Michigan Vacation Part 8: Mystery Spot

Ok, here it is...the LAST post about the Michigan trip.  On Thursday, we went to the Mystery Spot.  It was actually way cool.  It's basically just a shack where they play games with your mind/eyes. 

This was a "Who's Taller?" trick.  Somehow, the person on the right always seems to look taller even though we are standing on level cement blocks.  They had us switch places and such; I couldn't tell you what it looked like because I was standing on the blocks the whole time.

The first room in the little shack.  They don't let you see anything from the outside because it would ruin it all, so it was hot in there.

Karri said that it felt like she was standing normally with her feet flat, but definitely doesn't look like it.

Here is Josh doing one of the demonstrations...I don't quite remember this one.

Logan had to get out of this chair without using his arms...It tried and tried but couldn't ever get out.  That was fun to watch :)

Standing in this spot was the only spot that Karri and I didn't feel nauseous.  (Our tour guide in the background).

Logan climbing the WALL:

Another mind game.  This is actually a level platform.

After our tour of the Mystery Spot and after cooling down a bit in the air conditioned gift shop, the boys and I went on the zip line!  It was soo much fun!!!  I totally want to go to different places around the world and do this.  It was really cool.

This is us before:

This is me on the first line:

Josh:

Not sure who this is, but this was the second line:

After the zip line, we all went miniature golfing.  I'm telling you, this place was awesome!

They also had a fun little maze.

This place was just awesome!  We did all of these fun things in one place.  It was just totally awesome.  We had a blast!

On Friday, we took it totally easy.  We went to the beach again in the morning.  Josh left after that.  So I spent the rest of the day just chilling with my family.  I don't think we really did anything.  Most of us took a nap or two.  Then we left early Saturday morning.  I just want to say thanks to Dad and Nola for putting this all together.  We had such a great time and would definitely love to go back to this place.  It was awesome!  No bad memories from this trip!

On the way back, a few of us stopped and spent the day with my Grandma Brooks (mom's mom), some cousins and my Aunt and Uncle Foltz.  It was good to see them all and to be able to hang out with them all for a little while.  It was such a great trip.  And now, this blog can finally move onto something else.

Michigan Vacation Part 7: Lake Superior

After the hot day, we headed to Lake Superior.  But by the time we had got there, it had already cooled down a considerable amount.  A few of us put our feet in, but only Josh and Logan got completely in the lake.  Lake Superior is the farther north lake of the great lakes and is known as being the coldest...and it is :)  Here are a few pictures:

I love lighthouses, so of course...

The beach.  It had lots of sand, but also some trees and sticks.  A nice beach overall though:

The ran in and froze.  They were in there for longer than I would have thought they'd be.  They said it wasn't bad, but then again, they are male.  They froze when they got out though.

Brayden really wanted to get in the water, but it was just too cold.  He settled on playing in the sand.

The sunburn is from days before...OUCH!...but here we are right before we left.

No pictures of anyone else because they all stayed far away from the sand and water.  After this day, we had been in three of of the five Great Lakes! 

Michigan Vacation Part 6: Soo Locks & Tahquamenon Falls

While we were up in Michigan, we went even farther up north to the Soo Locks.  It was something that my dad really really wanted to see.  :)  We all went and had a great time.  The day started out a little cooler, but ended up SUPER hot.

The statue of Logan:

James:

The locks with the bridge to Canada in the background:

We did get to see two small boats go through the locks.  It was pretty interesting.

They also had a little shipwreck museum that was neat.

After Soo Locks, we ate lunch then headed up to Tahquamenon Falls.  I went here when I was probably ten, but didn't remember any of it.  At this point it was SUPER hot and soo humid, so we took the shorter trails that got directly to the falls.  While Karri, Logan and Josh took the four mile hike (crazy!).

Grandpa is one STRONG guy.  Here he is holding up this big tree all by himself:

It was beautiful there and even though it was really hot, we had a good time.  After the falls, we headed to Lake Superior, the COLDEST lake ever.

Michigan Vacation Part 5: Mackinac Island

On Tuesday, July 19th, we all got up super early (for vacation) to head to Mackinac Island.  Mackinac Island is really the only reason why most people go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  It's a touristy thing to do, but it was a lot of fun.  When we woke up, it was soooo foggy out.  We couldn't see anything while we were on the ferry.  I'm surprised that we didn't hit anything. 

Oh and I forgot to mention, we were the ONLY ones on the ferry that were going to Mackinac Island to visit; everyone else on the ferry was there to get to work.  Once we got there, we found out why...Nothing opens til 10am and and we got there at about 8!  (This is when you know you are on a Dill Family Vacation)  That's ok though, we just went for a quick, quiet stroll.  It was kind of nice cause no one was out yet.

Once places started to open up, we went on a horse drawn buggy tour ride around the town.  It was really interesting to learn about the city.  No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island (only a few exceptions for lawn care).  Also, they don't deliver mail there, residents have to pick it up at the Post Office.  There are only about 200-300 permanent residents that live on the island. 

One of the places we stopped at was the Butterfly House.  It was pretty awesome.  They were all so beautiful.

This blue one was my favorite:

It was a really amazing tour with a few other stops along the way and they told of lots of different stories about the Island.  Definitely worth going on.

A few of us checked out the stables of the Grand Hotel:

This would be THE Grand Hotel.  It is really expensive to stay there.  They don't let anyone walk the grounds.  The told us that we would have to pay $10/person just to walk to grounds!!!  If you stay at the hotel, women are not to wear pants after 6pm!  They have some crazy rules there...

The Bridge view from the island:

It was a HOT day, so we sat on the grass to rest for a while...that is until we got yelled at and had to move to another grassy area.

View of the Grand Hotel from the ferry:

We had a great time at Mackinac Island and would love to go back when we have all the money in the world :)  It was a really nice place though and fun going into all the little shops they had.  We went home hot and worn out from the day, so you know we had a great time. 

That night, we came home and celebrated Josh's BDay.  Happy Birthday, Josh!  I hope it was a good one for you.  Love you!

Five parts down...a few more to go :)  Then we can move on!