Day 61

The Deer Ranch

Jul 6, 2013, 10:54 AM

This morning we went to The Deer Ranch in St. Ignace. It was a very nice little place and they boast they are the oldest known deer exhibit. When you go in they ask you if you'd like to purchase carrots or crackers so you can feed the deer. Thank goodness Steve had the foresight to ask them, which do the deer prefer. They have so many deer in this place and lots of babies. When you walk in the deer come right up to the fence for the carrots. They LOVED the carrots. Again, and I can't stress this enough, thank Steve for asking which they prefer! (Some of this has been added by guess who.) There was a woman that came in with a little girl and they had gotten the crackers. Steve was there giving the deer carrots and the first one we came to wanted nothing to do with the crackers. Of course the little girl looked completely crestfallen so Steve handed her a couple carrots and the deer came right to her and she was thrilled. The deer were so friendly. I guess so since everyone they encounter have food for them. It was cool. We had a great time. We were just about to leave thinking we'd seen it all when I saw there were babies in an area in the back. The grass was almost as tall as they were and we hadn't seen them before, so we walked back. Well I heard the most heart wrenching sound I'd EVER heard in my entire life. The baby deer were crying. Oh my God in heaven. It was so sad to hear. The babies were separated from the other deer and they were crying. Steve thought they wanted bottles. We had been asked not to feed the babies the carrots cause they were still being bottle fed. I thought the little babies we'd seen with the rest of the deer were the ones they were talking about, but oh no there were three of the most adorable babies and they wanted momma. How cool this little place was. We wanted to get a pin from this place. It was technically a zoo and we have been getting a pin at each zoo we come to, but they had NO pins. Come on really. This would have been an easy sell, but no pins. They did however have a penny press. Now if you have been following along since the very beginning you will remember the woman at the Atlanta Zoo that was the frequent visitor, she had pins from different zoos she was going to and she had told us that some of the smaller zoos she'd visited that didn't have pins, she would do a penny press and turn it into a pin. So I knew we were in good when we saw the penny press. Of course now I'm going to have to get the pin backs at a craft store somewhere along the way. No biggie, I can always be talked into a trip to a craft store. Again, thank Steve for making this a great stop!

Mackinaw City

Jul 6, 2013, 1:24 PM

We stopped at a Mackinaw Bridge viewing area to get some nice photos. It is a beautiful bridge. We talked with some nice kids that were asking me about the cameras I had. They were a bit envious. We chatted for a few minutes. They were really nice kids. After we moved on we went to Mackinaw City in search of pizza for lunch. I have been jonesing for pizza and since I have a wonderful husband he made sure we got some. Again, thank Steve for this. Oh my gosh, Mackinaw City was just like St. Ignace, nothing but tourist shops but we did find a pizza parlor, so I was happy. After our pizza we walked around a little bit, I spotted a wine shop that was doing wine tastings, so we walked down. Steve found a new wine he liked and we had a good time talking to the owner. I thought it was odd that they charged $5.00 for a wine tasting, you got to pick three different wines to try, but what the heck. Steve is enjoying finding new wines and how else do you do it if you don't try different wines. You sure don't want to buy a whole bottle then decide you really don't like it. Me I have no idea about wine since I don't drink at all!, but wine yuck!! The owner was nice, he gave Steve several additional wines to try, but Steve liked the first one he tried. A blueberry wine. He liked a blueberry wine when we did a wine tasting in Chiefland, Florida a while ago. So we bought one bottle, this guy was pricey, but you get to keep your wine glass. 

Oh and did I mention the caramel corn, I found a place with really good caramel corn and I couldn't help myself. I just had to get some. I love caramel corn, but it has to be good caramel corn, and when I get the good stuff I will it till I get SICK!!! I have no will power at all. Note from Steve, she is sick as I edit this. So I think this will be it for tonight, I hear a million little voices calling me. They are saying "we are right her in the cabinet, come get us, you know you want to." I hate it when they call me, I will just have to go tell them to be quiet. Bye all, if you don't hear from me again, it's because I have slipped into a coma from overdosing on caramel corn.