Put one foot in front of the other ... and soon you'll be walking 'cross the bridge

Our Labor Day excitement this year -- Iliacat and I got up at 3:30 in the morning and left at 4:00 am to drive up to Mackinaw City and walk across the Mackinac Bridge for the 51st Annual Bridge Walk.

For those not in the know, the Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas and is, currently, the world's 3rd longest suspension bridge, and the longest one in the Western Hemisphere!

The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet (5 miles). The length of the suspension bridge (the span that's actually suspended) is 8,614 feet (1.6 miles).

We arrived in Mackinaw City after driving through a beautiful foggy dawn, around 7 pm. We found a parking space - a free one, even - and then stood in a long but well organized serpentine cattle line.

We bought tickets ($5 a head) to cross the bridge on a bus, in order to walk back across and return to our car. If you happen to have someone to drop you off in St. Ignace and wait for you back in Mackinaw City, they would pay $3 each way, but the walking itself would be free. We rode a school bus in a long line of school buses while the first of the walkers came across the finish line. At the other side we wisely hopped into another line - for the last set of PortaPotties - before the end. There are huge banks of PortaPotties, but not ON the bridge, so once you get walking you're out of luck if you have to, you know, go. CattleLine wait - about 45 minutes. PortaPotty wait - about 45 minutes. Total line time - over 1.5 hours. But relatively pleasant, for waiting in line, really.

And then we began walking around 9 am.

Here's looking ahead at the bridge stretching out before us as we just begin, and iliacat very early in the walk, just as the bridge begins to be built up over the water

And here's me, walking the wrong way. Not really. I ran up ahead and walked backwards, trying hard not to trip or walk into anyone, so you could see the bridge behind me.

We got to walk on the grate part and see down through it. It was neat to see the water way way below, but also hard to look down and walk. Seeing the shifting perspective of the metal beams below made us feel kind of dizzy and like we were stepping off and falling. So we walked on it but didn't look down a lot

Just about to cross under the first support

And nearing the middle point - about 200 feet above the water

Around 10 am they closed one of the two open walking lanes, to accommodate southbound traffic, and everyone squeezed into one lane, causing a bit of walker-congestion and claustrophobia, while buses continued to bring people northbound to walk just feet from us.

The crowd evened out after awhile, and it was smooth walking to the finish. At the 2nd support we could see the photographers from newspapers up on the very top.

And then we finally came over, down, and up to the finish line.

Where we continued to walk, because we had to get back to our car, a mile away. We stopped ate some lunch and did a little shopping once we were back to the commercial area. My pedometer registered almost 6 miles of aerobic (continuous) steps which included the bridge and the trek into town, and another mile or two of standing in line and wandering around town steps. We bought some fudge to bring home, and a few little souvenirs - many things are on sale up there at the end of the summer! And we did not buy anything from, but were amused by this vending machine.

And then we drove home.

It was a good trip. If I could make just one change I would make the bridge a lot closer to home.