Mackinac Island

Mackinac area

Tuesday August 23 2016

Two of the three ferry services operating out of St. Ignace offer high speed boats, we opted for the third company which has a large slow moving boat. We enjoyed the 30 minute boat ride and soon arrived at the passenger terminal on Mackinac Island.

Our ride to Mackinac island

Stepping off the ferry you are stepping back in time, well kinda sorta. It is a seemingly quintessential journey back in time, with horse-drawn carriages and grand Victorian architecture. They could almost pull it off, T-shirts shops and bars are easily hidden behind old storefronts, the hundreds of rental bicycles and thousands of tourists are a little harder to ignore. It's the same old conundrum, you need tourists to support the dream, but tourists inevitably turn the attraction into a nightmare. 

No cars, but lots of congestion never the less.

 

That's not to say you shouldn't join the throngs of visitors, there is lots to see and do, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Most of the bikes are parked in town, ride around the perimeter road it won't be near as crowded.

I think the island is about 3 1/2 miles long

Millie and I enjoyed lunch at the Yankee Rebel Tavern, the owners are from Pine Island Florida and close in October to spend the winter down south. Most everything tourist related on the island closes by the end of October.

lunch at the Yankee Rebel

There are many overnight accommodations, but if you're going to sleep here you may as well sleep big. Stay at the Grand Hotel, It has been here since 1887 and is the largest building you see on the boat ride over from the mainland. A smaller guest room with no view is $600 a night, deluxe lake view room is $900 a night. Millie and I went back to our $15 a night parking spot at the casino!

For the rich folks among us

View of the harbor from the passenger terminal