An American Safari: Mackinac Island

On the ride to the island

This part of our trip was not originally in the plan, but I had it in mind in case we had time. I left two nights open on the back end of the trip in case we found ourselves somewhere that we wanted to stay longer.

Back in 1999 or 2000, I came up to this area of Michigan on a business trip. We didn't go to Mackinac Island, but a coworker had been a few times and said it was nice. Since we had the extra days, I booked two nights at the St. Ignace KOA and today we took a boat to Mackinac Island.

Catamaran to the island

We took one of the catamarans that got us to the island in about 20 minutes. It was a nice, smooth ride and the kids enjoyed sitting on top.

The island has restaurants, shops, hotels, a marina, homes, and the Grand Hotel, a beautiful AAA Four Star resort hotel built back in 1887. You can't see the hotel from the mainland, but it comes into view as you get closer to the dock on Mackinac Island. It reminded us of the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

After taking in the beauty of the island as you approach the dock, the next thing that hit us as we got off the boat was the smell. Horse poop.

Grand Hotel, from the water

You see, Mackinac Island doesn't allow cars or motorcycles or even scooters on the roads. In the summer, there are bikes, horses and horse-drawn carriages. Walking from the dock to the main road, we got an idea of what it must have smelled like to live in the 1700's, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say it was a bit stinky.

Throughout the island, whether on the carriage tour or in the gift shops, the jokes about the horse poop abound. Our first carriage driver cracked jokes about the fudge and horse poop, and now Ruth says she doesn't want to eat fudge anymore. We also learned that about 1500 pounds of horse manure a day is collected on the island. It's composted for plants on the island, and what's left over is sent to the mainland.

To get a feel for the island, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride. It took us through some of the streets, past the Grand Hotel, through the state park, and past a fort dating back to the 1700's and the Governor's summer home. The house was purchased by the state of Michigan back in the 1940's and governor's have been able to use it in the summer. Jeff said, and I agree, it's worth being Governor just for the use of the house.

After our carriage tour, we went to the Chippewa Hotel and ate lunch at the Pink Pony Grill. We had a fabulous lunch there. Ruth and I shared a cup of tomato basil bisque that was delicious. Henry and I had the turkey club sandwich and both of us loved it. Ruth got a cheeseburger and Jeff got a southwestern wrap. We'd definitely go back there again.

Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge, and there are many fudge shops to choose on the island. Henry and I took a walk and visited some stores. We picked up some fudge, caramel apples, and a few t-shirts. There are the regular touristy shops and a few higher end shops. We would have loved to have gone into the Grand Hotel to check it out, but unless you're a guest, you have to pay $10.00 a person to take a tour of the hotel. Otherwise, I'm not sure you can even walk through to check it out. We looked into their Grand Luncheon Buffet, but while it looked nice, it was pretty expensive. I'm sure they do that to keep the riff-raff out and let the paying guests enjoy the peace and quiet they paid a lot of money for (an all-inclusive package, including a room, breakfast and a five course dinner in the summer on a weekend starts at about $290 per person per night). Jeff and I agreed that we would like to book a trip to the hotel in the future to make use of the hotel, spa and golf course.

We all agreed it was a great day on the island, and we hope to come back again.