Heading West

On Wednesday we left Marquette, Michigan, and headed toward Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.  There were a lot of interesting signs along the road.  First was the gas station where you can take Pepsi showers.  That sounded a bit sticky to us, so we passed it by.

Next we came across an interesting display in a convenience store, right next to the Twinkies.  Leeches, anyone?

If you forgot to buy your leeches, you could probably find your own at "Leech Lake".

We stopped for lunch at Barker's Island, but we skipped the swimming after seeing this sign.

The funniest part of the trip was when we had a detour.  My mom thought the detour looked too long on the map, so she found an alternate route.  We ended up on the closed road, dontcha know? This video shows a little bit of what that was like.

We drove from Detroit Lakes to Bismarck, North Dakota on Thursday.  It wasn't a very exciting ride, so I don't have any pictures.  Grandma, Grandpa, and I went to see Harry Potter when we got there, while my mom went shopping at Hobby Lobby AGAIN!

This morning we took off from Bismarck, and headed to Livingston, Montana.  This was a long driving day - 8 hours!  We passed some interesting scenery along the way.

The mystery rest areas in Montana are a little confusing.  It's always a challenge to see if there really is one there.

Luckily, we did find one, but it appeared to be full of rattlesnakes.

Montana is known as the "Big Sky Country," but we prefer to call it "Big Bug Country."  Check out our windshield.

Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette, Michigan

On Tuesday morning we sadly left our hotel on Lake Huron, where the chairs were still set up for marshmallow roasting.

We drove to Sault Sainte Marie to see the Soo Locks. Lake Superior is 21 feet higher than Lake Huron, so the locks are needed for ships to travel from one lake to the other.

Here is a picture of a ship just after it entered the locks from the Lake Huron side.

After letting water into the locks from Lake Superior, you can see how the ship is much higher.

After leaving Sault Sainte Marie, we drove to Marquette, Michigan. Grandpa, my mom, and I left Grandma in the hotel to rest her leg while we went to visit Presque Isle Park. We hiked through the woods a bit.

The park is right on Lake Superior.

Erosion is a big problem here, as you can see from these pictures.

There were a lot of warnings about staying away from the cliffs.  Sadly, Wendy Wickstrom did not.

When we got back to the hotel, I went swimming with Grandma and Grandpa.  I then tried to take a shower, but we had some problems.

St. Ignace and Mackinac Island, Michigan

After Pentwater, we drove to St. Ignace, Michigan, where we spent the night in the best hotel yet. It was right on Lake Huron, with great rooms and really nice grounds. 

We quickly checked in and hurried to take a ferry to Mackinac Island. 

When we got there, we decided to take a carriage ride around the island since Grandma still couldn't walk very far. These were our chauffeurs.

This is the famous Grand Hotel.

We made a stop at a carriage museum. This was the old fire engine pumper.

The famous Arch Rock.

The Michigan governor's mansion.

When we got back to our hotel, we spent some time outside, where there was a bonfire and marshmallow roasting. The sky was amazing.