We got a lot of driving done, today (near 400 miles) but no one was feeling very well. When we got into the hotel, I collapsed and realized that I had a fever. Then Izzy’s temperature went up to near 103 and then Marina’s too. We’re in a lovely hotel. Nancy so thoughtfully sent us champagne and strawberries! We promise to enjoy the champagne when we’re better. Right now, we’re all a mess and Em is doing her level best to keep us together.
Nice anniversary for Emily, huh?
Today is our twelfth anniversary, which means that it’s also Isla’s birthday. I’m going to pretend that the nice hotel in Minneapolis in which we’re planning to spend tonight was the result of design rather than chance. Yup. Also, we’re planning to see Scott tonight and Dan and his family tomorrow. I’m very excited about both visits, since I haven’t seen either of them in a long time and I’ve never met Dan’s kids, who are a year older than Marina and Izzy respectively.
We woke up at six o’clock today, like exactly six o’clock. We tried to fall back asleep but we failed. It’s seven o’clock now and I’d like to send shout outs to three people. The first one is to Isla. It’s her birthday and I’d like to wish her a happy birthday. The second one is to my parents; it’s their anniversary today. We’re going to go down to breakfast soon, so that’s the end.
This is the last post that I’ll make in Michigan.
Today is my friend Isla’s birthday. I miss Isla. Me and Marina are playing a game where we’re looking in a mirror and singing or just looking at yourself. And it’s a two-player game. And you have to push the person out of the way so that you can look in the mirror. It’s a fun game. Isla, when your brother grows up, you should try playing it. But down push too hard. People can get hurt. Marina has already a little.
Today I woke up at five fifty-five.
Today (Sunday) was a nice day. It has ended with some challenges, but we’re keeping it together and being (mostly) nice to each other. Long car trips can be challenging, but the kids are playing nicely, despite our exhaustion and we get to watch the Mets on Sunday night baseball in our hotel room.
The kids slept pretty late and we didn’t get out until nearly 10am. We drove northward toward the upper peninsula, stopping in Gaylord, an hour or so into the ride Note to Gaylord: putting triangular facades on your chain stores doesn’t make you a Swiss Village. The Call of the Wild Museum, though, was charming, with a lot of nature dioramas, painted backdrops and taxidermy, like the ones in the American Museum of Natural History I love so much. They gave the kids scavenger hunt lists, which kept them engaged. There was a great polar bear scene and one scary black bear that Marina could hardly look at. Down the road were some real elk in a preserve, nicely placed just next to an Elk’s lodge, but the animals were smarter than us, knowing not to wander outside in the heat.
Em was driving and I was happily navigating. We finally got our books and maps together so that we could take in a little more of the passing scene. Also, we planned a slightly shorter day so that we could stay in the upper peninsula for a night rather than continue on to Wisconsin.
We stopped again at the south end of the Mackinac bridge, in Mackinaw City, to get pasties (the local Cornish pies) and to picnic in and hike around Historic Mill Creek Park. We saw an old sugar shack and had a nice walk in the woods for an hour or so. There was a seven story tower, too, which shook nicely (unnervingly for some of us) and gave great views of the bridge and both Lake Huron to the east and Lake Michigan to the west.
We’ve seen four of the five Great Lakes, spending a lot of time around and in Lake Michigan today. We could make it a clean sweep, but it would take us an hour and a half out of our way, which is already kind of out of the way. We drove north for, like, five hours. So we’re skipping Lake Superior. I had near enough of that lake on my bike trip anyway.
After the bridge, which was in my opinion completely worth the detour, we drove west through the UP, along the north edge of the lake. We stopped in Manistique to walk along the shore, put our feet in the water, and hike out along a break to a lighthouse. By the time we got to Escanaba, an hour further down the road, it was after 7pm. We found a decent-looking steakhouse open, which make Izzy very happy, and we would have all been happy had they not bolloxed our order, forgetting a couple of things and promising what never came. Izzy had a good dinner (steak) and Marina ate about a head of broccoli, so we were fine. We talked about how we can’t control everything and the challenge of long trips is to not overreact to the blips in one’s plans, especially when you’re tired. And we were tired.
This advice was tested when we got to the hotel and found the pool closed. And the internet broken. We let the kids go all Van Halen on the hotel room, trashing it pretty bad, as long as they didn’t scream too loud.
We’ve driven just under 850 miles. We have about 350 to go tomorrow.