Mackinac Island

We crossed from Drummond Island to Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island on Sunday the 29th. Bill and Gail went to Hessel for one night as they could not get reservations at Mackinac on Sunday. They would join us on Monday. As we approached the island harbor we could see Fort Mackinac and the Grand Hotel.

The harbor is right in the center of town. This was great as we were able to do everything from our boat. We took our bikes off when we arrived as this island does not allow any motorized vehicles at all. There are only horses and carriages and bicycles. Given that, the island is well set up for biking. The road around the island is 8 miles long and we biked the circumference on Sunday. We were able to get in on a free concert at one of the oldest churches as we arrived and then we went around to island to see what was there.

The road is an actual U.S. Highway and, as such, is the only official roadway in the U.S. that has no cars on it. In the winter, the few residents that remain on the island make a pathway with Christmas trees across the frozen water to the mainland for their snowmobiles since the ferrys obviously can't run.

We rode to the top of the island and saw Arch Rock where an ancient lake had cut an arch through the limestone.

On our bike tour we went to Mission Point, a resort that at one time was a school started by TV evangelist Rex Humbard. It went bankrupt and is now a very nice resort property. They were offering samples of the local wines for $1 per glass so we tried one on the terrace overlooking the lawns and lake.

We tried to go to the Grand Hotel but bikes were not allowed in front. We had reservations for dinner on Monday night but we wanted to get a look earlier. This is a very nice hotel built in the 1800's.

On Monday, we went to the fort for a tour. Fort Mackinac was an active military fort until the end of the 19th century and was then made into the second National Park in the U.S. Yellowstone was first. The fort was, therefore, well preserved since it had never had a chance to fall into ruins. Today, people in period dress provide history tours of the fort and we found it very interesting. The view from the fort overlooked the village and harbor. In the 1800's this was a fur-trading center and millions of dollars of furs passed through here in any given year (this is 1800's dollars).

We again rode to various sites on the island and saw on of the few areas that are privately owned where people have their summer "cottages".

Most of these cottages have a stable and at least a two "car" garage behind them.

Since most of the shoreline is National Park, there are trails that are directly in front of some of these houses. We walked one trail on a ledge and I got side-tracked when I found some raspberries growing along the trail.

After our bike touring, we headed back to the boat to get ready for our dinner at the Grand. A strict dress code is enforced after 6:00 pm and I do not have a coat and tie on board our boat. I called the hotel and was informed that the Bell Captain could provide one for me. Rather than walk to the hotel we took a private "shuttle" from the harbor.

Upon arrival I checked in with the Bell Captain and was provide the promised coat and tie. We had a five course dinner and then retired to the porch. This porch is the longest in the world at 660 feet. I had a cigar after dinner and we watched the sun set.

On Tuesday we visited the shops in town. The town is mostly a tourist area with as many tee shirt shops as any in the Keys. The ferrys run constantly bringing hundreds of people to the island every day. The downtown area is packed and is not an area I care about spending any time in.

Tuesday afternoon was spent preparing to leave early the next morning. We had to splice Bill's spare anchor rode and then transfer it with 30 feet of chain that I had on board to his boat and bring my spare rode back to our boat. This chain is quite heavy and it turned into a bit of work. We planned our departure for early Wednesday to Harbor Springs which is just a few miles from Petoskey where Bill will leave Juwika while attending his reunion. We passed under "Big Mac" the famous Mackinac Bridge just as the sun was rising and made it into Harbor Springs to anchor for the night. We had dinner on Bill's boat as this is possibly the last time we will see them on this trip. It was another sad goodbye but this time it was expected so was easier to deal with.

If we go slowly enough down the Michigan coast we may see them again by Chicago. Looking at the weather reports we decided it was better for us to leave Harbor Springs early on Thursday and go to Traverse City where we would meet up with some friends we met earlier on our trip. They live there and had offered to take us around to see some of the area since they had a car. We went out in 4 foot seas (on the bow) and after 7 1/2 hours made it to Traverse City.

We will be here for a few days before moving on to who-knows-where.