Summer Road Trip 2010: Crossing Borders

Before I leave Mackinaw City-we did make a stop at some of their stores (about the same price as the island, which surprised me-in a good way). The hotels in Mackinaw City were affordable, but I guess I expected the island to be pricier. They also have a lighthouse we visited. I'll pause and say-I love taking pictures of light houses. I love windmills too. And barns. And churches. Living in what (used to be) a prairie, granted, it's suburbanized, windmills aren't completely extinct, though they may be more ornamental, but I still want to photograph each one I pass, which is difficult, because I'm usually driving. The great thing about light houses is there is usually a parking lot nearby. Mackinaw City has a light house that overlooks their scary bridge. We walked around the (closed at the hour we went, but usually open during the day) lighthouse, and stuck our feet in the water.

Let me pause again and say-I don't love bridges. I don't like being driven over them, and I would rather eat bugs than have to be the one TO drive over one. Ironically, I am perfectly FINE walking across one, it's just moving vehicles that freak me out (I also don't like ramps, but that's for another session...on a couch....at an hourly rate.) I avoid it when possible, it's not always possible. It wasn't possible the following day, which brings me to....
OH! Canada! My cousin has never exited the country, and it was time she crossed the border. We were within minutes, and though trying to explain to customs that we were going over to Canada b/c we wanted to say we 'left the country' caused us to have to go in and get our license pulled, and records run on the way there, and our car searched on the way back, it's still important. It's important to nobody but us, but that counts on my blog. Unfortunately, we just ran across to the industrial city right across the border. I don't read kilometers, so it's a good thing we didn't go further b/c the legal mess of that ticket would have been difficult for me to maneuver, despite my expertise in such matters. We went to where the locks on the Canadian side WOULD be if they were working, but they aren't. There is a little island you can walk over the locks too see,

and evidence of some pretty busy beavers around this wet land area that leads to the lakes.

I haven't given a lot of time to the 'traveling' portion of this trip, though it took up a huge amount of time...there is just so much to say, but I will say the upper peninsula is pretty in a relaxing sort of way....sort of flat, lots of fur trees, and I kinda, sorta, am in the Christmas spirit.....that can't be good....for everyone, but me. I did select the tree I want, and I thought about just leaving a little tag with my name and address so they could ship it directly to me, save time and money without the middleman I usually go through at the tree lot in early December. ;o)

We also made a(nother) very important stop before leaving Michigan for Wisconsin at Big Boy. It was our second stop at a Big Boy in three days.

We used to have this restaurant back home, and my Mom insist on me telling 'whoever' I tell this to that the reason we went is for those memories and not because she has strange culinary taste. Let me repeat-my Mom made me put that. I have differing opinions, and I'm pulling up the paperwork now to see if I can get things rolling on adoptions for a 30....almost 31 year old who feels she'd probably best be cared for in a different family environment.