Mackinac Island

Where do we begin. Mackinac Island is a step back in town. Since 1898 automobiles have been banned. There is so much to tell about this island and its laid back way of life. Transportations is by foot, bike, or horse and carriage. The only vehicles on the island are a ambulance and a fire truck. But wait till you see a picture further down. It would be like writing a book to tell you all about the island. Here are a couple of links www.mackinac.com    www.mackinacisland.org  There are many other links and www.Wikipedia.com has a lot of information.

Our ride to the island

We took the 9:30 charter because it goes under the Mackinac Bridge. But because of the fog it didn't go under the bridge. This is the harbor at Mackinac Island.

Our first look at the town. Not many tourist here this early.

A few bikes for rent. There are 3 bike rental places just a short distance from the dock. Plus many others around town. If we come here again we want to rent bikes and do the perimeter ride around the island.

 

It did get very busy later in the day.

These are the carriages that take the tourist around the island including us.

Waiting for the carriage.

A hotel carriage.

Some of the homes and B&B's.

Event the dogs are laid back

Our first look at the Grand Hotel. Still a little foggy.

 

We were just at that museum about a month ago

The famous "Arch". Just can make out the rim road through and below the arch.

We were there.

What about that NO VEHICLES on the island. If you enlarge the picture you can see a sign with directions to different places on the island. I don't think we were suppose to see this truck. In  defense of the Island  there was a power outage in some parts of the island.

After our carriage ride and a quick lunch we took a walk to visit the Grand Hotel.

What happened to see the Brown UPS truck? Yes even UPS delivers by horse and wagon.

It was lilac festival time on the island. There were lilac's blooming all over the place. There was a wonderful fragrance of lilac's mixed with a faint barnyard smell from all the horses and their "exhaust".

A few more super house along the waterfront.

Reading on the porch of the library. What a place to sit and read a book.

A supply ship came in loaded with hay and other items. There were six wagons waiting to be loaded and we saw several loaded going through town and a few more on the way. The horses do get a work out.

The Grand Hotel from the water.

On the way back to ST Ignace we went under the bridge, since we couldn't go under in the morning fog.

      If we ever return we would stay over on the island at least one night. There is a lot to see and do. Aside from the Grand hotel there are many B&B's and other hotels. To tour the island and bike the rim road and have afternoon Tea and Dinner at the Grand, one day is not enough to take it all in and enjoy it in a laid back fashion. Did I mention you have to "dress" for dinner, that is men coat  and tie, ladies dresses no pants. There are 3 cruise lines and  each have 3 or 4 boats taking tourist over to the island, both from ST Ignace were we left from and Mackinac City. This time of the year which is the off season they were only running one boat each. We were told that July and August are the busy months. Can't image what its like in season.
     We went to the Chamber of Commence in ST Ignace and purchase their "Mystery Bag" for $15. In the bag we got a buy one get one free boat trip to the island on any of the cruise lines. The boat trip is $25. per person, so it was a $10 savings. Plus there were about 15 other coupons in the package. We received this information from our RV Park along with a lot of other info from them.