Brocation 2022, Pt. I

Here we go again, readers.

Continuing on in the tradition of the previous couple of years, the Dads once again held our annual, summer Brocation this last weekend.  Just like in 2020 and 2021, this much-beloved, summer getaway of ours consists of four days and three nights of wife-less, childless, booze-soaked action and adventure.  Six or seven dads typically sign up for the weekend, and usually it falls on Erik and I to map out itineraries and come up with a rough battle plan for each day of the trip. 

This year felt a lot more like our 2020 venture than last year's outing, which, for many of us, was a good thing.  2020, if you'll recall, was two full days of adventuring throughout the Upper Peninsula, checking out cool stuff to do around the Marquette area.  Last year's Brocation had one day of bar-hopping and sight-seeing (in the northwestern Lower Peninsula, between Traverse City and Gaylord), while the other day consisted of golf and grilling back at an AirBnB.  Not terrible, per se, but we realized afterwards that we missed the adventuring aspect of our original outing, so this year we wanted to make sure that it was chock-full of bars, sights, and exploring.

Brocation '22's Battle Wagon: a HUGE  2021 Ford Transit  .

We began planning for this weekend back in the winter/spring months, knowing exactly what part of the state we wanted to strike next:  The Straits of Mackinac.  Mitch (who used to live on the island during the summer months and work at the golf courses there while in college) and I planned out our first full day of this year's Brocation, which would be centered on the island.  With Mitch's experience on the island - knowing the ins and outs of the various bicycle rental joints, the best bars and restaurants to hit up - and my almost encyclopedic knowledge of the island's history, we spent hours creating a detailed, fool-proof plan of attack for our island day.

The following day (our second full day of the trip) would be under Erik's guidance:  he wanted to strike out from the Straits and head right up to Sault Ste Marie in order to check out the Soo Locks before zig-zagging back south, down the far-eastern stretches of the Upper Peninsula that are rarely travelled - stopping off at various dive bars all along the way - down to Drummond Island.  We would take a car ferry over across the water and ultimately attempt to hit up the most Eastern bar in the State.

As always, I made sure I had my preferred seat.  

With these plans in place, Morgan was able to rent a large, Ford Transit van for us - more than enough room to house all six guys, a couple coolers, and all of our adventuring gear.  This morning, around 9am, Morgan and Erik pulled into my driveway and the three of us made up some Bloody Marys and began to prepare The Battle Wagon for its epic adventure up North.

So, without further adieu, I leave you now with the first installment of Brocation 2022:  The Straits of Mackinac.

*cue fanfare*

Morgan, Erik and I still had an hour to kill before Collier - who usually works from home - would be finished with his last bit of work for the week, so we stopped off at the Royal Party Store to top off the coolers with ice and pick up some last-minute stuff for the trip.  Then, we swung by the Sheahan residence and loaded up Tom and his stuff.

Next up was Collier, the last team member to snatch up before we hit the road (the remaining adventurer, Mitch, had to work until the late afternoon, so he'd be driving up to Mackinaw City to meet up with us later.

Ryan and Tom work on the coolers.

I called dibs on the entire first row of the van.  No surprises there.

We set off towards the highway at long last. . . only to have to turn around because Ryan forgot a bunch of his work papers he had to drop off to Meridian High School on our way north.  So we had to backtrack a bit, and lost some time in the process (though not a lot) - you can rest assured we gave him shit for it. 

FINALLY on US-10, around 10:15am.  Fifteen minutes behind schedule. . . not too bad.

Morale high.

Our stop-off at Meridian High - where my mom used to teach - only took, like, five minutes. 

Back on the highway, listening to my recently curated Brocation 2022 playlist on Amazon Music.  As previously discussed, every year I coordinate the collaboration of music for our adventures, taking 20-25 songs from every dad going on the trip and combining into one, epic playlist that we listen to throughout the duration of the trip.  It's one of my all-time favorite traditions.

The stretch between Clare and Mackinaw City is pretty boring, but with Bloody Marys and our whoop-ass playlist it was definitely manageable.

Pulling off the Mackinaw City exit at long last, we saw this giant-ass wiener.  Clearly this restaurant is compensating for something.

We decided to park in the downtown, tourist-trap section of town, where we had easy access to multiple souvenir stores, bars, and restaurants.

