Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: Road Trip Round 2: Michigan- Days 7 to 9

Our Michigan trip was winding down as we headed toward our end destination, Crystal Falls and visiting more family there.

For Friday, July 26th, before we headed to Crystal Falls, Aunt Suzi had recommended we check out this cool place called Kitch-iti-kipi Springs (kitchitee-kipee, don't worry it took me days to to be able to say it well, lol!), or Big Springs, and this place did not disappoint. It was SO cool, so awesome, and so unbelievable. Who knew? This place is Michigan's largest spring and the water was amazingly clear. You could literally see to the bottom of the spring and watch the giant fish swimming so peacefully down there. We could see lost things at the bottom, too- it was that clear. This was such a fun stop! We parked and walked in and right away you could tell this place was something else, because right at the shore even you could see how clear it was. We got in line with a group of people to ride this bottomless raft (hole in the middle of it) that is self-propelled (which my kids did not want to try) and when the raft came back, we got on with everybody else, closed the gate, and off the raft went along this cable and meanwhile you could watch the waters below and see the fish and the steam coming up. I literally could have stared all day. It was so peaceful and so amazing. Such a fun trip.

Afterwards, as we headed back to the car, I particularly liked the sign displaying old photos of how this was a tourist attraction even way back in the day. That was neat. And of course, this park, too, had a Prayer to the Woods sign. Neat place- we're so glad we made the trip here! I highly recommend it.

Next stop was Crystal Falls to see Aunt Suzi, Uncle Mike, Aunt Jody, Uncle Tom (the funny one, Annabel dubbed him when we saw them in June as they came through our town), as well as Ben's cousin Meghan, and cousin Hope with her husband Cary and their two darling little girls, Nora (whom we last saw as a baby) and Chloe (whom we'd never met). I think that's everybody- gosh it was quite the group and hence why we timed our trip just so- we could see so many people this way! The kids all played together like they'd known each other their whole lives- it was so fun to watch them! Daniel treated himself to the always-remembered-often-talked-about blueberries from Mike's garden. Daniel also remembered Suzi and Mike's long drive and totally hyped that, plus their dead end street, to Annabel (who didn't remember very much), so the kids brought their scooters and skateboards to enjoy (yes, this means they were in our trunk the whooooole week while we traveled and hopped to different hotels every two nights, haha, but we made it work- my husband packs well!). The chance to really move around was very appealing to the kids after all that driving!

Such a nice week's end, really! Great way to unwind, stay in one place for a while, get a little more active, let loose, visit, and enjoy yummy treats and home-cooked food. We were thrilled to be here!

Saturday, July 27 was more of the same, plus a stop to Grandma Mary Kay and Grandpa Larry's property on the lake, a stop in town to Ben Franklin's and other regular stops we always make, and a really fun excursion to a nice quiet local lake, Gibson Lake, for the kids (and some adults, not me though- lakes, ugh) to have fun with sand and swimming, water squirters and splashing, plus jumping off the mid-lake platform (Annabel, of course). The kids all had a blast together all day, both at the lake and at Mike & Suzi's! They got along great and Annabel and Daniel have insisted we go up again when Nora and Chloe are there, which is so cute. We're just so glad the whole weekend visit was so nice!

Sunday, July 28th, Ben's parents and Aunt Wendy started back home real early in their car, while we took a pace more our family's style, meaning letting everybody sleep in a bit, plus we had a final destination in mind. As we headed out of town, we stopped at a little water fall we'd passed on our way in, Fumee Falls. It was a quiet little place, just a small little fall of rapids, but a nice spot and a good way to end the trip with one last blast of greenery and nature!

And that's it- that's our wonderful trip! What I said about this summer being the best- yep, I meant it! Overall, the weather for our whole trip was just gorgeous and perfect, for the most part. We were able to work around any not so nice weather just fine. And the best part was we left the 100 degree weather back home- phew! Such a relief. We had some really great adventures that I'll treasure and we have many rocks to remember our trip by, too. We're so glad to have had the chance to take this trip!

Oh- and the kids are getting the travel bug now...they want to know what our next trip will be! Hmm... Better get planning!

Day 7- Friday, July 26th- Kitch-iti-kipi and Crystal Falls

The water slide hotel had giant chairs out front- the kids were more than willing to climb on up and pose for pictures!