We're Going on an Adventure!

Well, I guess we actually already went on the adventure.

This weekend, Jack and I traveled into the wild wild north of Michigan to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

We left Friday afternoon and drove straight up 1-75 towards the U.P.

Along the way, we missed all the Starbucks (bummer, because we really wanted coffee.) and stopped at random places along the way on a whim.

I really hate long car rides, so we stopped anywhere that looked interesting, like the Tanger Outlets in West Branch (the smallest outlet mall I've ever seen). We ate dinner at 9 pm at Chippewa room in Mackinac City, where we found physical evidence of the elusive Jackalope creature

and then finished out our drive, ending in Sault Ste Marie, USA where our phones politely informed us that we were in Canada and could be subject to excessive data charges.

The next day, we visited the Soo Locks, getting there just in time to see a ship pass through the boatavator.

From Google Earth, Image Copyright by Google

 If you don't know how this works, here is a nifty little diagram. Its really very cool. The difference between Lake Superior and Lake Huron is about 21 feet, which doesn't seem like much unless you are driving a 1000 ft freighter through. The Soo Locks allow ships to pass between the two lakes without having to scale or fall over the waterfall that used to be there.

On a whim, we drove out to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse, about an hour and a half from Sault Ste Marie, where we decided that future trips would be minimally planned and involved as many vistas as possible.

Here we are, all squinty faced due to sunlight. But somewhere behind us is Canada and a ship graveyard.

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Paradise, MI just south of Whitefish Point had a little restaurant/bakery called the Berry Patch where we acquired some absolutely delicious Caramel Apple Walnut Pie.

Sunday saw us down in Mackinac City for a couple hours where we debated what souvenirs to purchase. Jack bought me a print of four otters, as they are by far my favorite wild animals (not counting dragons of course). I'm going to display it in my sewing room after I get it framed.

All in all it was a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Hope your weekend was at least as much fun!