Travel

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we climbed "Castle Rock" (in the background).  I remember it being so much bigger when I was a kid.  But we all made it to the top.

We also stopped at a place called "Oswald Bear Ranch"...okay...tourist trap, right?  Not quite.  This is a place where the "naughty bears"  and rescued bears go to live.  They have mama bear who made her den under the foundation of a house in Minnisota.   They moved her once, but she came back.  So now she lives in Newberry, MI.  They also have a pair of cubs who fell out of a tree when lumberjacks cut it down,  Below see Bonnie (or Clyde...or both)

The cubs know that when people come into their pen (always with a handler and only one family at a time) they're up for a photo-op.  One or both of them climb up onto one of these chairs and the folks sit or squat behind the chair.  Tom had something on his pants (we were camping...it happens)

I, on the other hand, had been chewing on a tea-tree-oil laced toothpick.  My hair was still wet (or rather I had used a different "product" and it didn't get dry all day) and I wasn't planning on photos of me and the bears.  But he was so CUTE!

He licked my teeth...and handler (the dad of the family that owns the place) kept saying..."that's a good picture..."

By the time Amanda got her photo taken alone with the cub (since he tried to get into Tom's pocket and he licked my teeth and pretty much didn't pay any attention to Amanda)...

he was pretty tuckered out...

If you go to the website, at the top there's a picture of a white-haired guy.  He (I think) is the "grandpa" to the bears.  The cubs get all excited and wound up and need to be calmed down (just like little kids).  We saw this guy sitting in there in one of those green chairs, one of the cubs in his lap.  The cub was sucking on the man's "double chin" and making a sort of "purring" sound like a cat (only raspier and louder).  I asked if bears purr and he said, yes...and I'm the pacifier.

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The "Big Mac"..."Mighty Mac"...the Mackinac Bridge.

The Mackinac Bridge is currently the third longest suspension bridge in the world. In 1998, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan became the longest with a total suspension of 12,826 feet. The Great Belt Bridge in Halsskov-Sprogoe, Denmark, which also opened in 1998, is the second longest suspension bridge in the world with a total suspension of 8,921 feet. The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet. The length of the suspension bridge (including anchorages) is 8,614 feet. The length from cable bent pier to cable bent pier is 7,400 feet. Length of main span (between towers) is 3,800 feet. (...)

The height of the roadway at mid-span is approximately 200 feet above water level. The vertical clearance at normal temperature is 155 feet at the center of the main suspension span and 135 feet at the boundaries of the 3,000 ft. navigation channel.

All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, change in temperature, and weight. It is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds. This would only happen under severe wind conditions. The deck would not swing or "sway" but rather move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the wind. After the wind subsides, the weight of the vehicles crossing would slowly move it back into center position.