Mackinac Island, MI

Bob and I had a very pleasant 8-hour drive from Bayfield through the U-P – that’s short for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The people in this area are called Youpers. Bob does most of the driving, but since we had a long day, I did a few hours in the middle to give him a break.

We camped at a lovely wooded RV campground in St. Ignace, which is at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. We had heavy rain both nights.

Our primary reason for this stop was to explore Mackinac Island. It was quite foggy on the ferry ride over and until about 3 pm, but finally the sun came out. Mackinac Island is small, about 3.5 square miles, with only about 400 year round residents, but it is a HUGE tourist attraction. There are no cars on the island, but you can rent bikes and hire a horse drawn carriage. It was lovely to see so many draft horses pulling a wide variety of carts and buggies. There were also several men on the roads with shovels and brooms cleaning up after them.

We brought our bikes on the ferry and rode the 8-mile road around the island. I found it a little scary as there were adults who haven’t been on a bike in 20 years, 5 year old kids, expert road bikers, walkers, horses, and horse and buggies, all jockeying for position. We did see one kid get hit by a bike, but everyone was okay. Bob found a beach where he was able to swim in Lake Huron – his third Great Lake.

The island is also famous for it’s many restaurants, fudge and candy shops. We resisted the fudge, but succumbed to the caramel nut popcorn. We also had a great lunch at an Irish Pub.

The big attraction on the island is the Fort. We passed that up in favor of The Grand Hotel. What a magnificent place!! I spotted it in the fog from the ferry and had no idea that it was THE Grand Hotel from the movie Somewhere in Time. I LOVE that movie, so I had to tour the hotel and the grounds. They had a nice display of photos from the filming and I could almost see Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour walking through the gardens.

The Grand was built in the 1880s and is still very much like it was back then. Its walls are filled with old newspaper and magazine articles about it, many photos and old menus, which I adore. We missed afternoon high tea, but I hope that sometime we can come back and stay here for few days to really experience this grand old hotel.