Daddy and I decided that it would be much better for us if either of us drove rather than Ninang Trining (we're more experienced with long drives than her... and driving with a baby too). It's supposed to be a four-hour non-stop trip north from Troy to St Ignace but I opted to have a few stops along the way so we could all stretch our legs and allow my son some wiggle time and allow for diaper changes. I estimated that our trip would be about six hours long with these breaks.
Naturally, my first order of business was to install my son's Clek Foonf into Ninang Trining's SUV. It was an easy installation because I'm already used to doing seatbelt installations and the lock-off mechanism of the Foonf is very convenient. I didn't expect that each time my son had to go on it, I had to check if the seatbelt was still in place. With three people riding in the same row, detaching the wrong seatbelt is easy.
Daddy's top priority was to get the SUV filled up with fuel. He and Ninang Trining went to the gas station while I was prepping Donan and our luggage. Once those were done, we had to figure out how to fit all our pieces of luggage in the limited space in the trunk (as we were bringing my son's stroller as well). Kuya Joevic lent us a mobile phone holder so I didn't have to worry about glancing down while driving.
And then we were off! We were looking at a 283-mi (455 km) drive north. I knew I could do it because I've driven that far before (going to Vigan, Ilocos Sur). Daddy rode shotgun so he could navigate, especially since it was my first time driving in Michigan. The drive was smooth and the wee one entertained himself (and all of us) with his constant choo-choo train sounds (note that we did not bring his favourite toy train). After two hours of driving, we took a break in Frankenmuth, a town known for its year-round Christmas village and German heritage. It reminded me of Solvang, actually. We ate lunch there and then we continued driving. I thought this would be a quick stop; however, Frankenmuth had chicken dinners that Ninang Trining wanted us to try. And so our pit stop became a two-hour relaxing stop (except that the wee one started having tantrums... totally expected). Our next stop was after another two-hour driving stretch. But that stop was brief; just a McDonald's snack stop. This stop had to be short because we were about to lose light and still hadn't reached the Mackinac Bridge. It would be a shame to cross one of the longest suspension bridges in the world in the dark.
One of the highlights of this long road trip was crossing the 45th parallel. This marked the midway point between the equator and the North Pole. I have always lived closer to the equator so being at this halfway point was thrilling. Also, I noticed a difference in street warning signs. I am so used to seeing deer crossing signs that I made a double-take when I saw an elk crossing sign on the I-75 after we passed the 45th parallel. I was shocked! Did the animals grow bigger the further north we went?!? After reading up a bit, I learned that moose (the biggest of the three free-roaming four-legged herbivores) are actually found in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These animals are indeed getting bigger the farther north we go!
Of course, I wanted to see deer and elk, so I slowed down slightly. Unfortunately, we didn't make any sightings. Reading up about elk sightings, I learned that it's typically in September... I arrived a tad too early. This reminds me of being in Washington, D. C. too early to see the cherry blossoms; instead, I found cherry blossom buds.
We arrived at Mackinac Bridge, the "Mighty Mac" at sunset. It connects the Upper and the Lower Peninsulas and spans the Straits of Mackinac. The wee one, who's always excited about bridges, fell asleep just before the bridge came into view. I felt a bit sad about it but I was happy that he was able to get some sleep after such an exciting day.
Finally, we reached Saint Ignace. It's good that we didn't buy ferry tickets for the same day. I predicted that with all the stops that we had to make, we wouldn't be able to get there in four hours. We were on the road for a good eight hours.
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