westphals.net Three Boys, Mom, and Dad

Our friends Sara and Jared live in Fargo, North Dakota with their little girl Linnea. Sara is originally from Prescott, Wisconsin and her parents still live there. When we started talking about going out to visit them everybody decided it would be best to meet up in Prescott. So that's where we went July 17th to the 23rd.

The trip started at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. We decided not to risk our old minivan breaking down on the trip. So we rented one from Enterprise instead. It was a Kia Sedona and we liked it for the most part. The three boys managed to keep it pretty clean.

There are basically four ways to get to Prescott from Ypsilanti (all figures are from Google Maps):

1. Drive around the south end of Lake Michigan through Chicagoland and then north to Prescott. This route is 654 miles with an estimated drive time of 10 hours and 34 minutes.
2. Drive north over the Mackinac Bridge, west through the U.P. and then south to Prescott. This route is 786 miles and 13 hours 58 minutes.
3. Drive to Muskegon, Michigan, take the Lake Express car ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then on to Prescott. This route is 598 miles and 11 hours 34 minutes. That time includes arriving 45 minutes in advance as requested by the ferry company and the sailing time of 2 hours 30 minutes. The distance includes 80 miles across the lake.
4. Drive to Ludington, Michigan, take the S. S. Badger car ferry across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, then on to Prescott. This route is 614 miles and 14 hours 16 minutes. This time includes arriving 1 hour in advance and a 4 hour sailing time. The distance across the lake is 60 miles here.

Which option did we choose? Well, Linda and I have visited Ludington many times. In fact we got engaged at the Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park. We've always wanted to ride on the Badger, but never had a reason to go to Wisconsin. Now we do, so we decided to do the Badger route. It leaves Ludington at 8:00 am. So we actually spent our first night in Reed City with Grandpa Larry. Then we got up early and only had a one hour trip to Ludington. We didn't quite get there an hour in advance, but lots of people got there later than us.

The ride on the Badger was really nice. Linda and I made the mistake of taking Dramamine before sailing. We didn't really need it and it made us sleepy. You can't really sleep with kids to keep track of so I was very glad when that wore off before we arrived in Manitowoc. There is a lot to do on the Badger. You can sit out in the sun on the deck. There are comfy chairs inside with TVs tuned to MSNBC. They've got free Badger Bingo or other board games available. A gift shop, movie theater, museum, kids play area. There really is a lot to do on board. We got the breakfast buffet for everybody after we got out of the harbor and into the lake. If you get the chance, I'd recommend that you cross the lake on the S. S. Badger at least once!

There are lots of pictures of the Badger and the rest of the trip in the gallery.

After we got off the ship we drove all the way across Wisconsin to Prescott. The St. Croix River flows into the Mississippi River at Prescott. There's a bridge downtown that crosses the St. Croix into Minnesota. It's a nice town and a very pretty area with many trees and the two rivers. Sara's parents live a short distance out of town on a bluff above the Mississippi. You cannot see the river from their place, but if you cross the street you can see it from the back of their neighbor's yards.

Sara and Linnea share the same birthday and it took place during our visit. There was a birthday party for them at Prescott's Freedom Park under the pavilion. The kids all had a great time playing on the playground. Kieran got into a football game with some of the other guests.

A neighbor invited us all to swim in their in-ground pool as much as we liked. So we went down there a couple of days. The twins spent most of their time playing with the water and toys from outside the pool, but they got in once in a while with us. Kieran couldn't get enough of it. He liked the big slide and encouraged Mom to jump off the diving board.

We went into St. Paul one day to visit the Science Museum of Minnesota. They had a Star Wars exhibit that was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera that day. Oops. We had some time to check out other exhibits too. At least until the kids ran out of patience.

For lunch after the museum we went to The Mall of America. We really did just go for lunch. We shopped at the Lego store after lunch and then we were done at the mall. The boys wanted to do more, but that wasn't what us grownups were in the mood for. I can say I've been there now. That's enough for me.

It was a pretty low stress, laid back sort of vacation. That's the best kind. What's the point if you feel more exhausted when it's over than when you started? It was great to be able to see Sara, Jared, Linnea, and Sara's mom and dad. They were such gracious hosts letting us invade their place for most of a week.

We had to get a pretty early start on our return travel day because we had to get back to Manitowoc for the return Badger sailing at 1:15. We actually made it pretty close to an hour in advance this time. We had lunch on the ship after we cleared the harbor. Nobody took any sleepy medicine this time. I did just fine even though the lake was choppier for the return trip. As long as I could see the water I didn't feel any motion sickness. When I was in the gift shop or other interior places, I wasn't quite a comfortable. It was never a problem though. Linda spent most of the trip in a comfy chair because she was feeling it a little more than me.

The Badger is an impressive ship. It was launched in 1953 and carried rail cars most of its life. It's now exclusively a tourist/car ferry operation. The boys and I found the process of docking and undocking fascinating. I especially liked the way the captain drops the anchor and then spins the ship around it in order to line the back of the ship up with the slip in Ludington. I didn't realize it until we got home, but I should have taken a few moments to get some good pictures of the ship docked in one of its ports. Oh well, I can do that next time we're in Ludington. I'm sure we'll be going back. It felt funny to be in Ludington without getting out of the car and walking along the main drag. We couldn't since we still had to get dinner and then get back home. Since the Badger gets back to Ludington at 6:15 pm it made for a very long day!

It was a wonderful vacation. The only thing I didn't like about it was having to schedule around the Badger's sailing times. Obviously it was unavoidable, but it raised the overall vacation stress level a little bit. Once we were on board the ship it made up for it. Next time we go to visit maybe we'll take the U. P. route. If we could time it to line up with the Fall colors it could be pretty amazing. That's down the road a ways so we'll have to wait and see.