June 24, continued
After Johnny did the surfari, Cara wanted to try it. She did pretty well, except that the end she wiped out, and two things happened. First, she lost part of her bathing suit. I didn't see it, as far as I saw, she got up, came down the ramp, and started sobbing to me that her suit had fallen off. I calmed her down a bit by relating the Johnny "butt" story. She also hit her head, which she actually didn't mention until a few minutes later. She seemed ok, pupils were fine, etc., but the next day she had a sore head and a little lump.
Kalarahi photos
June 25
Nothing really exciting, until the evening. We decided to do a little campfire after dinner. There were no marshmallows, but Johnny was happy with just a chocolate graham cracker sandwich. I took the kids on a very short trek around the paths that Dave had mowed that day to see what we think is a set of badger holes.
The kids went back inside after a while. We sat around, listening to whip-poor-wills, saw an American Woodcock fly by, and then it got interesting. The coyotes were back at it, again just maybe 200 yards away or so (but hard to say for sure.) That went on long enough for me to run in and get the kids out on the deck so they could hear it, and then silence again. The kids went off to bed.
About a half hour later, Dave, Linda, and I were still outside. I thought I heard an owl in the distance, so I stood up and took a few steps in that direction, hoping to hear better. But just as I did that, there was an odd bleating noise from behind me, just inside the forest about maybe 75 feet from where we were seated. It went on for about a dozen bleats, maybe 15 seconds total, then there was a big thump, then footsteps running away. So we sat there, quiet as stones, trying to hear what would happen next. About a minute later, we started to hear things sorta creeping in the woods directly by us. We listened to that for a little. Dave suggested that we move up to the deck, and I agreed, noting that the deck was a much more defensible position. So, we did. Didn't hear anything after that, though. My guess: deer, especially fawns, will make a sort of noise like that when they are threatened or frightened or separated from their doe, so that was probably the noise. I think it wasn't the coyotes that were threatening it, maybe it just got scared when it saw me, and fell over trying to get away. The other noises were probably nothing. Oh, also: we were drinking.
June 26
We got up, packed, and off we went. It's almost 9 hours from Black River Falls to St. Ignace, Michigan. Lots of 2-lane roads, but mostly 55+mph. Killed a lot of bugs with my front grill, that's for sure. Lost an hour with the time change, too, so with stops and everything, it was quite the trek.
June 27
Fudge Island Day. Got up, checked out, went to the ferry dock, and a quick 15 minute ride later, we land on Mackinac Island. It's a big place, and we were only going to stay for a few hours, so I convinced the kids to go for a little walk: up to the fort, then out to Arch Rock, Sugarloaf, then back for lunch, and, of course, fudge. We trudge up the hill to the fort, and to save a little time, you can just add "and there was a little complaining about the hike" to everything I write until we get to lunch.
At the fort, saw lots of neat stuff. There are scouts who stay on the island for a week or two and work at the fort as guides. All the flags at the fort were at half-staff, and I didn't know why, so I asked every scout I came to. The usual answer was, "I think it's because someone died." "Yes, thanks, but do you know who?" Invariably: no. But don't blame the scouts, I asked maybe five or six other people who lived/worked there the same question, and no one knew. I even asked the lady at the McDonalds when we stopped for shakes. She felt bad that she didn't know, which was more than any of the other folks did. Later I found out:
Michigan Governor Snyder has ordered United States flags throughout the State of Michigan to be lowered to half staff on Monday, June 27, 2011 in honor of Private First Class Brian J. Backus of Harbor Beach who died on June 18, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan
Which leads me to wonder: why doesn't every state do this?
Back at the fort: saw a demonstration of the rifles used in the 1880s. They are quite loud. Done with the fort, we walked back down the hill, to start out on our walk to Arch Rock. My mistake: should have gone out the back entrance of the fort, because we had to walk back up the hill and went right past it. (add complaints here.)
Fortunately, there was a shortcut to Arch Rock, which made the hike about 1.5 miles round trip from the bottom of the hill. As soon as we got there, Johnny wanted to know where we'd eat lunch, and was not pleased when it occurred to him that there were no restaurants at the Arch. "You need two arches for lunch," I almost said. Don't poke the bear.
We looked around a bit, saw the arch. Climbed a bunch of stairs to a plaque commemorating the triumph of the white man, where he bested the aboriginals by having his accomplishment bronzed. His accomplishment was two-fold: he saw the adjoining straits, and he was the first white guy to do it. Yippee.
After some cajoling, I got the kids to agree to the fact that we were going to go back to town, AND they also somehow agreed that I would not have to carry them. I am quite the accomplished negotiator, maybe I should be bronzed.
Back in town, went to lunch, then off to find fudge. The fudge is made right before your eyes, on large marble tables. The whole town smells of sugar and horse manure, which I'm sure is lovely in August. But today it was ok, though the sugary sweetness of the air can be more potent and overpowering than anything the horses do, even at 70 degrees. But in we go to a few fudge shops, and we finally settle on "vanilla chocolate chip," not very adventurous but did I mention that both kids agreed on it? Winner! We get a slice of vanilla, which if you don't know is about 1/2 of a pound. We found a bench down the street, and I started cutting pieces and doling them out. Well, it wasn't too long before the kids were crying "uncle," fudge-wise. It's a lot of sugar.
The last thing the kids wanted to do was this "3-D Maze of Mirrors" they had noticed on the way to the fort - a storefront on the main street with a mirror maze. We went down, I paid their admission, and in they went. Cara came out the exit after about ten minutes, but the girl at the counter let her go back in to find/help Johnny. Ten minutes later, I poke my head in the shop (I was waiting in the doorway, on the street,) and she says, "They're not out yet. You want me to get them?" "No! I've been tied to them for ten days. Their being lost for a few minutes is fine by me. They'll be out, eventually, right?" And five minutes later, they were. Back to the ferry, back to the car, off to Grand Blanc (near Flint,) with the objective of breaking up what would be a 10-hour drive today in to a 4 and a 6 tomorrow.
Mackinac Island photos
Mackinac Island photos
Just south of St. Ignace, we went over the Mackinac Bridge, which was at one time the longest suspension bridge in the world. It's now 12th. I guess that it's a good bridge, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment