Michigan

We spent the first week of vacation in Michigan. Was nice, although (in retrospect) I didn't plan it well. We spent too much car time driving between too many places. We'd have been better to spend longer in each place and see fewer things.

Especially since most of the things we saw were "okay", but nothing great.

The first day, we drove (and drove) to Grayling, Michigan (intending to bed there, and get an early start the next day for Traverse City). When we went to bed, Mackenzie complained that her eyes hurt.

Well, on Tuesday morning, she woke up crusty. Pink eye.

So we spent the better part of Tuesday morning finding a doctor that would evaluate her. Then, since she (of course) did not bring her glasses with her (God forbid), and couldn't wear her contacts, we had to find a quickie eyeglass place. We ended up getting her prescription faxed to a place in the Traverse City mall, but by the time the glasses were made, it was already 3:30.

We did manage to get to Sleeping Bear Dunes, and also managed to buy some cherries (which, frankly, was one of the most important reasons to go to Traverse City), but we weren't able to make much of a day of it, and then had to head off for St. Ignace for the night. The drive to St. Ignace was three hours of fighting pouring/gushing/Noah rain.

One short night in a motel, then we drove to Munising (2 hours or so) to take a glass-bottomed boat tour over some shipwrecks. Interesting -- maybe not quite worth the drive and the cost ($100!), but still interesting.

We then headed to the Au Sable lighthouse, which promised to be interesting because you literally walk right past old shipwrecks on the beach on the way to the lighthouse. Well, we got there after the lighthouse had closed, but still took the walk.....and on said walk, we passed one old board -- maybe 8" by 24 " -- with a piece of metal on it. That's it.

That's it? That's the famed Au Sable shipwrecks?

Yep.

Yeesh.