Currently, I write this with a view of the Mackinac Bridge, and I’m island-side. Goodness, I was not intending to take a blog break, but we got busy in the days leading up to our vacation, so here is a little recap.
1. Our house! When we left, the lead-paint siding was completely covered with house wrap and the work of siding/trim was starting. Ryan completed the necessary projects so the workers could move forward, we picked out the colors, and now we wait.
Red trim!
2. Speaking of Ryan, he used saved gift money to purchase a camcorder. We have some video projects underway and using the video feature on our point-and-shoot was not quite enough. He has also been working hard to get his photography website up and running. There are still some bugs in the store (such as adding different sizes of prints) but it’s getting there.
3. If house projects, a website, and video projects weren’t enough for July, Ryan has been training for a bike trip and planning another trip too. 
For organization’s sake, the next four posts will start with the dates from the 4-day bike trip that Ryan and my brother Dan have just completed. Some will be text from the emails I sent family members along the way. Stay tuned…
The intro. email to my family-
Dear Family,
Ryan and Dan are taking off on their big bike trip to Mackinaw City! The girls
and I will be meeting them each night with tents, food, and hugs too.
So here is the plan:
Thursday: bike (100 miles, mostly via the White Pine Trail) from our house to
Cadillac. Dan found it very important to do one “Century Ride,” which is 100
miles. So that will be day 1. We hope to camp at Hemlock Campground on Lake
Mitchell.
Friday: From Cadillac, they will head north to Traverse City (40 miles) where we
hope to camp at another no reservations place on a small lake, Arbutus No. 4.
State Forest Campground. For both Cadillac and TC, I also filed open-camping
permits for free state land camping if either campground is full. Since this
ride is relatively short, they hope to have time to see Old Mission Point
Lighthouse too.
Saturday: Traverse City to Petoskey (80 miles) . This is the day Ryan is most
concerned about as the terrain is very hilly and known to be windy. We have a
reservation for Petoskey State Park.
Sunday: Petoskey to Mackinaw City (40 miles, more if they diverge for scenery). This includes the Tunnel of Trees, which is a very scenic route. We will be meeting up with my family and sleeping in a hotel this evening, in preparation to boat to Mackinac Island on Monday morning.
On the Island- We will be staying in an area that is a 2 mile bike/horse ride from the
downtown, Stonecliffe. There is a big yacht race that we hope to see and plenty of other exploring to enjoy Monday through Thursday. After Thursday? We have a few more days off, but have not thought ahead to how we’ll fill them. Feel free to leave suggestions!
