Our Girls Weekend Away!

This last weekend, my best girl-friend Lindsey and I had a Girl's Weekend Away to Mackinaw Island in the Upper Pennisula.  Upper Michigan is my favorite place to visit and Lindsey had never been!  Our fabulous husbands took the days off work and were on for the weekend.  So thankful for them!  We headed up Friday morning - we stopped for lunch and it was freezing - thank heavens for Old Navy and some cheap yoga pants for the weekend!

We boarded the ferry and it was FREEZING like windy and so cold!!!  It was still fun but so cold!  We had brought our bikes but thankfully we were staying close to the docks so we could bike with our luggage to our hotel!  We had bought the weekend with Groupon and I was not which hotel we were staying at.  So excited when we got there and it was a beautiful hotel - actually the oldest one on the island and it had the most beautiful view!!  If you have never been to Mackinaw Island - it is a beautiful island with no cars on it - just bike and horse-drawn carriages - so awesome!!

After we checked in we decided to bike around the island for a quick spin before dinner - it was about 10 miles and it was fast but chilly for sure.  We opted for some yummy dinner at the hotel resturant - so good!  Totally a tiny grill but yummy!  We finished the evening with some crazy TLC - funny what shows seem interesting when we are exhausted and without little kids. :)

 P.S. Love this picture above in my yoga pants - I have never owned a pair of yoga pants and I loved them all day Saturday!!  So grateful we bought them!!

Saturday morning after a yummy breakfast buffet (so nice to be biking all day so I could enjoy the buffet!!) we headed for some biking around the island.  We started our day with a bike up this big hill (I only made it less than halfway - thankfully everyone was pushing their bikes up the hill!)  Our first big stop was Arch Rock - one of my favorite spots on the island!  It was quite the trek up the hills to get here.  As much as we think the kids would love this island, biking the inner part of the island would be really tough for them.  The hills and dirt paths were fun but took some effort!  We came across this funky gold statue - it is President Ford - we just thought it was funky!

After winding through, up, down, and around we came across Sugar Loaf rock and enjoyed the view!  We quickly cruised on, past the Grand Hotel, back around past our hotel to a relaxing pedicure! The salon had an amazing view and it was the perfect spot to relax and enjoy our lunch.  Our next stop was the Grand Hotel - for those that don't know it is the hotel made famous in the movie "Somewhere in Time".   It is kind of cheesy since the charge you to enter the hotel if you are not a guest. We checked everything out and even made our way to the amazing pool!  Some was cut off due to remodeling and a wedding going on but it was still so much fun.  The pool was crazy big - a capacity of 575 and a bargain price of $12 a day if you are not a guest (ya, right?).

 I love this pool area with its yellow chairs and beautiful view back to the hotel.  I also loved all the flowers that are kept up on the island - I am not sure if it is the mild weather or rain or what but the flowers are beautiful!

 Back on the bikes again and we discover the airport, the cave in the woods, and crack in the island (where Lindsey successfully wedged her belly in).  The island is a great mix of trees and water - reminds me of Oregon where my parents live - I love Northern Michigan!

 We came down for one set of trails and emptied out at this beach - it was beautiful and so blue.  The wind was strong and it was so cold but it was beautiful too!  We ended the bike ride with a lounge on the chairs at Mission Point.  It was all day and only 15 miles but it was a great ride!! Another spot at the hotel resturant and a relaxing evening.  I was started to feel sick - just a darn cold!

We planned on biking a little bit on Sunday morning but it was raining a bunch so we played cards and caught our ferry back to St. Ignace!  We made it home by the time our families got home for church!  I was whipped and starting to feel augh from this cold - still recovering but no regrets!!

It was such a fun trip - who knows where we will go next year!