None of us were really feeling like doing a whole hell of a lot of shopping, but we figured we'd pop into a couple souvenir stores just for shits and giggles.

Meh.

No one bought anything, and we only stopped into a few shops before realizing we were all ready for a couple beers and some lunch.

Erik's go-to in Mackinaw City - which he always stops off at on his way up to his family hunting property in the U.P. - is the Dixie Saloon, so we figured we'd kill some time there and recharge our batteries.

They sure do like logs in this joint.

We snagged a big, corner table on the second floor, which was pretty cool.

(Ryan's wide-angle camera on his phone makes Morgan and I look fat as hell here.)

(Collier grabbed my SLR for a bit - he's a big fan of doing that from time to time.)

The entirety of the interior of this place was covered in tourist graffiti.  Kinda cool seeing stuff like this - Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville down at the Universal Studios Boardwalk in Orlando was similarly decorated.

Chow time

I went with the whitefish and fries.  It was f***ing incredible.

After lunch and a few beers, we walked back to our cars to drop off a few things (and so I could grab my SLR for the next leg of our stop-off in Mackinaw City.)

It was about 2:30 by this point in time, and we had roughly three hours to kill before Mitch was scheduled to meet up with us, so we figured we'd walk around the downtown area and poke around a bit.

The Collier

A fine collection of weirdos spotted outside an Italian restaurant on the strip.

What the hell is happening here. . .

Erik wanted to check out this hardware store, which, he says, is one of the oldest ones in the state.

Bunch of cool knives for sale, but no one bought anything.  I did drop $3 for them to sharpen my knife in-store, but they only touched it up a little - could barely tell the difference.

To kill some time, we went upstairs above the restaurant to check out the Bridge Museum, which has a bunch of relics from the time of the bridge's construction.

There's a ton of old shit up here, chronicling the days when guys risked their lives building the bridge to connect the two peninsulas.

Hats of the trade.

Erik and Morgan poking around the museum. . .

I doubt this was used during the bridge's construction, but it's always cool checking out old turntables. . .

A vintage arcade can also be found up here.  Randomly.

After leaving the museum, we decided to head down towards the shore in order to get some pics of the bridge. . .

The Mighty Mac. . . and Ryan.

Why is Erik throwing rocks?

This lady was walking around with a giant-ass, white dog nearly the size of a bear.  Morgan had to check it out.

Erik

Ryan and Tom

One of the Shepler's ferries (we'd be taking one of these over to the island the following morning.)

Lake Huron pounds against the shore's rocks.

The lady and her bear check out one of the Coast Guard's lake cruisers.

Accurate depictions of the French, British, and American eras in Mackinac history.

Noted.

Walking back into town, we decided it was time to grab a drink somewhere.  Along the way, Tom had to climb onto this canon for a pic.

Morgan walks past the entrance to the shopping plaza.

Our destination.

Mackinac Island Brewhouse.

It was pretty dead inside - not a ton of people stopping in for drinks at 3:40pm in the afternoon. . .

Pretty cool atmosphere, though.

Still pretty full from lunch, I opted for some of these hard ciders they had on draft.  They lined the glass rim with cinnamon sugar, which was pretty tasty.

Morale still high.

After a few drinks, we popped into the adjoining winery, where Kris and I once did a wine tasting on our 10th Anniversary getaway back in 2016.

We loaded back up into the Battle Wagon and drove over to a lakefront park that bordered the colonial Fort Michilimackinac and the Bridge.  Mitch was getting close, and we told him to meet us there once he rolled into town.

Tom, under the bridge.

Lake Michigan

Whatever, sign.

Morgan, Erik, Ryan and Tom

We decided to pop into the fort's nearby souvenir store in order to use the restrooms and kill some more time.

That walkway there takes you right into the fort, but we decided to pass on that for the time being.

Ryan ended up buying a couple cheap toys for his kids while we were in there, but none of the rest of us bought anything.

Grabbing some beers from the cooler, we figured we had some time to relax a bit before Mitch showed up.

Can't complain with the view, folks.

This dude lurked around us for most of the time we were there.  We didn't have anything on us besides beer, and we weren't sure he'd appreciate one if we gave it to him.

Some old lighthouse that stands nearby the park.

