honey, I'm home :)

The Island
July 17, 2008

Last Thursday we planned on leaving for a very special road trip to Wisconsin for one of our kid's wedding. This has been a long and frustrating process filled with copious amounts of red tape so there was no way we were going to miss this monumentous event! We had planned on leaving in the early morning however my husband who had our boat out on the annual boat trip could not get the boat back to the marina where we have a slip because of the horrible thunderstorms the evening of their departure. He got the boat to a safe harbour and secured it for the night then came home with the other guys. The next morning we had to go and get the boat before leaving on our trip. Since we had to bring it across Lake St. Clair he needed another rider with him and asked if I wanted to go. Well, heck yes even though he had a back-up just in case. We drove to our marina to park the car where a friend met us to drive us to where the boat was. My husband was rather excited but did not hint at the surprise. We left that marina putzing rather slowly given we were supposed to be on the road to Wisconsin but the day was nice so I figured a leisurely boat ride would be a pleasant start to our road trip. He slowed the boat to a crawl and pointed - see that island? Then he calmly said you might want to take a few pictures. I asked him why. Well it turns out my 3rd great grandparents, the ones I have mentioned before farmed the property on shore but this island was owned by descendants and is still in the family now although there is no longer a cottage on it. The only way to reach the island is by boat. He found all this out through talking to a few of his friends! Here I thought he made no never mind to my genealogy. It turns out that through him I will be able to get a bit more on that line so it was a beautiful way to start the day.

I took a lot of pictures then we went up onto plane to reach cruising speed for over the lake. I didn't even mind that the lake was a bit rough. Finally we turned up the channel and headed towards the marina. Having to get the boat set us back almost 3 hours but it was worth it. We are going to take a trip to the island later this month for better pictures. I'm in seventh heaven!

Ok, so a little bit more on our road trip now the figures are coming in. The total round trip was 1170 miles with stopping 3 nights in Wisconsin and 2 nights in St. Ignace, Michigan. We ate one fast food meal (McDonald's) while waiting for the tires to be installed. Other than than we ate some very lovely meals of which you can follow on the next few entries on my cooking blog. We saw some amazing sights. Much of the roads travelled were total eye candy! Within the period of 6 days we took in Lakes St. Clair, Michigan, Huron and the Straits of Mackinac. We were very close to Lake Superior so the next trip we will see that as well. Total cost for gas was $210 at 23.25 miles per gallon. Total images downloaded today from 2 digital cards was 829. Six of those were short videos. We saved $50 on the room in St. Ignace so that cost a total of $168.30 but that came with a free roll of coins each for Kewadin (casino) where we cashed out at $49.35 to the good on the rolls and $300 up on blackjack so basically the room and meals in St. Ignace cost us nothing with a little extra left over. Total meals cost about $214 including tips. Total souvenirs cost $35. I brought home about $100 worth of cheese from Wisconsin and $50 worth of whitefish and perch from the Upper Peninsula. Total cost of the trip $427.95 less the winnings and including the fish and cheese. Total cost of seeing the smile from ear to ear on the kids face as they said their vows totally priceless!

We have beautiful new additions to our family (children and pets). It has been such a struggle that anyone without love and faith would have given up a long time ago. They didn't and now hopefully things will settle down to where the focus is not on all the rules and regulations but rather on the family and love where the focus should be. I have to brag just a little as they make a beautiful couple! And that is not just in looks but in temperments and attitude. There is just a melding where you can see the love in even the simplest things. We are truly blessed to have been able to share this very special time with the kids.

I'll be posting a series of entries on the entire trip starting tomorrow.

Garden Gnome
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