2018 Summer RV Trip – Days 19 – Mackinac Island

Warning - Long post with lots of pics.

Wednesday was devoted to the must anticipated trip over to Mackinac Island via a 45 minute ferry ride on The Star Line’s “Straits of Mackinaw.”  We had purchased rides on the 15 minute fast ferry but it couldn’t hold everyone in line and we didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for the next one.  The one we missed and the one we took.

It was a very pleasant ride across the Mackinac Straits where we got shots of the bridge, other ferries, & us.

As we approached the island, the Grand Hotel jumped out at us followed by the fine homes along the water, Fort Mackinac on the hill, light houses marking the narrow channel between Mackinac and Round Islands, and the harbor.

Shot from the web.

Upon arrival on the island, I was in shock as there were people and bicycles everywhere as well as lots of horses.  I knew they didn’t allow cars to go to the island but was not aware that the only motorized vehicles were the 4-5 emergency ones and all travel is via foot, bike, or horse - they have a large cadre of pooper-scoopers at work.

Main street (about 5 blocks long) was a giant tourist trap composed mostly of restaurants, tourist shops (gifts & T-shirts), a few nicer shops, and candy stores – this area has got to be the fudge capital of the world – Mackinaw City also had many.  The first thing we did was sign up for a carriage tour ($29) about two hours hence, then we started down the street and when the girls went into a store, I did my usual of going farther til I found a place to hang out and wait for them. 

In this case, I wandered into Goodfellow’s Wine Cellar to sit and have a cold one while they did their thing.  The lower part is more of a wine tasting shop and upstairs is the restaurant – I was in the lower section. 

Having nothing else to do, I looked over the menu and between the offerings and the food I saw being served, I called the girls and suggested that we just eat there when they got that far.  The co-owner was managing this area and he assured me their Whitefish & Chips was the best ever as they used thick pieces of fish.  Bev had been craving wings and they were one of the specialties, and Pat had tempura shrimp.

We all thought our food was very good and actually worth the island tourists prices, however, we were suspicious of how they got such thick pieces of this thin meated fish – perhaps some monster ones are caught or this was something else such as Alaskan Pollack – at any rate, it lived up to the owners brag.

 We fought our way through the bikes and people back up to the carriage tour start and loaded up in the front row behind our driver – a med school student from Algeria - and two Percherons for the trip around the lower part of town then up past the Grand Hotel to the top of the hill and second part of the tour.  

The Grand Hotel was opened in 1883 and took only 93 days to complete (probably 3 years now) and it was doubled in size at sometime later.  At 660 feet, it has the world’s longest hotel porch.  The least expensive room is $658 per night for two people – way, way, way out of my price range.

The Amish are right at home on the island from a transportation standpoint.

At the top of the hill we moved over to a three horse (white Persherons), 30 person carriage for the ride along this pretty flat area.  It was just a ride thru the woods of the state park out to Arch Rock and back past the fort – since it was just a ride thru the woods, I could have foregone this part of the tour had it not been for the entertaining driver and all of the history she shared. 

We exited near the fort but decided to pass on a visit as the girls are not into that sort of thing.  Built by the British around 1781, it was turned over to Americans in 1796 then it changed hands during wars a couple of times after that.  In 1895 the fort was decommissioned and it and the surrounding national park (second national park to exist after Yellowstone) were ceded to Michigan/.

We made the few minute walk back down to town and I took a couple of shots along the way.

When we got to the hill bottom, the ladies decided they had seen enough and we walked over to the pier just in time to watch the high speed ferry depart so once again we were on the slow one.

Our opinion of Macinac Island is that it was a grand place for the wealthy in its day but is a major tourist trap now, much like Gatlinburg, TN but with bicycles and horses rather than cars and we don’t need to visit it again.  However, if I were to go again, I would rent a horse drawn taxi or a self driven carriage and go explore some of the areas where there are grand old homes.  Someone in shape on a bicycle could do the same thing and get away from the hoard of folks (mostly younger) and bikes in town.  I know I sound critical and I’m sure many people love the island, but it just wasn’t for us.

It was smoked fish dip and crackers again for supper – I’d buy more in St. Ignace but I’m confident it will be available for our next three stops.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/8/18 Event Date