Have you ever seen anything so beautiful that you could just sit there in amazement for hours and not want to leave?  That is exactly what Drummond Island is to me.  It has been a family tradition for 8 years now, and the first trip still sticks in my head clear as day. 

I was a ten-year-old boy at the time, who was looking forward to putting my birthday gift to the test: my dirt bike.  How fast could I go? I wonder how much hang time I can get off all the jumps?  I just couldn’t wait to put my gift on the trails that were as rough as the car ride to the Island.  It was the first time I would experience the Upper Peninsula.  I couldn’t wait to see the bridge, how tall and fascinating it would be. 

About 2 and half hours passed, and i was sick of seeing fields and grass for what seemed to be compiled over the entire lower Peninsula. Then i saw it all. The bridge.  Water as clear as the air that filled my lungs with each breath.  The smell of pine and water was apparent at every turn.  Sand as fine as powder.  The beauty was something that was a brand new sight to me.  As we came across the bridge the landscape was complete opposite of what i was used to Rocks looked like the crust from apple pie, and boulders looked as tall as skyscrapers.   As we rode along the coastline my eyes are plastered to the horizon.  How could something be so foreign, yet  so close to home? 

As we drove through smaller towns, I began to understand that the U.P. way of life was just as foreign.  More ATV’s than cars were traveling down the road.  Police were as common as finding somebody asking for the wifi password.  The way of life amazed me at this age and made me very happy to see people living like this.

It dawned upon me: how would we be getting our car onto an island?  Then I saw it --A ferry that carries your car to the island.  I felt like i just came across a new kind of technology.  We were loaded onto the ferry and started our short journey across the canal.  I opened the door and stood on the deck overlooking the bay and the island itself.  The wind was as crisp as the cool splashes of water coming up onto your skin.  The growl of the engine would soon become a sound that would remind me of my childhood for years to come.  Then, like a well-oiled machine, every car started as we prepared to be released onto yet another unknown land.  Only this time it was the destination. 

 
The doors swung down like the gates of heaven being open to the public.  It was time the five hour trip had come to an end. All that was left was the RV in front of us.