Epic Road Trip Part 2: Mackinac Island!

Aug 23-26

In the hotel in Ohio, mom began asking what route we were taking to get to St. Cloud. She strongly voiced the opinion of not wanting to drive through Chicago. I couldn't put her off any longer, so I sprung the surprise: We were going to Mackinac Island, a cute and touristy island between the UP and lower peninsula of Michigan. She and Phoebe had told me stories of going there when they were girls, and I had been wanting to surprise mom with a trip there for a long time, but it is really expensive and kind of hard to get to when you're trying to surprise someone from Colorado. But it all worked this time!

On the morning of the 23rd, we drove to Toledo, Ohio and had lunch with dad's cousins and some of their kids and spouses. It was good fun, hanging out with some Ohio Eleys for a couple hours.

Lots of Eleys!

Then we drove north until we got to Mackinaw City at 6pm. We caught the almost-last ferry across to Mackinac Island.

If you catch the 6pm ferry on a Tuesday night, you can probably find a seat

The thing about Mackinac Island that makes people want to visit is that no cars are allowed on the island. A fort was built here in the early 1800's, up on the hill, and the town grew along the shore below it. Today, all those things are still there, and there are bikes and horse & carriages, but no cars. So there is a lot of charm, and good fudge shops, and historic sites, and lots of hiking trails in the center of the island, and cute shops, beautiful Victorian houses, etc. There is also the Grand Hotel, a super-fancy gigantic hotel with beautiful gardens.

What a charming walk to the hotel!

When we arrived on the night of 23rd, a porter biked our luggage to our less-fancy but still really cool hotel, the Harbour View Inn. (You can tell it's fancy by how they spell Harbour).  We got a sweet room that had two queen beds in the main area, and then a little alcove area with another queen bed, and two full bathrooms, which means I got a few nights of good sleep!

No cars here!

We walked back to the main street and got some dinner, explored the shopping area for a bit, and went to bed.

Flags over the lake at dusk

 

Never fear, I found the public library!

 The 24th, our only full day on the island, it rained all day!! This was a bummer, but mom was still in really good spirits and really enjoying the trip, so we still had fun.

 
We decided to start the day with a horse-and-carriage tour of the island, because the carriages had roofs and side flaps that would keep us from getting drenched. Most of the rest of the tourists on the island also had that idea. The tour was pretty good, the guide was fun and gave us lots of information about the history of the island. We got off at the top of the fort, then walked down from there to the main street and got lunch. The rain let up for a bit, so dad went back to the hotel, and mom and I walked along the shopping street. Then it started to rain again, so we went back to the hotel and took naps, which is something we all love to do. In the late afternoon, we walked over to the art museum and spent some time there. It was a very nice museum, I quite liked it.

The view of the fort from a window at the art museum

Can you believe I didn't use a time machine to take this picture!?

We bought salads and crackers and fruit at the grocery store, and ate dinner in the parlor of our hotel and did crossword puzzles and chatted with other hotel guests. It was a nice day!

On the morning of the 25th, dad and I got up early, which is something we like to do, had breakfast, then rented some cruiser bikes from the hotel and took off along the coast. We biked about 10 minutes out along the shore, to a point called Arch Rock. This was a spot the guide had pointed out yesterday, but nobody wanted to get out in the pouring rain to see it up close. There were also lots of historical photos at the art museum of people posing on Arch Rock, so dad wanted to see it. When we got to the stair case at the bottom of Arch Rock, we parked our bikes and walked 207 steps up to it. It is an arch made out of rock. Through the arch you can see Lake Huron. We looked at it, dad took some pictures, and we walked back down. We went a bit farther on along the shore, then headed back to the hotel.

A state highway that isn't meant for cars!

Early morning on Mackinac island

There it is. Arch Rock.

Looking at Lake Huron from step 167.

We got packed up, left our luggage at the desk, and did some more adventures! Fortunately, the day was lovely and sunny and cool. We walked up stairs behind our hotel and along a street of gorgeous old Victorian 'cottages', to the backside of the fort again.

Just our summer cottage, no big deal

Then we walked in along some of the trails and explored a little park.  We walked back down past the Grand Hotel, but they charge you $10 a person just to walk on the path in front of the hotel, or go inside to look around, and we decided to forgo that expense, so we just stood at the closest-in public point and looked at it. I really would like to see inside it and sit on the giant porch, though. Next time!

So beautiful!

$10 to walk past this point. Whatever, I didn't want to sit on the world's largest porch and look out at the lake anyway!

We got lunch at a pizza place, caught the 2pm ferry, drove over the bridge to the UP and kept going to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where we spent the night.

At our hotel, Harbour View Inn