigan UP and Mackinaw

Sophia spent the week of July 27-August 1 at the Washtenaw Rec Center camp. Mom and the kids went to Barb & Ken's wedding anninversary at the Independence Lake Park while Dad drove to Columbus to meet with his clients on August 2nd.

Sophia had her age 7 physical:


The following week Aug 3-7 the kids attended the new Kidconomics club at Slauson. Hopefully they learned some money skills!



We decided to spend the weekend up north. We started driving around 4 pm on Friday August 7th and headed to Mackinaw City where dad spent some Hilton points for a couple of nights at the Mackinaw City Hampton Inn. We were supposed to spend three nights at one of the nicest Hiltons in Paris in early September after 2 1/2 weeks at my parent's vacation home but...it was just not meant to be...

On the amazing Mackinaw Bridge....many years ago a Yugo car was blown off the bridge with the driver inside....It is 5.2 miles long!


Next morning it was cold and rainy so we changed the plan and drove north to the Tahquamenon Falls








This picture reminds of the jungles in Hilo in Hawaii's Big Island so much!


Not like Niagara Falls but beautiful nevertheless!









After that we decided to drive north west to Sault Ste. Marie and we spend some time at the famous Soo Locks where ships go from one lake to another. It is a unique process since both lakes are at different height levels!



We had dinner at a Greek restaurant there and then we headed back to Mackinaw. Rex and Yune and Jacob were spending several days at their friends from Hong Kong cottage. We headed there for a nice bon fire with an absolutely stunning view of the Mackinaw Bridge lit up!

Next m0rninng we headed over to Mackinaw Island with the ferry across the street from our hotel:







We all rented bikes and biked all around the island, it is about 8 miles. We stopped at several spots along the way










We left the island around 6 pm and then drove back to Ann Arbor...It was a very long drive, we were all dead tired, some heavy rain and winds near the Flint area....Dad was starting to see double, hallucinations overload...loaded up on coffee, wired to the max...pulling into our driveway was.............so sweet!