Saturday, August 30, 2014

Mackinac Island Mini Babymoon and More Midwest Summer Trips

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."
(John Steinbeck)

I know it's still summer, but autumn and then winter will come quickly, so before the baby arrives and the Michigan snow falls, we've been trying to take quick but fun nearby trips here and there. We visited family in the Chicago area over 4th of July weekend, went to Traverse City, Michigan the weekend after that, and just came back from a quick trip to Toledo, Ohio where my husband took a 2-day exam and I explored local activities.

I'm due in November but we already had a mini babymoon too, our last little getaway before our family of 2 becomes of family of 3. September and October will be very busy and we couldn't find the time to do anything then, so almost 3 weeks ago -- at the start of my 3rd trimester -- we drove upstate to Mackinaw City and took the ferry over to Mackinac Island (pronounced MAK-in-aw).

I was originally going to break these up into 2 posts, but please see below for lots of photos from our regional trips and then from Mackinac Island. I shared a couple of bump photos from Chicago and Traverse City in my last post, "2nd Half of 2nd Trimester in My Build-A-Baby Workshop", and I'm also reposting some Instagram photos. Since it's so photo-heavy, I won't add any commentary other than basic captions.

Chicago over 4th of July Weekend

Sam with Micah and Christina
Isaiah
Pool party at my sister-in-law Grace's friend's house
Blackened tofu, BBQ chicken, and sesame-chili shrimp Korean tacos at Del Seoul

Traverse City, Michigan

Our hotel was right next to downtown Traverse City
Food truck dinner included my cherry BBQ pulled chicken sandwich
Traverse City is the cherry capital of the world
Enjoying the annual National Cherry Festival and cherry pie a la mode
Lots of cherry goodies, including cherry peanut butter
National Cherry Festival Parade
Picking sweet cherries at Rennie Orchards
We picked and bought 9 lbs. of cherries
Visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
After a sandy hike up the 110 ft.+ high Dune Climb


Toledo, Ohio

Toledo Museum of Art
The Art of Video Games, a current exhibition
Fun & Games: The Pursuit of Leisure, a current exhibition
Some of TMA's collection highlights (Glass Pavilion was closed)
Museum Cafe was really good, and QQ Kitchen take-out was tasty
Toledo Botanical Garden's beautiful grounds
Lovely Globe Centaurea
Stunning dahlias
More vibrant dahlias
Pretty roses
Vegetable garden
Polar bears, seals, hippos, and African penguins at the Toledo Zoo
Giraffes and zebras
Elephants
Zoo graffiti

Mackinac Island Mini Babymoon

Mackinac Island in Lake Huron
On the ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island
Round Island Lighthouse
Approaching the island
Lots of horses and bicycles, and no motorized vehicles
Cute bicycle planter
#mackinacisland #michiganlife #puremichigan
Mission Point Resort, where we stayed
Lakefront mini golf, and a not-so-super supermoon
About to embark on a 2-hour-long bike ride along the shoreline of the island
Bumping on a bike (carefully, of course)
Rock cairns along the coast
Me and Sam
Arch Rock
Fudge and sweet treats at Sanders, Ryba's, May's, Murdick's, and Joann's
Joann's won my own taste test, so I bought dark chocolate nut fudge to take home
Food we ate at Mission Point Resort
S'mores, carrot cake cheesecake, "coffee and donuts," and a giant cookie and brownie
The 2nd day, when we left, was very rainy but I wanted to go out on the lawn
Historic churches/chapels on Mackinac Island
Horse-drawn carriage with Fort Mackinac in background
Visit to Fort Mackinac
View of Mackinac Island marina
My belly is getting huge!
Sam at Fort Mackinac
Ferry back to Mackinaw City

As excited as I am to get closer to meeting my baby girl, I am not feeling ready. In the meantime, I'm trying to soak in these last moments of summer, and hope that time will go by slowly. Have a great Labor Day weekend!