Mitch showed up and we quickly got him brought up to speed with a beer and a group pic in front of the bridge.

Mitch fills us in on his day.

Another shot of the lighthouse.

Erik jumped in with Mitch and followed us over the bridge, which, as you all know very well, is not my favorite thing in the world.  I may have freaked out a little bit on the drive over.  Again.

Lake Huron.

Seriously.  F*** this bridge.

Morgan was completely unfazed.

After crossing the bridge, we drove through St. Ignace and made our way north until we hit the Kewadin Casino Resort.

The lobby of the hotel/casino.

Waiting to check in.  The rooms weren't quite ready, so we decided to venture out and check out a couple more things while we waited.

The casino floor was located a short walk from our rooms, which was pretty cool.

Back on the road, we decided to check off a some local, kitschy, tourist crap off our list while we were in the area. 

. . . and it doesn't get more kitschy than the Mystery Spot, guys.

Some of the guys hadn't visited this lame attraction before, but for $5 admission (or whatever it was), you kinda have to experience it.

I'm not sure this is 100% factual. . .

This poor high schooler clearly works for his parents.  He had been just hanging out in the gift shop on his phone when we rolled in, and the woman who charged us admission was definitely his mom.  She began barking orders at him as she lumped us in with a another group of people for the 'tour,' and told him to get off his phone and take us through the attraction.  He rolled his eyes and groaned in a way that only teenagers can muster (I speak from experience) and began a very half-hearted explanation of the Mystery Spot and all of its 'curiosities.'

This place is beyond hokey.

I'm pretty sure Erik and I are the only two guys in the group who had been there before, so we let all the other dudes 'volunteer' to test the spot's 'bizarre gravity.'

The kid was nice enough to take a group pic of us, though.  Just a bunch of dads, defying gravity.

Mission accomplished.

Loading back up in the Battle Wagon for our next stop. . .

Castle Rock

Babe the Big Blue Ox, Tom, Ryan, and Paul Bunyan.

And one with Erik and I, for good measure.

Didn't take any pictures of the walk up the rock - we were all too busy trying not to die climbing all those Goddamn stairs - but once we reached the summit we managed to take a bunch of pictures.

I usually don't venture out onto the precipice, but after a few beers throughout the day I definitely had some 'liquid courage.'

Collier took a few panoramic shots throughout the weekend, which is cool because I always forget my phone has this feature as well.

Group pic atop Castle Rock.

Awesome sunset over the Upper Peninsula.

This walkway gave me some serious vertigo. . .

No worries, there.

Back to safety after an incident-free trip back down the steps.

Finally able to check into our rooms, we were able to finally dump off our luggage.  The check-in process was a bit frustrating because the lady working the front desk was built like a Victorian Era carriage porter and had the cognitive abilities of a special needs kid - we each paid for our rooms, but Erik wasn't refunded his money (they had placed a hold on his card for all three rooms in advance to reserve them for us) for a few days.  So that was fun.

Mitch wants dinner already, dammit.

With the rooms secured, we ventured back into St. Ignace for dinner.

We settled on the Galley, a restaurant that sits right on the water.

These local mom and pop joints usually have great food.

Waiting for a table.

I need something like this for my classroom desk.

Waiting for food and drinks.

Dining area was a little dead by the time we got there, but it was after 9pm so that's not all that surprising. 

Food came fast and everyone tore in.  I still had leftovers in the van from lunch - I'm not s huge eater by any means - so I just ate that real quick on our way to the restaurant and just had a few beers at this place.

After dinner, we all convened back in me and Morgan's room (as always, we shared a room again, being the only two guys in our group who don't snore and generally pick up after ourselves.)  Morgan had bought Erik a nice bottle of scotch for his birthday (which, coincidentally, was today), and we decided to break into that and have ourselves a nightcap.

Watching TV in our room.  The bums.

Here's a shot of our bathroom.  In case you were curious.

Enjoying the nightcap scotches and discussing battle plans for the following morning, which was going to require a waaaay earlier wake-up time than usual.  We had to be up and out of the hotel by 7am or so in order to make it onto the first Shepler's ferry over to Mackinac Island, so we were going tobe hard-pressed.  Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment of Brocation 2022, folks. . .

- Brian