TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS.....part four

Day four included a drive over the Macinac bridge (here is a link to the bridge)
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/about-the-bridge-8/

We arrived in the UP, and after a 50 mile drive in Saulte St Marie, MI we arrived at our campground. After getting set up we drove to Soo Locks boat tours and got our tickets for the 1pm tour. Than on to a drive in restaurant, with an actual car hop, and had, what else, hamburgers, fries and a drink.

The boat tour is about 2 hours and takes you thru one of the locks and up the river and back

http://www.soolocks.com/index.phtml

This last picture is of our trailer sitting at the end of the channel. We have a great view of the river.

These two shots are of a powerhouse, the longest at 1/4 mile in the world. The closeup shows some of the stonework that looks like a lighthouse (use your imagination)
The rest of these are of us going thru the lock. It raised us up 21 foot to the Lake Superior side of the lock. We had hoped to go thru with one of the ships, but there was one in the next lock to us. You can see the difference as we go up. And, as you can see, it was raining. Not very hard, but raining.

And, finally a couple of picture of the steel mill on the Canadian side.

After the steel mill, it was back thru the locks on the Canadian side and back to the dock. A nice tour.

It is now about 5pm and the sun finally came out. We are thinking of ordering pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow another day here seeing touristy stuff.

Hope you had a wonderful day today

And remember you can click on any picture to enlarge them.

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

 

 

 

 

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOY.....part three

It is day three and the boy's are still alive. And are not wearing any bandaids, Yet.

Today was a down day. We drove to a laudromat and did laundry, stopped at a grocery store, got fuel and kind of hung out. Went into town (Mackinaw City) for a while and bought some popcorn at a specialty store. We all got a different flavor, and they were all good. Jamie and Gamma went through the "haunted house".......which they said was not bad.  Jamie made Gamma go first though and hung on to her hand and shirt all the way through!!!!!
When we got back to the campground the boys wanted to play in the lake. Gamma went down with them and said that the water was cold. But they went in a little ways anyway.  Hopefully you can see from the pictures the beautiful blue color of the lake today........

 

After they changed out of their wet clothes Gamma took them down to the arcade where they were very lucky and won several stuffed toys

Supper was at home tonight, ham slices, mac and cheese and baked beans. Probably a movie later on and eat up some of that popcorn.

Tomorrow off to the U.P., where we will become "uppers" (UP) for a few days.

Have a great day, we are....

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS.....part two

This morning we drove a couple of hours north to Mackinaw City and checked into a campground that has over 800 sites. It is right on Lake Huron, but there is one other rv between us and the lake.
After getting settled into our site, we moved on into town for breakfast, well more like brunch, where they served an excellent breakfast buffet.
Than on to Mackinac Island, taking a 25 minute boat ride to get there.

We than went to the island carriage stop and bought tickets for the whole tour which included 4 stops and took a couple of hours.

After a tour of the old part of town we went by the Grand Hotel which was made famous in two movies(can you name them?) and has a 600 foot front balcony, the largest in the world.

here is the Grand Hotel Taxi

We moved on to the "Wings of Mackinac" butterfly garden. It was pretty spectacular with lots of butterflys and moths flying around (about 600). But, boy was it warm inside.

From there it was on to the natural arch along the lake shore. About a 10 minute stop, but long enough to get a few pictures of the arch and lake

And than on to the fort. We wandered around thru all the buildings and ended up on the parade ground where they were giving exhibitions on military life. I caught a few shots of  Linda and the boys checking things out.

And finally, they shot the cannon off to end the afternoon.

and finally, here are a few shot taken from the fort of the town and harbor.....

Another great day. After leaving the fort, it is a very long, steep, downhill walk to get back to the main street. My poor body was worn out. And a long boat ride back to the mainland. We were lucky both ways, getting on the ferry just before it left. They held the boat both ways for us to board. Thank God!!!!

After a short ride back to the campground it was a large vodka rocks, a beer, and a cigar while Linda took the boys to the pool and showers.

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

 

 

 

 

 

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS.....part one

Monday JUNE 17th, 8:57am
The start of a great adventure.
We have been looking forward to this vacation with our grandson for a long time. And it is finally here!!!!
We left my brothers house in South Bend this morning for a ten day vacation with our grandsons, Jamie, age 12, and Jordan age 9.
After a 157 mile drive, we arrived at Silver Lake in Mears, MI for a dune buggy ride. We were all very excited about our ride and it was well worth the wait. About a 40 minute trip thru the dunes and along lake Michigan.

After the dune ride, and a few souveniers, we drove on and stopped at McDonald's for some lunch. We needed to get some more miles on as we want to be at Mackinaw City tomorrow. Finally after 257 miles, we are at Houghton Lake, MI for the night. Everyone is tired and relaxing watching a Superman movie.

Tomorrow on to Mackinaw City

A great day one.

love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan