College Road Trip #2

It's that time of the year again to get Marz back to school.  If you remember, I flew to Michigan in May to pick her up to helped drive her car back to South Dakota for the summer.  So, obviously, she needed "help' getting the car back now. 😉

Because of the events happening in May, we were not able to complete our original plan of driving to SD though the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Marz being the great explorer that she is, planned our road trip, like she always does, back to school. I just pay for it and drive...😉  We turned a 15 hour road trip into a 4 day excursion!  I picked Marz up on Tuesday the 21st to start.

Our first day was the most driving.  After about seven hours on the road, we stopped in Duluth Minnesota.  We didn't do much here except run to the mall and sleep.  Marz loves to shop!  Me, not so much.  I was good with just walking around and stretching my legs.

The view from the hotel, downtown Duluth.  Definitely the industrial part of town. The only pic I took.

The second morning we were greeted with beautiful sunshine to start the drive.  We were only driving about five hours this second day.  We were heading to Marquette, MI.  But first, we needed some much needed bodily fuel to start our day!

We stopped at a Perkin's, just outside of Duluth, on the Wisconsin side.  For those of you who don't know, Perkin's serves food all day long, but they are best known for their awesome breakfast food.  They are also know for their awesome delectable desserts!  When we walked in, there was a peanut butter silk pie staring us in the face and yelling "EAT ME!!"  So going against my "no sugar for you boundaries" (for me, not Marz 😉) we ate our breakfast then topped it off with a delicious piece of pie!  It was absolutely to die for!!

It also took us about .5 seconds to polish that piece of pie off! 😂

Now that we were all filed up, we were ready to hit the road, again.  Next stop, Marquette, MI!

We did a pit stop along the way, in this tiny town in Wisconsin, along the shores of Lake Superior.  I just couldn't pass up the moment to photograph my Marz.  She is most certainly an easy subject to photograph!

Back on the car....

We make Marquette a couple hours later, check into the hotel, throw on our walking shoes, and go to find one of the many hiking trails in and around Marquette.

This trail took us to a lookout where we had a 360 degree of the surrounding area and Lake Superior. It felt like we were on top of the world!

One of my favorite photos from the trip!

The next morning, day three, we made the drive to Mackinac Island, MI.  We may or may not have been "lost" at this point... lol!  Not a bad little dirt country road to be on. 😁

Once we made St Ignace, MI, we boarded the boat to head out to the island sometime late afternoon, on Thursday.  In the distance you can see the great Mackinac Island Bridge.  It's five miles long, connecting the upper peninsula to lower Michigan.

Our first taste of the island...  We went to the hotel to drop off our stuff and began the exploration of the island. 

Mackinac Island is one of the few places on this earth where no motorized vehicles are allowed.  Everything is hauled by horse drawn carriages/buggies and if you need to get around, you either walk or ride peddle bikes. (I had to quantify that for my overseas friends.  If you don't say peddle bikes, it could have meant motorcycle bikes, like Harley's. 😉)

We started off toward the main area of the island, bought some fudge... Oh crud!!  I forgot to take a pic of the fudge!!  That's actually one of the main reasons for going to Mackinac.  Marz wanted to sink her teeth into as many varieties of fudge that she was able... and she did!

We bought the fudge and walked a little more to this place along the boardwalk.  We sat and hung our legs over the side and contemplated life.  It was a beautiful moment with Marz.

After the appetizer of fudge, we sat our sights on one of the popular restaurants on the island.

We then needed to walk off all the food and fudge, so we started walking until we came upon this outdoor park where a live band was performing.  We decided to stop and take in the music and the beautiful evening.

Funny thing... We sat, listened to one song, and then the band was done playing! lol!  So we did what any good, living breathing human does these days.  We pulled out our global communication devices and communicated with the rest of the world. 😁

The next morning, Friday, I found this beautiful, peaceful spot at the hotel and watched the sunrise while reading my book... and communicating with the rest of the world. 😉

Later in the day, Marz and I rented bikes and took the eight mile tour around the island.  I tell you, it has been since forever that I have been on a bike!  When I first got on, the world became a little spinny... but like everything, you remember how to do it... "It's just like riding a bike." 😉😂😂😂. (You gotta admit, that was funny! LOL!!)

Everything was gorgeous here!

A pit stop about half way through the ride.

And then... it started to rain.

We took a horse drawn cart to one of the restaurants Marz picked out and thought we may be able to walk back if the rain let up.  Well it didn't, so we hailed a "taxi" to get us back to the hotel.

The next day, Saturday, we had get get packed up early to get our luggage to the boat to get it back over to the mainland.  Our time was up on Mackinac Island.  This is one of those place on earth where if I was put into the Witness Protection Program, this is one place you could find me... I really should stop putting those places on here... just in case some day it is needed... lol

Adios Mackinac...

Mackinac Island was to be the highlight of the road trip.  It did not disappoint!

Heading south to Hillsdale... Finally!

Along the way, we caught up with my brother and his family who were in MI visiting my sis-in-law's parents.  It's always great to see the little guys. 😁

And then... Saturday evening we made Hillsdale.  Marz drops me like a hot potato, or maybe I dropped her like one... 🤔, to find her friends that she has been missing all summer, and I head to the hotel.    

College Road Trip #2 is completed!