Well, we finally decided what we wanted to do for our tenth wedding anniversary! We will be going to Isle Royale during the GM shutdown. Last year we were talking about doing this and it was on again off again. We thought about a few other places, but I think we finally convinced ourselves that this something that we wanted to do and could actually do it.

The ferry tickets are bought and the park fees are paid (no going back now!) I’ve been doing a lot of research and will try to keep this blog updated with our plans, gear, etc.

Our itinerary is as follows:
* 07.04.2016 – Leave Copper Harbor and Arrive at Rock Harbor via Queen Royale IV
* 07.04.2016 – Hike 6.9 miles to Lane Cove
* 07.05.2016 – Hike 6.9 miles to Daisy Farm
* 07.06.2016 – Hike 4.4 miles to Three Mile
* 07.07.2016 – Hike 2.7 miles to Rock Harbor
* 07.07.2016 – Leave Rock Harbor
* 07.07.2016 – First Night Stay at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge
* 07.08.2016 – Second Night Stay at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge

We are getting super excited and have already started to buy some of the gear we will need. We should be getting our packs and hiking boots this week!

Henry is really big into cars and trucks at the moment. He saw a commercial for a monster truck show at the Dow Event Center and got super excited. I decided I had to take him to the show.

I bought the tickets and a pair of earmuff style protectors. When they came in I had him put them on and it looked like he would wear them (phew… wasn’t sure how that was going to go).

The show was last weekend and we both had a lot of fun. The trucks came out and we got to see a wheelie contest, some racing, and freestyle. They also had a smart car equipped with a jet engine. I think Henry’s favorite part was just after intermission when Megasaurus came out.

He was a fire-breathing, car-shredding vehicle. Henry kept pointing and telling me “eat car, yuck!” It was a lot of fun, I’m sure we will be going next year and bringing Ollie along with us!

Well it was an exicting day today… Going into work this morning, the roads were horrible and visibility wasn’t much better. On the way to drop the kids off at daycare, I took note that side roads were not great and decided I better stick to the highways.

On my way down 475, just before my exit I noticed there were headlights on my side of the road. I thought okay, someone got turned around, but I did not see what was coming next…

They decided to pull out in traffic and cross all three lanes of the interstate. I was in the lane furthest to the right and the car was just in front of me… I was about to t-bone them, I hit the brakes and the anti-lock kicked in, I was not stopping! They managed to get corrected and I wasn’t able to slow down much. I reacted quickly and drove on the shoulder to get around them. I noticed they started to fishtail and I punched the gas and was able to get around them without incident.

I got to work and couldn’t believe what just happened… I was shaking for at least an hour afterward. Luckily, there was no damage to either vehicle (I did check the side panel because I didn’t know how close I came to the guard rail).

Conditions didn’t improve much for the day, at least the roads were plowed and salted. About ten minutes out from the house, I get a call from Susan that she was in the ditch. I made sure she and the kids were okay and said I would be there soon (she overshot the driveway).

When I got there, the neighbor had gotten a hold of his friend with a tow strap and four-wheel drive truck. We swapped the kids over to the Explorer and Susan brought them into the house. I was able to latch the tow strap to the Focus and we were out of the ditch in a few minutes (guess I should have put the orange markers out before the snow fell…)