This week’s highlight was a stop at Mackinac Island near the northern tip of Michigan. At first, we couldn’t get a slip reservation at the island’s marina, so we were staying 3 days at Mackinaw City Marina on the mainland and taking a ferry over to the island. But Captain Dave scored a slip on Saturday, so we stayed Friday night at Mac City, Saturday on Mac Island, and Sunday back to Mac City. It was only an hour boat ride from Mac City to Mac Island – having to dodge incoming and outgoing ferries plus a large freighter cruising across our route. A looper told me there can be up to 15,000 fudgies ferried over to Mac Island on a daily basis. The island has about 1600 hotel rooms, so that’s a lot of people enjoying the island on a daily basis. Oh…and fudgies is what the Mackinac Islanders call tourists, especially since there are at least 10 fudge stores on the island. And yes, we did indulge in some. Yummy!
Mackinac Island (and it’s pronounced “Mackinaw”…something to do with the French vs. the English settlements) is a well known tourist destination. The island allows no motor vehicles, so there are bicycles galore along with horse drawn carriages providing island tours and also serving as a taxi service. The Grand Hotel, opened in 1877, is truly grand. If I was going to visit again, I would love to stay at the Grand Hotel and enjoy their afternoon tea, fine dining, pool, spa and other amenities. Of course, it would definitely cost a pretty penny. At the Grand Hotel, men must wear a coat past 5 p.m. and women must not be in slacks. It was actually very nice seeing all of the nicely dressed people walking about the island in the evening. There were several weddings on the island the day we were there and I even grabbed a quick photo of a bride and groom in a carriage.
We enjoyed doing the touristy stuff, including an 8-mile bike ride around the rim of the island (once all of the fudgies had returned via the ferries). Murphy enjoyed a swim in spectacularly clear, cool water and walking through the state park was a treat. I would highly recommend a stop at Mackinac Island if you are ever near Michigan. A few days is all you need to enjoy the island restaurants, shopping, museums, art galleries, carriage and bicycle rides, the woods and trails – oh and a visit to Fort Mackinac, founded in 1780, which is sitting up on a bluff.
Our second highlight of this week was celebrating DeeDee’s birthday. DeeDee and her husband Jon, are fellow loopers, also from central Florida. We celebrated on Friday night at Mac City with loopers Roger and Chris on Betty Gail and then again on Sunday, DeeDee’s actual birthday, with loopers Rick and Jenny, on Nauti Jenny. Murphy is a big DeeDee fan (and visa versa), so he made sure he gave DeeDee lots of birthday kisses.
Earlier in the week we traveled up the eastern shoreline of Michigan stopping along the way at Harrisville, Alpena, Presque Island, and Hammond Bay. Each stop had its own characteristics. My favorite was Presque Island, with two lighthouses to climb and a great shoreline for Murphy swims.
This upcoming week we are going to head along the southern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula continuing our exploration of the northern most route of this year’s loop (since Canada is closed).
Thanks for joining along on our adventure. Till next update…
Brenda, with Captain Dave & the Marvelous Murphy