I grew up in Michigan but had never been to Mackinac Island – one of Michigan’s biggest resort areas. While my family vacationed a lot in the vicinity, our budget was limited and Mackinac Island definitely wasn’t in it. My younger sister went there for her High School class trip, but, for some reason, my senior class didn’t have a class trip. I don’t remember why. At any rate, I decided we were going to do a day trip to the Island so I could get it off my bucket list. [bit of a memory error here. Sister told me she never had a class trip either. She went to the Island with our parents when she was 13.]
Ferry access to the island is frequent and there several companies. We chose Shepler’s (coupon at motel) and (barely) made it there for the ride that detours after leaving the dock at Mackinaw City to go under the bridge. It was a lovely day, the ride was pleasant, and we got some different views of the bridge. There were even workers on top of the nearer tower! (all photos in slide show at bottom)
After docking, we wandered around a bit getting our orientation and searching for the carriage rides. We did go into one fudge shop but decided it was too early to buy some. Finally we got to the carriage ride place and bought our tickets. There was nearly an hour to kill before our ride so we wandered around some more. Around Marquette Park, up Fort Hill a little bit, down Market St, and then back to the carriage place. I must have misunderstood the instructions about when to get in line because people were already boarded and the carriage was full. We had to wait for another one to be brought up. Not really a problem, but if they’re selling tickets, why didn’t they know how many people were on that one?
We had a nice guide and the ride was very pleasant. We went down Market St again and turned up Cadotte Ave going past the Grand Hotel. We finally stopped at the Surrey Hill Carriage Museum where we changed to a larger carriage. This part of the tour took us through the forest past the cemeteries, Skull Cave, and paused for a bit at Arch Rock. It then continued on to Fort Mackinac where we got off. The ride ended a little further on, but we wanted to see the fort.
The fort was pretty interesting & informative. We wandered around there for a couple hours watching rifle & cannon firing demonstrations and listening to descriptions of modern vs. historical medical treatments. We were going to have lunch there but nothing really appealed to us so we took the stairs back down to town. Then we decided we would just skip lunch and have an early supper. That just left the fudge shops (only 1.5#) and waiting for the ferry to take us back to Mackinaw City.
My impressions? I wish we were more physically fit and could walk/bike the trails. I can see the attraction of spending several days there and hiking the trails. Especially if you enjoy the historical aspect. (I’m not much of a shopper so that part doesn’t interest me.) But I’m not fit and I’m way too cheap to book a room on the island. This taste will do me fine.
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