Leaf Peepers

This last weekend Tom and I took a three day trip up into Northern Michigan to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed two nights in Mackinaw City which is the last city you come to before crossing the bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or U.P. The city itself is rather small but has a diverse range of fudge shops, local restaurant dives and tee-shirt shops. On Saturday we drove up into the U.P. in search of the beautiful color change that is so unique to this area. This weekend and next weekend were supposed to be the peak times to see color change in the U.P. and guess what? Global warming has stuck once again. Because of the uncharacteristically hot and dry summer, the leaves are falling off of the trees while still green! We talked to a guy who worked at one of the light houses out on the Peninsula and he told us that last year they didn't get snow until after New Years and Lake Superior hasn't frozen over completely in something like six years. Hmmm...how frustrating. We did, however, get to see some color, lots of lighthouses, beaches, really neat homes and we finally found out what a pastie was. Oh, by the way, the Yoopers of Northern Michigan have a name for people like us...leaf peepers =)

On Sunday we took a short ferry ride over to the island of Mackinac which was very reminiscent of a foot ferry traveling across the Puget Sound. Mackinac Island is found in the straight between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. They don't let any motor vehicles on the roads so the main source of transportation there is bicycles and horses. It took Tom and I about 1.5 hours to ride the 8 miles around the island. It was so beautiful, not to mention peaceful. One thing we don't have in East Lansing is peace and quiet so it was a welcomed relief. The town itself is very reminiscent of a turn of the century town with it's historic buildings and horse drawn carriages. We were surprised to find that the island is a city unto itself and has its own mayor, police dept, fire dept, library and school. Tom and I decided that we will live there when we are millionaires. Hehe...a rich forensic anthropologist...that's funny.

Overall I didn't want the weekend to end. It's supposed to get up into the 80's again this week and I have way too much homework. I need to find a Master's Degree that requires lots of travel and very little studying. =)