When the wife's away, the boys will play. We headed up to Mackinac City, and hopped on the 9:15 a.m. ferry to Mackinac Island. I hadn't told them where we would be going on our adventure, but gave them a few hints and they were excited to go for the boat ride. I had commuter passes that I picked up years ago, and the boys' passes were pre-paid, so we didn't shell out any additional dollars for the ferry.
When we landed on the island, the boys eyed up the 3D mirror maze as we walked by, and I loaded up the geocaching app on my phone. We had already located one cache in Mackinac City, and we started hiking the perimeter, stopping at a handful of the 100+ caches located all over the island.
I had packed a snack for each of us to enjoy at each mile marker on the ring road, which on a beautiful weekend day, was filled with bicyclists, a few horse-drawn carriages, and the occasional hikers like us. The last time the boys went all the way around the island, they were side-by-side in a double jogging stroller. Today, it was their turn to put in some work.
The hike took up the bulk of the day — by the time we returned to the town center, we had hiked over nine miles, and had eaten our lunches and a bunch of small snacks. I took them to the fudge shop, and they opted for rock candy on a stick, instead. There went $1.62 (instead of $20). My guys really wanted to do the mirror maze, even though I knew it would be five minutes and meh. I let them spend their own money.
A pizza joint on the island had a gal out front hawking a $10.99 dinner buffet, while a 16-inch large pepperoni pizza was only $9.99. We got one of those and the boys each got a soft-serve ice cream, for a total of $12.69.
After dinner, we took the ferry back to our car and Dad got his after-dinner treat via a stop at the brewery. The beer was free, the tip was $5, and everyone went home happy.
My wife had a fun day with family and much of the wedding party. My wife picked up lunch for herself and a friend at Knaabe's Apple Farm for $16.94 which included a margherita pizza and a flight of hard ciders. She also spent $49.71 on actual gifts in the gift shop, picking up three shirts and chocolate covered coffee beans. We don't often hit up gift shops, but we do like to support local businesses, and this one is in my wife's hometown.