Pastor’s Log - Sabbatical Date 3.2.6
Continuing to catch up on my Sabbatical updates. During Week 3, my parents and sister stayed
at our house with us. They also took
care of the kids while Beth and I got away for a marriage retreat on Mackinac
Island at the Grand Hotel with Jay and Laura Laffoon of Celebrate Your Marriage. Here is a recap of our weekend away…
On Friday (May 17th), Beth and I got the kids off
to school, packed up and left for the Marriage Retreat at the Grand Hotel. We left around 9 or 10 to drive north. Before crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we spent
a little time in Mackinaw City. We ate
lunch at a seafood place called Scalawags.
Then we looked around in a few of the shops before going over to the
lighthouse and taking pictures of the bridge.
We didn’t go inside that lighthouse.
We drove a little more and discovered that there was another
lighthouse not too far away, so we went to see that one as well. The McGulpin lighthouse had an outdoor, self-guided
tour that was accessible via your smart phone.
We followed this through the woods down to the coast. Then we went back up to the light house and discovered
that our timing of our weekend away was perfect! It was opening day for the
season at the lighthouse. It was very
well cared for and we decided to pay to take the tour. Unlike some of the other lighthouses we have
been too, this one allowed us to go up the tower and out onto the platform
around the light. It was REALLY neat!
From there, we crossed the bridge something that I had never
done before. On the UP side, we went to
Straights Park and looked around, taking more pictures of the bridge. We then went into St. Ignace and found our
hotel. We checked in before going to a
drive-in for dinner called Clyde’s. When
we got back to the hotel room, we watched X-men: Days of Future Past and called
it a night.
Saturday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. I read a
little from Growing Young before we went downtown to do a little shopping on a
dreary and cool morning. We had lunch at
BC Pizza. We both got the buffet because
they offered to put a gluten free pizza on the buffet for Beth.
It was overcast and rainy, so we drove around for a bit and
went to Bridgeview Park. It had a very
informative indoor display about the history of the bridge. We also went to see the Father Marquette
memorial.
Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and packed up our
stuff. We checked out of the hotel and
caught the 10:30 Shepler’s ferry. We
wanted to catch that one because it took us under the Mackinac Bridge before
going to Mackinac Island. It was very
cool, overcast and rainy so we rode below deck and did not have a great view of
the bridge; but it was still a neat experience on our way to the island.
Once there, we toured some of the downtown shops. We got pretty chilly, so we went to Horn’s
Gaslight Bar and Restaurant to get coffee and soup for lunch. We bought tickets at one of the downtown
shops to go to the butterfly house since that would give us an indoor activity. After lunch, that is where we went. It was nice enough; but with the overcast
day, the butterflies were not very active.
Thankfully, our pass allowed us to come back as many times as we wanted
while on the island. We decided that we
would return on Monday before leaving the island, if it was nice out. 
We then made our way up to the hotel. Our luggage was taken ahead of us, so we just
walked to get there. We stopped at a
quaint church along the way. When we got
to the hotel, Beth got in line to check into the hotel while I went to check into
the marriage conference. From there, we
went to our room to settle in and receive our luggage before going to the
opening session of the conference with Jay and Laura Laffoon.
After the session, we went back to the room to change for
dinner and then toured the hotel. Part
of our exploring included going up to the copula and looking around on the
porch. We went to dinner, which reminded
me a lot of the evening dinner on our cruise a few years ago. After dinner, we went to the evening session
in which He appeared on America’s Got Talent and used
it as a platform to share the gospel.
That evening there was dancing and such, but we went back to the room to
rest after a good, but full day.
Joe Castillo shared and performed a number of his Sand Stories.
Monday (technically the beginning of Week 4), we got up and
got ready. We packed our bags to be
transported to the ferry ahead of us and went down for breakfast. We had our morning session, a break, and
another session before going to lunch, which as an incredible buffet. After lunch, it was a beautiful day out, so
we made our way back to the butterfly house and this time it was INCREDIBLE!
The change in weather made for a completely different
experience the second time around. This
time, the butterflies were active and out in large numbers. It was really beautiful to see. From there we went back past the Catholic
Church and found that their museum and gift shop was open. We looked around at their display, which
included the grave of the woman who donated the land for the church. Her name was Magdalene. 
On our way back to the ferry, we looked at a model of the
first mission to the island. It was a
bark hut. We also went across the street
to another church. We caught the 3PM
ferry back to St. Ignace, got our luggage and traveled back south across the
bridge. One the other side, we stopped
to purchase some fudge in Mackinaw City before making the drive back home. On the way, we had to take a detour in Bay
City due to the bridge being out, so we stopped at Aldi to do some grocery shopping
for the week. We got home, unpacked and
prepared for the week ahead.
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