Me, Five Miles, and Mighty Mac

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Every year on Labor Day, a bridge walk takes place on the Mackinac Bridge.  The Mackinac Bridge connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas in Michigan.  The bridge opened to traffic on November 1, 1957 and the annual bridge walk has been held every labor Day since 1958.  In an average year, 50,000 to 65,000 people take part in the bridge walk.

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The Mackinac bridge is five miles long.  YES - five miles!  Isn't that crazy?
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My Mom has always wanted to do the bridge walk and decided this year was her year!  My Aunt Terri and I also went along for the fun.
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We left early on Sunday and headed up North stopping along the way in Petoskey, Charlevoix, and Harbor Springs.
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We stopped for photos at this beautiful spot right between Petoskey and Charlevoix.  How pretty is Lake Michigan?
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{ me & Mom }
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{ Mom & Aunt Terri }
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Getting closer...
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We stayed in Harbor Springs - about a half hour drive from the bridge.  After checking in to our hotel we went for drinks at Little Traverse Bay Golf Club & Restaurant. 
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We ended up going to The Pier for dinner based on good things we had heard, but it wasn't that great.  We wished we had stayed at the golf club because the food looked really good!  Next time, I guess.
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The next morning we got up VERY early and drove up to Mackinac City.  We parked and then joined the masses and walked to the buses.  They had tons of buses to take walkers to the other side of the bridge where the walk starts.  While we were waiting to board the bus we saw a rainbow.  Pretty cool!
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OK, here we go!
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The two Northbound lanes are open to traffic and the two Southbound lanes are for the walkers.
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It was a gray day, but lucky for us it never rained.
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One of the lanes is paved and the other is open grates.  A little scary to walk over.  Actually, a little scary to drive over too!
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All done!  Five miles did not feel as long as I thought it would.  We made it across in 1 hour 20 minutes.  Not bad!
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Pretty view at the end:
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This was such a fun experience.  How often do you get to spend five miles walking across a bridge?  I think that every Michigander needs to do this at least once!
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Mom & Aunt Terri - I'm so glad we did this.  It was fun!