Midwest Road Trip - Day 9 - Race Day and Heading Home

After 8 months of training for the big race, the day finally came! After a restless night, Mark and I were up early, and decided to take an earlier ferry over to the island. We were going to grab some breakfast on our way over to the island, but apparently the continental breakfast at our hotel didn't open until 7:30am (kinda late, doncha think?!), so we grabbed a couple Nutri-grain bars from the hotel room and went over to the island without much in our tummies.

WE both did well on the race (I finished in 87:57 and Mark in 80:19) and I ran back quick to get the camera from the locker so we could leave some sort of proof that we actually ran the race lol We downed about half a dozen oranges between the two of us, as well as a handful of bananas and quite a bit of water lol Hey - we'd juts ran 8 miles with only a Nutri-grain bar in our tums!!

By the time I got back and we found our times in the hotel activity center (and freshening up secretly in the Mission Point restrooms), we walked downtown again and had lunch at the Irish Pub. Mark had a chicken sandwich and I had a wrap.

I had downed about 4 large glasses of iced tea over lunch, thinking it would help hydrate me. I should've stuck with water, though. I ended up feeling horribly dehydrated for a few hours after lunch, and thought I was going to throw up.

We walked to the nearby park and attempted a nap on the lawn, making sure to pick a spot without any bird poo, since the seagulls were abundant. I remember laying on the grassy area in the park downtown just feeling miserable.

After resting for an hour or so, we walked down to Kilwin's for another Mackinac Island Mud Fudge cone and relaxed in the little shopping center around the corner.

When I finally started feeling more back to normal, we found a bike rental place right next to the ferry dock and rented a couple bikes. We took a nice, relaxing bike ride around the island before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

This island is so beautiful! We thoroughly enjoyed the ride around it, and stopped quite a bit along the way to take it all in.

Mackinac Island was amazing and wonderful! Next time we go back, I'd probably not go there and plan to run a race around the island, as we didn't do as much as we would have liked to because we were taking it easy before the race.

We truly had a really wonderful time on this road trip! We thoroughly enjoyed every stop along the way, and will look back fondly on it for years to come.

Midwest Road Trip - Day 8 - Pre-Race Day and Back to the Mainland

We slept in again (this is becoming a trend, I think lol), then checked out around 10am and headed down to sit on the Adirondack chairs on the green for an hour before we decided to play that game of mini-golf we had passed on the night before. The course was still pretty damp, but we had fun anyway. We also were very excited to have a real crane (the bird) hanging out on the course with us. We had the paparazzi on our trail, or rather the crane's trail lol

After golfing, we made our way down to Mary's Bistro for lunch, and had a great lunch on the deck by the docks, eating and filling out a few postcards.

After lunch, we mailed the post cards, then slowly made our way up, past the Missionary Bark Chapel, to Fort Mackinac.


We made it up the very steep hill to Fort Mackinac just in time for the canon firing demonstration. Afterward, we continued to explore around a bit, also taking in a gun firing demonstration.

It was fun exploring Fort Mackinac, but at this point in the trip, we were pretty exhausted. We had fun taking in the breathtaking views and exploring the housing and old buildings. We also had fun messing around in the kids' corner (especially Mark). But we only spent an hour or so there before heading back down to the docks to catch a ferry back down to the mainland.



After a long trek down the steep decline from Fort Mackinac, we headed to the dock and caught our ferry back to the mainland. We so enjoyed our stay on Mackinac Island, but it wasn't goodbye just yet! We were looking forward to another day on the island for the race the next day!

Once we got settled into our hotel in Mackinaw City, we relaxed for a while, then headed downtown to Cunningham's for a yummy spaghetti supper before getting to bed early, resting up for the big race and another day on Mackinac Island!

Midwest Road Trip - Day 7 - Mackinac Island

We slept in until 8am, then, while Mark caught up on a little emailing and facebooking, I took my book and a cup of coffee out to the white adirondak porch swing and read for a while.

We went for a short, brutal 4-mile run around the east side of the island around 10:15, which, with all the walking we did, didn't put us home until noon. However, in our defense, we also climbed what seemed like 200 steps up to view the Arch Rock, which was really beautiful! We decided it was a good idea to get that climb out of the way while we were already hot and sweaty lol

After a shower and getting ready for the day, we walked back downtown for lunch at Goodfellows, where we had some pretty fantastic wings. We sat there a while, still trying to recoup from the morning run, then decided to rest a bit longer by taking a carriage tour around the island.

