Day 5-Drive to St. Ignace

My sister and I decided since we were going back to Michigan for such an extended trip we wanted to make it up to Mackinac Island.  We also thought it would be a nice little break in the middle of the trip to get out of my grandma's for a bit....she is 88 and loves to just entertain, but we thought the break would be good.

We left Monday morning and took our time driving up towards St. Ignace, the town we were going to be staying in.  We arrived at Mackinac City to snap some pictures of the bridge before we crossed over to the U.P.-Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  

There was a cool lighthouse on the beach and you could check out the view of the Mackinac Bridge from the top

On the left side of the bridge is Lake Michigan, the right side is Lake Huron. It's kind of funny it's the bridge that divides the two lakes even thought they just run together

Family photo op

Allie getting slimmed with sea weed

The kids had fun splashing around on the beach for a bit

I loved the picket fence and the bridge in the distant background 

Driving over Mackinac Bridge....it's a suspension bridge and can get very windy.  If the wind gets to bad, they will send the cars over the bridge next to a semi who can provide some protection for the cars

Once we got over the bridge we arrived in St. Ignace....this was the view from our hotel deck.  We had a nice grassy area before the beach which was nice for the kids

The girls were back to the water as soon as they saw how close the beach was

I was in heaven....Pasties were every where in the U.P. There was also smoked fish and fudge about everywhere you looked.  My dad was in heaven with the smoked fish and I about vomited from the smell that it created in the car

After checking into the hotel, we headed down the highway to the dunes. My dad recalled visiting these when he was a kid.  It was miles and miles of sandy beaches along Lake Michigan...oh how I wish we had these big lakes and waves out in Idaho.   The girls and my husband just love them!!!

Blake would take the girls by his hands and run out into the waves, lifting them up as the waves came crashing in

Sophie found a little pool off of the Lake which was filled with warmer water; she enjoyed this much more

Allie having fun making sand castles with Papa

We hit up a the town's best Mexican restaurant for dinner; it was great food and what was even better were the hats the kids received for free!!!