July 7-16, 2016
This year we left on a Thursday afternoon when I got off work and drove up to Mackinac Island. Justin was so excited to go over the bridge. It was a really nice drive, too. Not much traffic and really low stress.
On Friday we took the ferry over to the island. We spent the day biking around the island, shopping, eating and seeing the sights. It rained pretty heavily off and on so part of the day we spent biking in the rain.
Here are the boys' rock towers they made on the beach.
Rain biking...
We also took a carriage tour around the island.
Here we are on the ferry going back to the mainland. The ferry took us under the bridge, which, again, Justin was very excited about!
Here we are in Iron River. We FINALLY made it! Driving through the UP is pretty and secluded, but there is NOTHING up there. And when you blow a radiator hose, that's not the place to be. Yeah. About 20 miles outside of Ashland all kinds of buzzers and lights all the sudden started going off in the truck and it was totally overheated. We managed to limp along to some back woods gas station and get some water that leaked out as fast as it went in, but after several cool off stops we made it to Ashland (civilization, at least). The Chevy dealership there said they were booked for a week and a half so try the auto repair guy in Iron River (30 more miles, ugh). So we held our breath and headed back out on 2. You wouldn't think it, but that stretch of road is pretty hilly and we had to stop after every single hill (sometimes not even all the way up the hill) and let the truck cool down. Meanwhile, we're all starving and had to pee, of course. FINALLY, we limped in to Iron River and stopped at the gas station. Naturally every ole timer around had to come over and give their opinion on the smoke pouring out from under the hood. ("What'dya got there? Duramax? Yup...blown head gasket. I know, I used to be a mechanic.") Down the road we go to the other gas station, which is apparently now that only place in town that sells fishing licenses. They proceed to jack around for like 40 minutes with this new electronic fishing license system ("Oh, I'm so sorry. This isn't working. We're going to have to call DNR and get this straightened out." ...at 6:00 on a Saturday, mind you....government efficiency at its finest...) Meanwhile, my head is pounding because I haven't eaten, so I decided to take the boys and walk down to the cafe, which, of course, was closed when we got there. Back to the gas station we went, and by the grace of GOD they had figured out the fishing license thing. So, on to the cabin we limped...tired, grumpy, exhausted and HUNGRY! Thank the Lord Mom had some tacos all made up! On Monday, Jim and Justin busted out the tools and lo and behold....it was a busted piece of hose about 4" long. Nothin' 3 bucks and Hardware Hanks won't fix!
On to some fishing....
On to some fishing....
The first few days were really rainy (more on this later) and crazy windy! That didn't stop Justin, of course.
Justin caught this fish but wouldn't lower himself to have his picture taken with it, so Dallas is doing the honors.
The tube was a huge hit this year. Not really so much for what you'd think, though. Mainly the boys just wanted to sit in it. They'd have us tie it onto the dock and they'd spend hours jumping in and out of it. Sometimes when we'd go out to fish they just wanted to sit in it behind the boat while we trolled around.
I tease Justin quite a bit about his crazy muskie lures. This year he broke out the craziest one of all....the baby loon. If Papaw could see us now..... "Oh Lawzy..."
Here's the real baby loon, and I have to say, the fake one looks pretty close to the mark.
Here we are playing at the Twin Bear Campground, something the boys have never done before. Daddy enjoyed some quiet time fishing.
We took Mamaw on a boat ride while the boys went blue gilling with Papaw. This was all pretty uneventful until Mom and I were helping Mamaw up the hill back to the cabin, and Mom took a tumble. Then, Mamaw decided to try and help her up (while I was saying, "No, don't. She can get up.) And down she went too....ugh....pretty gently though because I was hanging on to the other side of her, so she didn't get hurt or anything but it was kinda scary. Funny afterwards, though.
We went and played at the islands on Heart and Millicent, and Ty was very proud of this fortress that he made. He can't wait to go back next year and see if it's still there.
Jim's bass comparison
Getting ready to leave....
And now....for the grand finale.....
We didn't have to check out of the cabin until 11, so Justin wanted to take one more trip to Buskey Bay. Dallas told him to throw the "Big Purple Nasty" which is about the dumbest looking muskie lure you've ever seen, and what'dya know? It worked. Luckily for Justin, he had his lovely assistant on board pulling net duty to help him land this gorgeous 40" muskie.
This is the first muskie that Justin has caught with all of us in the boat, so that was very cool. The boys were especially excited because earlier in the week they had been saying how they had never been in the boat to actually see someone catch a muskie.
After it was measured and photographed and released, Justin immediately put his pole up and sat down and just trolled the boys around for a bit. Going out on top...Just like Peyton Manning. While we were trolling around and the boys were fishing, Ty had a little conversation with himself where he was wondering what minnows call themselves in their little minnow language. He thinks they call themselves "Skoobaloorackashano."
Dallas driving us back to the cabin...
So, we got back on the road headed home, still on a little bit of a muskie high, when it all came crashing down. Remember how I mentioned that rain we'd had earlier in the week? It was about to rear it's ugly head. Tooling down Hwy 13, we come upon a road closed sign. "Hmmm, that sucks," we think. "OK, we'll just turn down this here dirt road and go down a mile or so and get back on." Nope. As we proceeded to wind our way through dirt roads we started noticing HUGE washed out areas of road ALL OVER THE PLACE! Seemed like each one we turned down had another road closed sign and the road was all washed out, and we'd have to turn around (pulling a boat, mind you, on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.) And when I say nowhere, I mean...no road signs for the most part, no houses, no cell service, etc, etc... Long story short, we had no idea where we were or if we were going to be able to find a road back that wasn't washed out. Oh, and just for kicks, about this time the "Low Coolant Level" light came on in the truck. YIPEE!!!! Needless to say, we eventually made it home, but this year definitely takes the cake as the most interesting car ride.
