2015-06-24: Road Trip Day #5 Heading South Through Michigan to Ohio

This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise over Lake Huron, Michigan. But unfortunately that also means our vacations winding down and it's time to start heading south again.

Before leaving St Ignace, MI and driving back over the Mackinaw Bridge, we stop at St Anthony's Rock and get the answers needed to claim a find on this earthcache.

Across the bridge and into Mackinaw City where we find the coolest Starbucks we've ever seen. It's got a sort of log cabin theme going on.

Because we had quickly come up through Ohio and Michigan to get to Mackinaw, going southbound we're taking out time and Geocaching in new counties and looking for caches of interest. Several caches later and we came across this creative travel bug hotel that resembles a bird house with a side door.

Continuing southbound and a few more Geocaches later was this virtual cache in Roscommon, MI at the Michigan State Firefighters Memorial.

Another virtual Geocache and historical site further south, was the Michigan Central Freighthouse built in 1878 in the town of Ypsilanti.

Just a few miles from there was another virtual cache and statue of early explorer Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur De La Salle.

The last cache to highlight today was a cemetery cache in Toledo Memorial Park. A virtual Geocache for Mildred Wirt Benson, the author of the Nancy Drew Detective series of books.

For day #5 of our road trip, we ended up with 15 traditional caches, 6 virtual caches, and one earthcache for a total of 22 Geocaches. Our day ended in Findlay, Ohio. I wonder what's in store for tomorrow.

2015-06-23: Road Trip Day #4 Geocaching and Hiking Around Mackinaw Island

Wow, what a great day! We work up to a surprisingly cold morning. Being from Florida, we were NOT prepared for that. I mean it's June right. We didn't bring any jackets, so that was first on our agenda!

We knew a big day was ahead so it was an early start and all the stores downtown were still closed. Luckily when we arrived at ferry dock, they had a gift shop there with plenty of jackets and sweaters to choose from!

When you're used to seeing cars on the streets, Mackinaw Island was a strange place to visit. Since 1898, all motorized vehicles are prohibited except snow mobiles during winter and emergency vehicles. Walking through the downtown area kinda reminded me of walking through Main Street at Disney World.

OK, first stop was a little breakfast cafe for some food followed by a Starbucks. Then it was time for some sightseeing, hiking, and Geocaching! Our first cache was just a block off the main road on Market Street. It was an easy cache disguised as a birdhouse. I grabbed the log sheet and ... wait... DARN! I forgot our stamp in the car back on the mainland. No problem, I'll use the old fashion p... Oh wait, I forgot the pen back in the car! It's a good thing we didn't go very far! Back to the shops and I find a store to buy a pen and some extra batteries for the GPS just in case. We go back to sign the log and move on the next one.

Next was a hill climb. As you walk away from the shoreline, the elevation increases. A nice little workout for a cache and a good view of the harbor.

From there the plan was to hike the 8 mile perimeter around the island and grab as many caches as we could. I had every cache on the Island saved into my phone, but only the perimeter caches saved into my GPS. Back down the hill we went.

The next cache of interest is an earthcache for Dwightwood Springs named after Dwight Hulbert Wood, the son of Edwin O. Wood of Flint, MI. In 1909 he donated money towards the springs in memory of his son.

From the springs, you take a hike up some stairs 100 feet almost straight up to get to the Arch Rock, and another earthcache. It was an incredible view from up there.

Before heading back down the stairs to the perimeter road, we followed a hiking trail through the woods to grab another geocache up there.

Several caches later and about the same time, both of our phone batteries died. So no more photos from us. Luckily, I did program the remaining perimeter caches into the GPS.

In total we hiked about 9 miles and managed to find 52 geocaches. We didn't get to see everything we wanted to see. One day we'll be back to stay longer. Maybe if we're lucky enough we'll stay at the famous Grand Hotel.

By the end of the day, the skies had cleared and we enjoyed the relaxing view from our hotel.

2015-06-22: Road Trip Day #3 Moving Quickly Through Ohio and Michigan.

So today is Monday and we started out just barely into Ohio. We enjoy our stops Geocaching and sightseeing, but it does slow down progress. So we wanted to arrive in Mackinaw today, giving us a full day on the Island tomorrow and still enough time not to have to rush getting back to Florida. Plus the weather was a little overcast with some off and on rain showers.

So after checking out of the hotel this morning, we grabbed a few nearby caches before jumping back onto I-75 northbound. We drove straight through Ohio and into Michigan. Two quick caches at a gas stop in Brighton, MI and a stop up in Hartland, MI to grab this virtual cache at the Hartland Music Hall, formerly the Hartland First Congregational Church built in 1858.

One more rest area break and a geocache in lower Michigan before crossing the huge Mackinaw Bridge to Upper Michigan.

We checked into Quality Inn Lakeside in St Ignace, MI overlooking Lake Huron and had this great view! The weather is supposed to clear up by tomorrow. Hopefully so because we're heading over to Mackinaw Island for some sightseeing.