Awesome Vacation!!

This was the first actual vacation that we have taken as a family!! Usually when we go on "vacation" it is to visit family either in Ohio or Kentucky. So this vacation was a treat for all of us!

Now to answer the question....Where did we go??

First stop....

Over the Mackinac Bridge!!! This was my second time and only the first time for my kids and hubby!! I don't know why but each of the times we crossed this on our adventure, I was sweating bullets!! It must be the height of it or something!

Second stop(Thursday night).....

Soo Locks!!! We drove 5 hours to get there! We took the 2 hour boat tour thru the Locks going thru on the American side first and coming back thru on the Canadian side of the Locks. I am one that doesn't like water, riding in a boat, etc. BUT I did the tour and didn't even get sick! It rained on and off during the whole tour but we were still able to enjoy the sites and sounds of the Locks!

Friday morning we got up and drove on highways that looked like this to get to our next stop! It makes for a long drive when this is ALL you see!!

Third stop(Friday morning)...

Whitefish Bay Lighthouse and Shipwreck Museum!!! This was a fun adventure! The boys loved seeing all the ship replicas and artifacts recovered from the ships. I even had a couple people come up to me and say that they appreciated how well behaved my kids were and how they could tell they loved learning!

After we finished at the museum and lighthouse, it was time for heading to our fourth stop....
Lower Falls

Upper Falls

Tahquamenon Falls State Park!!! Off to see the Falls!! We went to the Lower Falls first and then on to the Upper Falls. The Lower Falls were easy to see(meaning not alot of steps from the parking lot!) However, the Upper Falls were a trek! To get to one of the observation decks for the falls we had to go down 94 steps!!! The other observation deck went down into the gorge of the river and we went down the 124 steps to the river!! Oh and just so you know the only way back up was via those same steps at each deck!!

After our afternoon at the Falls, we decided to head 20 minutes away to Oswalds' Bear Ranch! This is a family who rescue cub bears from all over the USA. They have made four different natural habitats for the bears. We also got to have our picture taken with a couple of bear cubs! The pic above is all of us looking down at one of the cubs who found my hubby's sandal strap and was trying to gnaw on it!

Friday night was one of the anxious moments occurred...my hubby and the four older kids decided to go for a dip in the hotel indoor pool after a long day of walking/hiking! While there my #3 son was jumping back into the pool after being over in the whirlpool and ended up cutting up the outside of his right foot on some of the pool tiles. According to my hubby the pool tiles had sunk or something to create sharp edges and that is what my son cut his foot on. We filed an incident report along with the hotel providing us first aid supplies to bandage his foot. Thankfully it didn't need any stitches or anything like that just some ice and tender loving care.

Saturday morning before we left town, we went to this place called Castle Rock. You pay 50 cents/person to climb 174 steps up to this rock that jets out of the landscape and you can see for miles!!

Saturday we left our vacation spots and we spent the day traveling to Ohio to visit family and friends. While traveling another anxious moment occurred...as we are traveling down the highway, a car decided to change lanes and had it not been for my hubby's quick reaction for braking the car would have changed lanes right into our front end on the passenger side at 70mph or greater!! Thankfully we did not end up in an accident but hubby and I were pretty shaken up from the whole ordeal.

Sunday was more visiting along with a family reunion before heading back to our own beds!!!

The winner of my Vacation Time Picture Guessing Game is Sara--Growing Wyse!!! She guessed the correct names of all four of the spots! Great job!! I have a little devotional book to send you called "Footprints for Women". It is inspired by the poem "Footprints" by Margaret Fishback Powers.