Sunday morning (July 30) was our last day of vacation. We woke in our hotel in Ludington, Michigan, got ready, grabbed a quick bite to eat downstairs and then headed to the marina to board the S.S. Badger for our ferry ride across the lake.
Once aboard the ferry, we found a table in the back to settle in for the four hour trip to Wisconsin. We enjoyed the view out back, coloring, playing legos and (for me) organizing photos from our trip on my computer. We also enjoyed watching the crew as they drove all of the vehicles onto the ship in reverse (something I could not do) including our own van, campers and even a semi truck! We also enjoyed waving goodbye to those on land as we sailed off into open waters.
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| Our van boarding the ship |
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| Asher's work. |
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| A tanker truck! |
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| Leaving the marina. |
The ride from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin took 4 hours and we did not spend all of that time at our table. We also used some of the time to explore the ship and also changed Avery an INSANE amount of times (not sure what the problem was but we used up every diaper I'd brought with me and also a new change of clothes!).
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| Avery playing in the gift shop. He loved this little horse that walked around by itself. |
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| A model of the ship. |
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| At the bar waiting for a drink...coke for Eric and smoothies for the boys and me. |
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| Asher steering the ship! ;) |
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| Checking out the Bow of the Ship |
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| "I'd like fries & a large coke!" |
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| Asher with his Lego creation. |
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| "Hi Daddy!" |
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| I tried to get Avery to put on this hat in the gift shop so I could take a picture. When he wouldn't do it I took a picture of myself with it hoping he would get jealous and want a picture to. He didn't. :( |
Near the end of our ride to Wisconsin, we gathered up all of our stuff and headed from the Stern of the ship to the Bow to watch as we made our way into shore.
About 15 minutes later we were ready to dock in Manitowoc. I was immediately struck by the lake's difference in color. Here, the water was basically brown, but in Michigan the lake had been crystal clear blues and greens as if we were in the Caribbean. What a difference the cities make. :(
Video: Where are we Avery?
The ship docked and we held back for a few minutes to wait out the crowd and feed the seagulls a bagel Eric had in his backpack. Then it was our turn to leave the ship and find our van to head home.
After finding our van, we loaded up and said goodbye to the S.S. Badger. I wasn't sure what I would think of spending so much money for a ride across the lake, but in the end I'd say that we had a good time and it beat spending an additional 3-4 hours in the car! We will probably do it again someday!
From the marina, we headed to find some lunch and figured that Culver's was a good destination being that we were back in it's homeland. We enjoyed our lunch (saving the boy's free ice creams for later) and drove back to Kenosha where we picked up some Culver's treats and headed home.
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| The mess to clean up. |
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| One little boy + One Culver's treat = One BIG Mess! |
Once home, we unloaded the van and got things put away as best as possible, had an easy dinner and then snuggled in on the couch to relax and watch a movie before bed. Our vacation was officially over, but the memories will last! <3
The ferry looked fun! The lego suitcase was a good idea! I'll have to keep that in mind for our next trip!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun. It was a bit pricey, but I think I'd do it again. As for the legos, it was totally Asher's idea, but it worked great! He spent a lot of time in the car playing with them and building things. I'm planning to get a suitcase set for Avery for his birthday so they can each have one.
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