Ron, Remington and I left home about 4:40 Thursday morning. We had really good weather for the most of the trip. The only time it got a little slippery was between Kalkaska and Mancelona, but it cleared right up by the time we got to Gaylord to get on I-75. We were making such good time that we decided to stop in Mackinaw City to take a couple picture of the bridge and to let Remington stretch her legs for a few minutes.
After Remington played in the very cold Straits of Mackinac, we got back in the truck and drove over the bridge. Can you believe the bridge fare is up to $3.00 now?! Last time we were up there it was only $1.50. Ron suggested maybe they could use a white board to post the costs rather than a sign... be cheaper for them to change the fare amount. Ron was very impressed though because you could not only see a cargo ship out quite a ways in the water, but it was also clear enough to see the island. Every other time we've been up there it's been too foggy to see out very far.
We ended up making it to my parents house about 10:30am. Becca, Mom and I got snacky things ready and then we all just kind of hung out, ate, watched the Lions lose and talked. It was really nice. After a delicious dinner Becca, Mom and I took CeCe and Remington for a walk. When we got home the guys were all sleeping, so we cleaned up the kitchen and just sat around for a little while. When Ron woke up we got things ready and headed back home about 5:00pm.
The drive home was a little bit more eventful. Everything was going good until we got about 20 miles from my parents house. It started snowing that thick wet snow... and it was dark so even though it wasn't sticking to the road, it made it really hard to see. We got to Trout Lake and I asked Ron if we had enough cash to get back across the bridge.. I'm not sure if they take debit. We didn't, of course. If I'd have thought about it I would have just asked my Dad for a couple dollars before we left! So, when we got to St. Ignace we had to get off the express way to look for an ATM so we could get money for the stupid bridge. We got back on the express way, in the 
cold yucky snow that wasn't sticking to the road and starting heading back down state over the very windy bridge. By the time we got to the south side of the bridge... this is only 5 miles, mind you... the snow was sticking to the road and there was probably about 2 inches all ready there. If it wouldn't have been for the vehicles in front of us, we wouldn't have known where the road was. It was horrible. We decided to get off the express way at the Petosky exit because even though it would be traveling closer to the lake and bad weather, it's all 2 lane highway so you can go slower and there's less traffic. We couldn't drive over 40 mph, but we finally made it to Petosky and it started to clear up a little bit. The rest of the trip home was hit and miss with the snow, but never as bad as it was just across the bridge. Once we hit Cadillac it was much better and we arrived home, exhausted, but safe, around 11:30pm. Very long day! I found this weather map from Thursday evening. The purple is path we followed all the way to Petosky!
cold yucky snow that wasn't sticking to the road and starting heading back down state over the very windy bridge. By the time we got to the south side of the bridge... this is only 5 miles, mind you... the snow was sticking to the road and there was probably about 2 inches all ready there. If it wouldn't have been for the vehicles in front of us, we wouldn't have known where the road was. It was horrible. We decided to get off the express way at the Petosky exit because even though it would be traveling closer to the lake and bad weather, it's all 2 lane highway so you can go slower and there's less traffic. We couldn't drive over 40 mph, but we finally made it to Petosky and it started to clear up a little bit. The rest of the trip home was hit and miss with the snow, but never as bad as it was just across the bridge. Once we hit Cadillac it was much better and we arrived home, exhausted, but safe, around 11:30pm. Very long day! I found this weather map from Thursday evening. The purple is path we followed all the way to Petosky!We made the decision that next time we're going to hire a dog sitter so we can just spend the weekend.
