2011-Day5-Return from the Isle and other stories

After a night without air mattresses, we pulled down the food bag that had kept its contents out of reach from the raving chipmunks. We ate pop tarts, oatmeal, and a few pieces of bacon, and then finished packing up our backpacks for the hike back to the ferry. We were told by Ranger Colin (not to be confused with Colin C.) that the ferry arrived around 11:00 and left close to 4:00 depending on the weather, so we planned on taking a hike to the light house and a tour at 2:00.

When we arrived to the ferry station, we found out the planned 4:00 had now become 11:30 due to bad weather. Even though there were four foot waves tossing the boat back and forth, it wasn’t what I would have considered bad weather. Rocking back and forth for three hours isn’t exactly ideal, and having to stop at North Manitou Island didn’t help. Luckily for Mr. R and a few others, the Dramamine kicked in to help their sea sickness. Unfortunately, Mr. G had to experience someone else’s unfortunate event running down the side of his window. The ferry that ran from Leland to North Manitou wasn’t large enough to handle the waves so our ferry cramped their campers in and we began our long ride home.

Every time you looked up to see where you where, it felt like it never got closer. Finally, we reached Leland, unpacked our bags from the ferry and started on our way back to base camp. We ate lunch which included leftover bread, lunch meat, and some snacks that we brought back from our days at the island. We set camp back up and waited for some of the people who weren’t smart enough to bring two tents.

After we had all rested, we got into the cars and drove through the Peirce Stocking Scenic Drive. We saw some beautiful sights of Lake Michigan as well as the dunes we had previously walked. After that, we drove 17 miles to the closest shower at Platte River Campground. We bought tokens at the ranger station and took nice hot showers even though they were only three minutes long. (This was hard for some of us.) We drove back and began on dinner which was pulled pork sandwiches with beans and macaroni and cheese. We settled down by the campfire provided by Luke, watched some skits, and tricked Parker into thinking his sock was untied. Also Parker confused Jake with a joke about a two two twain (choo-choo train) which made Mr. Z a proud father. I still don’t think Jake understands it. Then we all went to bed.

By: Brennan Kelly and Geoffrey Fischer

Editor: the pics are actually some catch-ups from snorkeling, plus the scenic drive/overlook and the requisite sign pics.  Enjoy!