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| Dana and Tour Buses in Front of Fort Mackinac |
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| Grand Hotel from the Water |
Mackinac (pronounced Mac-in-aw) Island is beautiful,
special, and unique. It is well worth a visit.
The island squats in the Straits of Mackinac on the Lake Huron
side. The name comes from the Native
American name Michilimackinac which means Giant Turtle, because it is shaped
sort of like a turtle. Over the course
of history it has housed forts for the French, then British, then the young US, then
British again (taken in the War of 1812), and then finally US again. It was the second National Park (after
Yellowstone) and was taken care of by the soldiers based on the island. When the fort closed the park was passed to
the State of Michigan, becoming their first State Park. 80% of the island is owned and managed as
part of the park.
The island was a Victorian vacation destination and has a
few beautiful large wooden hotels. The
Grand Hotel has a gorgeous veranda that overlooks the lake. Some of the lovely Victorian homes in the “downtown”
have been converted to B&B’s. There
is a small village on the island, and a few family vacation homes dotting the
shoreline. Fort Mackinac sits on a bluff
overlooking the harbor.
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| Bicycle Rental Shop |
One of the many things that makes Mackinac unique is that
there are no motorized vehicles on the island.
Everyone gets around on foot, bicycle or horse drawn carriage. There are tour “buses” drawn by 2 or 3 draft
horses. There are “taxis” drawn by a
single horse. Huge delivery carts are
pulled by 2 horses. We saw a UPS guy
jumping off a delivery cart filled with brown boxes. [You can’t make this stuff up.]
You arrive to the island by ferry. There are 3 ferry companies that originate in
both Mackinaw City and St. Ignace (across the Straits from Mackinaw City). A total of 6 ferry boats come and go every
half hour. If you are staying overnight,
your luggage may be put on a horse drawn cart for delivery to the hotel or it
may be strapped to the handlebars of the bicycle of a bell hop from your
hotel. There are 7 bicycle rental
companies on the island, each with about 500 bicycles to rent. The downtown area has a main street filled
with bicycle rentals, hotels, fudge shops, T-shirt shops, and restaurants. There are also historic buildings and
churches. Fort Mackinac has been restored
and is celebrating the bicentennial of the War of 1812 (1812-1815) with
re-enactments throughout every day.
The Adventure
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| Arch Rock |
We took our bicycles over on the ferry. When we got up that morning it was 48 degrees out and the skies were
bright, clear blue and sunny. When I was
a kid in Indiana, people used to call such mornings “Michigan Mornings.” By the time we got to the Island it was well
into the 60s.
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| Devil's Kitchen |
Our first stop was at a fudge shop (natch) for chocolate
pecan, chocolate sea salt caramel, and maple pecan fudge. Fueled with sugar and chocolate we began our
7 mile bicycle ride along Lake Shore Dr. around the perimeter of the island. The downtown area was crowded with tourists
and horses and carts and bicycles everywhere.
As we progressed along the ride, we saw fewer people, but were never alone
on the road for long. After all it was a
beautiful day in July.
Most of the island is natural and beautiful, covered with lovely woods. The top soil is very thin over limestone, so
the trees can’t put down deep roots and grow very tall. There are mostly cedar, pines and spruce
trees, though there are a few hardwoods farther up the hill. Along the road you see places where the
limestone is exposed and has been eroded by winds or waves into interesting formations. Wildflowers grow along the road and in the
woods. All along the road are gorgeous
pebble beaches with crystal clear blue and turquoise green water. Spectacular!
As we rounded back into downtown we passed a point out into the water where
people were flying beautiful, colorful kites. We parked our bicycles (they provide wooden bike racks
everywhere) and hiked up the steep bluff to the fort and to overlook the
harbor.
It was a fabulous day!
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