A Snowy Adventure

We went to St. Ignace, Mi. This is the city that you are in when you are heading north and get off the Mackinaw Bridge. This bridge connects the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan. Gary, my parent’s friend from work, invited us to come to his cabin in the U.P. for the weekend. This was our first time up in the U.P. We all traveled with Gary in his nice big suburban. On the way, his cousin Andrew, my mom, my dad, my brother Ben and I all enjoyed a movie during the ride. This helped time pass and make the ride seem shorter. Although we were going just for the weekend, I was super excited since I had never been up north before. Up at the cabin Gary had several snowmobiles that we were going to ride. Although my brother and I were too young to drive them, they were 2-seaters and we could ride on the back. We bundled up in layers and layers to keep us warm and hopped on. They felt very big and powerful. The fact that there were no seatbelts scared me, thinking I would just fly off. Our journey started out by going along the road to get to a snowmobile path. This path was mostly in the midst of a forest and very scenic. The snow covered pine trees sparkled in the sunlight. Amazingly, we even saw deer! Every once in a while the path would cross over a side street or it would run next to a road. After several hours in the woods, we arrived at a gas station where we filled up our empty tanks. At this point, we decided we should start heading back toward the cabin since we did not bring any food with us and it would take us several more hours to return. After a wonderful, half-day journey, we arrived back at the cabin safe and sound. Do you know that feeling that you have after getting off a roller coaster? That is sort of what I felt like. My legs were like jelly and it felt weird to stand up again and not be bouncing around. Nevertheless, it was so much fun! Once we ate, relaxed and warmed up a bit, Gary asked my parents if it would be OK to let Ben and I drive a little. To my surprise, they said yes! Gary and my Dad drove 2 snowmobiles out onto the lake across from the cabin. My Mom brought the camera. Gary then instructed me sit in front of him on one and Ben to sit in front of my Dad on the other. I was nervous that the ice was going to break underneath us but Gary said the ice was very thick and not to worry. Because the lake was frozen, snow covered, and very wide open, there was nothing for us to run into. Gary explained to me how the hand throttle and brake worked. At first, my driving was very jerky but after a few minutes, I got the hang of it. Ben and my Dad soon caught up and were riding next to us. Together we made lots of big figure eights and other different patterns in the snow. At one point my brother and I even had a race. We decided the finish was a tie. Driving these big, powerful machines was very exciting and it really gave me a thrill!