It was nice to just sit there and let the horses do all the work for a couple hours, and also neat to hear about the history of the island, as well as a few made-up stories by the carriage driver (whatever they're called).

After the carriage ride, we stopped at Kilwin's for some ice cream, then headed back near the hotel, where we sat in the adirondak chairs facing the shoreline for a couple hours.

When we were good and rested, we walked to the Bistro on the Green for supper. Mark had a good bacon burger while I had a Southwest Chicken Sandwich. Both were delicious! We thought about put-putting, but decided to save it for the next day, as it was getting dark already, and the course had no lights.

Instead, we headed back up to the lodge to sit by the fireplace for an hour or so - Mark computering-it-up, Amy plugging away at her novel, before heading to bed again.

It was a wonderful and exhausting day on Mackinac, which left us feeling much more nervous about the race with our disaster of a run, but still such a relaxing day!

Midwest Road Trip - Day 6 - Kalamazoo to Mackinac

We woke up and went down for breakfast the next morning and relaxed for a while before getting on the road to head to Byron Center. We met my cousin Katy and her sweet little boy Berrit for an early lunch there.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful until we reached Mackinac Island. We got there just in time to catch the 5pm ferry to the island and we were unpacked and ready to find our hotel by 5:30pm.

On Mackinac Island, they don't have any vehicles aside from an ambulance, so everything is powered by horses or pedal power (bikes). We took the horse-drawn carriage taxi.

We LOVED our hotel. I can't imagine how incredible it must have been when it was first constructed. It was obviously a little worn in, but still so regal and majestic. We fell in love with it quickly, even though it didn't have any a/c. We were glad there were mild temperatures while we were there!

We didn't waste much time walking into town to explore!

The homes and buildings on Mackinac Island are just so cozy and adorable! We picked out at least a dozen that we wanted to buy and live in :)

I don't really recall where we ate that night, but we enjoyed the incredible sunset over the bridge.

We slowly made our way back to Mission Point and settled in for the night. We spent an hour or so just relaxing by the fireplace in the lobby, which is something I will have engrained in my mind for years to come. We really hope to return here some day to just relax without the pressure of the big race on our minds.

Midwest Road Trip - Day 5 - Indiana to Michigan

We woke up early, got ready, packed our things, ate some breakfast, and then headed over to Dan and Sarah's in time to say goodbye to everyone, and to watch Eli and Hannah while Sarah took Jacob to his first day of preschool. It was nice to have some snuggle time with the newest little Ropte, and we were able to say "bye bye" to Hannah, who was sound asleep when we stopped by the night before.

We were on our way to Warsaw shortly before 10am, and made it there in time for lunch with an old friend of mine from high school - Shawna (Jackson) Harshman and her little man, Owen. We lunched at Penguin Point (where I worked for a month shortly before we moved to Iowa in 1998). After lunch, we went over to Center Lake park for a while so Owen could play on the equipment. Was so great to catch up with Shawna after so many years!!

We drove around a while after the park to see a few sights in the area, but needed to find some wireless internet to check our route for the next leg of the trip, so we made a trip to my old favorite place in the world - Courthouse Coffee :) We spent a good hour there, me enjoying a yummy white-chocolate hazelnut latte; Mark enjoying a junky conversation with Jamie about hunting and fishing.

After the coffee shop, we drove down by my old house growing up, checked out the old neighborhood, and went for walk down to the tressel. Of course, we were living dangerously by walking on the train tracks, and were warned by the little train truck guy that this was "not a smart move", but we pressed on anyway. Of course, it was drizzling by the time we got to the tressel, and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos, so we gave up and walked back to the car.

We drove around the block a time or two, down to Kelly Park, back around by the schools, and then out to our old church out in the middle of nowhere before a short stop at Kohl's on our way up to Middlebury for supper at Das Dutchen Essenhaus. It was so delicious!!!! We ate entirely way too much and had to take our dessert with us.

We checked into our hotel in Kalamazoo around 8:30pm, and hurried to get our workout clothes on and down to the fitness center down the road to log our 5 mile run for the night. Treadmill running is pretty awful, and I am not at all looking forward to the winter months of running inside :( We got back, gave away half our dessert to the girl at the front desk, and split the other one, then showered, and off to bed.

