Day 58

Mackinac Island

Jul 3, 2013, 5:26 PM

What a wonderful day!!! I have to say this trip has been an absolute joy, beyond my wildest dreams and really we've only just begun. We left the RV this morning at the exact time I'd wanted. When I put our destination in the GPS it said our arrival time will be 10:33 AM. Oh damn, we are going to miss the 10:30 ferry and have to wait till 11:00. Oh well that will give us plenty of time to get parked, get camera equipment, whatever and we won't be rushed. When we pulled up the ferry still hadn't left. I thought for sure it would be pulling out. Steve went to get tickets while I got my stuff, that's when I heard, "Last boarding call for the 10:30 ferry to Mackinac Island." Can you believe this? We haven't missed it at all. So we are able to get right on, and thank God there were still inside seats. It was a little cool and I didn't really want to sit outside if I didn't have to. The trip over in the ferry took about 15 minutes and it was really a nice ride. 

When we got off the boat oh my gosh there was a sea of people, carriages, bicycles, and gift shops. It wasn't what I expected at all. I was expecting something much more laid back and refined. It was pretty much like any other tourist haven in that regard, however where Mackinac Island is very different is in that there are NO motorized vehicles. There have never been motorized vehicles allowed on the island. This is why I think my expectations were different. We walked a little bit, then went down to the beach. It was so pretty! It was a perfect sunny bright day. It was warm, but not hot at all, it was clear so you could see out over the water, although when you look out over the water in some directions all you see to the horizon is water, but beauty it had in abundance. The beach, where we went down to the water, was not sand, it was rocky, but not big rocks, I guess you would classify them as big pebbles. They were almost harder to walk in than the sand at the beach. They shifted under your feet. And there were knats all around. They didn't seem to be the biting kind, and they stayed low around our ankles, but there were clouds of them. 

After walking for a little while we went back to the main tourist street and got on one of the horse carriage tours. This should have been about a 90 minute tour and we stretched it out to several hours. We were taken through downtown first then wound our way up to the Grand Hotel. There you get off the first horse drawn carriage and you can browse through gift shops they have at this carriage station or you can go into a butterfly conservatory so we got a little snack and then went to see the butterflies. This was small, but the butterflies were all over. Steve had them landing on his hat, I had them on my camera and one even walked around on my arm for a while. It was kind of cool, plus just watching the little ones reach for the butterflies or squeal when they see one is just so sweet I could have spent hours in there alone. From there you get on a different carriage, the first carriage was pulled by two draft horses, Steve said they were Percherons, I have no idea so we will go with that, the second one is larger and is pulled by three. The second stage of the carriage ride is through the Mackinac State Park. It goes past Arch Rock, that's a natural hole formation in the limestone. It really was a sight to see. Then on to the fort. We enjoyed the fort if for no other reason than the views. The views were spectacular, but now we are getting hungry for lunch. It was already 3 PM, so yeah it was past time. We went back to the carriage pick up spot and we got on the next carriage. This carriage driver mentioned some of the rankings for different places. He told us Joann's had the best fudge, the Yankee Rebel was ranked #3 restaurant. The #2 restaurant was a breakfast only place so we weren't interested. He also mentioned that the fudge places were included in the best places to eat, so actually the best restaurant for a meal other than breakfast would be the Yankee Rebel. So that's where we went for lunch. It was sooooooo good!! I really liked it. After this we walked around some more then, that's it for me. The bikes and carriages and kids on bikes all over the street, it was time to go, plus we were well fed and tired from walking around. It was time to go. 

The ride back on the ferry was perfect. We sat on the outside so I could get just a few last photos. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to really enjoy the ride. All in all it was a great day. We are home now, so I'm going to say goodnight all. I'll check in with you again tomorrow. Have a happy and safe 4th of July!!!!!!!!