The Servant's Quarters

Man, are we all tired.

Today, we made our annual trek to Mackinac and Michigan's Upper Pennisula. In addition to the usual horde of Butler's, we brought alone the most excitable dog in the world, Walker. We managed to get out during the morning hours, but our arrival at the Straits was delayed by the inevitable stop at Sea Shell City, tourist trap extraordinare.

Our first stop in Mackinaw City was the park right on Lake Huron, where we ate a picnic lunch within sight of the Mackinac Bridge. Various sandwiches and milk were on the menu, and the seagulls pretty much left us alone. In fact, they were hardly the most difficult form of animal life that we had to contend with.

Walker was much worse. Everytime the kids wandered away to skip stones or explore the beach, he went nuts. We finally just took him back to the car.

After that we decided that Tahquamenon Falls was the vacation destination for us. So we crossed the bridge to the Upper Pennisula. However, before heading to the Falls, we took a brief side trip to the latest attraction in St. Ignace - The Weird Michigan Wax Museum. We sincerely wondered if this was a place we should go. The brochure promised murder, mayhem, hauntings, etc. Potentially scary stuff. But the kids were intrigued and the adults were somewhat curious, too. So, we decided to risk it, agreeing that any child that was too weirded out by the displays could be pulled from the joint.

When we pulled up, there were two things that were obvious at once - this place was brand spanking new and we were the only ones there. A young man who turned out to be the owner took our money. He told us that he had been in business for three months and was doing well. He told us that we could take our time and enjoy the many displays of wax figures awaiting us. We went in.

What followed was about a dozen scenes from Michigan history and lore in a single darkened hallway. To say that it was intriguing would have been to overstate matters. To say that it was fun may have been acurrate. (We had a lot of fun laughing at the cheesey displays.) To say that it was educational would have been stretching things to the breaking point. Needless to say, we witnessed recreations of such iconic moments in Michigan history as the Snake Princess of Belle Isle, the Soop Cemetary Hauntings, the Bearded Baseball Team, The Wooden Leg Killer of Grand Rapids, the Civil War Soldier who was actually a Michigan Woman, The Dog Man of Michigan (pictured below), and the Melonheads.

That's right. Melonheads.

Still not sure about that one.

Vowing never to return, we turned the call toward Tahquamenon Falls. Just north of St. Ignace, the first sign we saw told us that we had over an hour to drive. Yikes. We debated for about 15 minutes, and since it was already 4:00 PM, we decided to retreat back to Mackinaw City. There, we ate at Audies, bought fudge, and did a little bit of shopping.

Then, we jumped back into the car and returned to Higgins Lake.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this entry. We are all bushed.

More tomorrow. Good night all.......