It was a wonderful day, and fun to see all the changes in Warsaw, and fun to experience a bit of the Amish countryside: We passed a couple horse-drawn buggies. Beautiful trip all around, and cannot wait for tomorrow to make the final leg of our journey up to Mackinac Island...and lunch with my cousin and her little guy :)

Midwest Road Trip - Day 4 - Another Day in Noblesville

We were up, had breakfast and were to Dan and Sarah’s around 10:30 on Labor Day. We visited for a while, then Mark, Dan and I took the kids to the park to give Sarah a little more time with baby Eli. The kids had a great time climbing around and throwing their little balls around. Hannah really enjoyed the swing. Dan and Mark tossed around the football a little bit.

After the park, we headed home for some sandwiches for lunch, and took a little nap afterwards. Mark and I went for our long run from Sunday that we missed, which was a pretty rough one. It was pretty hot and humid out, and we should have probably gone earlier in the day. If we made it 4 miles, I’d be shocked, and with all the walking we did, it wasn’t very impressive. Hopefully we do better on our BIG run, less than a week away!

We got back and visited with Dan while the kids napped and Sarah was busy with Eli. It was fun reminiscing about days back at our old house in Warsaw, which we found was actually up for sale! Mark and I toyed with the idea of calling to see if we could get a showing for the next day, but decided against it.

Mark and I headed back to our hotel around 4:45 to get showered up and ready for supper with some old friends of Amy’s from high school in Warsaw. We stopped at the mall in Castleton for a few minutes before we met at Buca di Beppo with Mel and Joe, Karen, and some of Karen’s good friends from her college days. We had a wonderful time catching up, and hope it’s not FIVE more years inbetween visits again!

After supper, we stopped back at the mall to Dick’s Sporting Goods and picked up a couple clearance tubes and rafts for next summer on the lake! We then went back over to Dan and Sarah’s to visit a bit more, and decided to come back the next morning to help watch Eli and Hannah while Sarah took Jacob to his first day of preschool.

We had such a nice visit in Noblesville, but are also looking forward to a fun day in Warsaw, and the rest of the week up in northern Michigan at Mackinac Island!

Midwest Road Trip - Day 3 - Lazy Day in Noblesville

After sleeping in a bit, we got up, had some breakfast, and then relaxed a bit before heading over to Dan and Sarah's for the day. We stopped at the store on the way over there to pick up supplies for meatloaf for lunch, and I put it together and in the oven when we got there. While it was baking, we visited with Dan and played with the kids for a while.

We all enjoyed lunch together (Jacob even ate all his meatloaf!), and then took turns taking naps for the afternoon lol What can I say - traveling and parenting is hard work!

After naptime (which everyone except Jacob participated in), we visited a while before deciding on some Little Caesar's for supper. I went to go pick the pizza up, and we gobbled it all down pretty quickly (napping apparently also makes us hungry), then visited somemore before getting the kids ready for bed. I read some stories to Hannah and put her to bed, then Mark and I went for a walk while Dan and Sarah got the other 2 kiddos off to bed. We visited for a couple more hours before heading back to our hotel for the night. It was a nice, relaxing day to get caught up after two long days on the road. We're so looking forward to another day with the family, and supper at Buca with some of my friends from Warsaw days!

Midwest Road Trip - Day 2 - Iowa to Indiana

We were up by 6:30am and on our way an hour later, looking forward to an early arrival in Indy. We arrived at our hotel in Castleton around 1:30pm, checked in, and relaxed a bit before finding some lunch, then heading to Dan and Sarah's in Noblesville, where we met Sarah and Eli. We drove Sarah up to Winona Lake for the night and met Dan there, as they had a wedding to attend.

While they were at the wedding, Mark and I took their other car and I showed Mark around Winona Lake a bit, before we had supper at the Boathouse Restaurant. Mark had the California Sandwich (or something like that), and I had the fish tacos. YUM!! I'd highly recommend it!

After supper, we looked around a bit at the shoppes down there, found a couple things, and stopped at a little ice cream shop where Mark had an ice cream cone and I had a vanilla creme latte.

We took a short little walk around the area a bit, then got back in the car and headed back for Indy. Of course, I had to show Mark where I grew up on Ra-mar Drive (what a change!!), and crazy enough, the house I grew up in was for sale!

Hmmm...wonder if I could convince Mark we should buy it and move back?! lol (jk) We also drove by my elementary, middle and high school on our way out of town.

It was getting kinda dark, so it was hard to see anyways, but we'll be back there on Tuesday, so we can see it a bit better in the daylight then :)

All in all, a great day, albeit very long! We're so excited to spend more time with Dan, Sarah and the kids tomorrow :) But for now...off to bed!