Good morning! No visitors from the raccoon overnight, but it sounds like little Joslyn's grandparents had some excitement on a few different occasions during the night!
I am so thankful that Steve did most of our packing the previous day, because it was going to be a hustle to get everything loaded up and on the road. We normally wouldn't be in rush to get on the road, but we had to be in Muskegon to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan at 4:30pm and it was a good 3 - 3 1/2 hour drive without stops.
While Steve was taking down the tent, Amaya went over to Joslyn's grandparent's campsite and chattered NON-STOP with them. Joslyn's grandpa came over and asked if he could take Amaya and the girls to the camp store. He was very nice, but I'm a little untrusting, and said that I would go with them. Amaya picked up a stuffed Yogi Bear and a few snacks for the road. She told Joslyn all about Candy Bar Bingo and the movies and the pool! Shortly after we returned from the store, Steve was all set and we were ready to go. Surprisingly, Amaya didn't cry when she had to say good-bye - we think she didn't understand that we were going home HOME and not just on another day trip.
Our trip was uneventful, it was just taking us a long time to get to Muskegon. We were a little concerned that we weren't going to make it and our tickets were non-refundable and would have to wait until the next ferry and who knows when that was scheduled! But, at 4:15pm (thanks to Steve and our GPS) we arrived in plenty of time at the Lake Express Muskegon's High Speed Ferry.
We didn't have to wait very long before we boarded - car and all! From Amaya's experience with ferries, she didn't quite understand how our car was going to get on the boat.
We were packed in VERY tight!
After parking the car, we went upstairs to find some seats. We settled in for what we thought was going to be a quick 90 minute ride.
We didn't factor in the time change, so what we thought was going to be a quick ride across the lake, ended up being a 2 1/2 hour ride. Fortunately, they provided headphones for a small fee to watch the movie HOP and there were plenty of snacks for purchase.
Once the movie was done, Steve and I took turns taking Amaya to the upper deck. It was a little windy!
I was in complete awe of how big Lake Michigan is! Last year, we saw the bottom end of the lake while we were in Chicago and to experience the lake from the top end and then ride across it - simply amazing! Here's the front of the boat.
And the back
And finally at 6:15pm... LAND - Milwaukee!
Although the fare to take the ferry was steep, it was still an incredible experience and I'm glad we did it. The ride was very comfortable and with the exception of being on the top deck, you couldn't really tell that we were moving.
We weren't impressed with Milwaukee, in fact, we wanted to get away from town as fast as we could. Just outside of Milwaukee, we stopped at an AppleBee's for dinner.
Once we hit Wisconsin Dell's, we used the restrooms, got Amaya ready for "bed" and hoped that we could stay alert and focused the remainder of the trip. Amaya asked for her light to be turned out shortly thereafter and fell asleep pretty quickly. Steve bought me a cup of coffee on the ferry, so I still had plenty of caffeine in my system to start another book (I only finished 6 books on vacation, so I was a little disappointed - I packed 10!), otherwise I normally would have fallen asleep.
And of course, I had to go to the bathroom just as we crossed into Minnesota. At the time, our government was still shut down and rest areas were CLOSED!
We made it home Saturday morning at 12:30am. As soon as I got Amaya into bed, she woke up and started sobbing. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I don't want to be home, I want to be camping!"
Steve got our essentials out of the mini-van and shortly after 1am, we CRASHED and our bed never felt better!
We weren't impressed with Milwaukee, in fact, we wanted to get away from town as fast as we could. Just outside of Milwaukee, we stopped at an AppleBee's for dinner.
Once we hit Wisconsin Dell's, we used the restrooms, got Amaya ready for "bed" and hoped that we could stay alert and focused the remainder of the trip. Amaya asked for her light to be turned out shortly thereafter and fell asleep pretty quickly. Steve bought me a cup of coffee on the ferry, so I still had plenty of caffeine in my system to start another book (I only finished 6 books on vacation, so I was a little disappointed - I packed 10!), otherwise I normally would have fallen asleep.
And of course, I had to go to the bathroom just as we crossed into Minnesota. At the time, our government was still shut down and rest areas were CLOSED!
We made it home Saturday morning at 12:30am. As soon as I got Amaya into bed, she woke up and started sobbing. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I don't want to be home, I want to be camping!"
Steve got our essentials out of the mini-van and shortly after 1am, we CRASHED and our bed never felt better!