Everyone we talked to about Michigan said we had to visit Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-ahhhh) Island. While touristy, they said it was a unique experience. No cars are allowed on the island and the tourists get around in horse drawn carriages and on bicycles. The exclusion of cars is a less than successful attempt to keep the island locked in a Victorian era. I am not sure why people romanticize that era. Women were trundled up in corsets, certainly could not vote, and lord help us, but there were no feminine hygiene products. Give me the future any day. I am anxiously waiting for the Enterprise transporter to whisk me off to Paris for dinner and give me the perfect body while at it! While horses have a smaller carbon footprint compared to a gas-guzzling, car-smashing Hummer, they do stink, which definitely intrudes upon the romantic air the island would like to project to the outside world.
Before heading to the island, we decided to drive over the Mackinac Bridge, which is the largest suspension bridge in the world. This was a cheap thrill but the views from the bridge made the $2 toll worth it.
Being a former Naval Officer, I was really looking forward to the ferry ride to the island. What is nice about the place we were staying was the fact that they handled all of our luggage so we did not have to worry about getting it to the hotel. We found out later that we paid a hefty $12 per person, regardless whether we had bags or not for this privilege. It took about 20 minutes to cross to the island and cost $17 per person round trip. That was with my military discount, so you’ll pay slightly more. I did enjoy being out on the water and seeing the Grand Hotel come into view.
(Left: One of the ubiquitous fudge shops. Most of the store clerks were young kids who were less then friendly. ) There are four major attractions on the island, the Grand Hotel, which I will cover in detail in my next post, the main shopping drag, the bike route around the island, and the fort. We managed to do all of these things in a day and a half. Frankly, the only one worth doing was the Grand Hotel. We had actually planned on staying there but a huge convention had booked all the rooms. This was probably for the best because the rates at the grand hotel are $300 per person per night. That would have been $900 per night for three of us. Not many places in the world are worth that kind of money. That price did include breakfast and dinner. The pictures of the rooms I found on the Internet were also very unappealing…more of that kitschy Victorian stuff. Still, as you will hear in my next post, the Grand Hotel is THE attraction on the island. Don’t bother going to the island if you are not considering staying there or at a bare minimum spending a lot of time there.
The main shopping drag turned out to be surprisingly short and very monochromatic. The stores consist of Fudge shops and more fudge shops and T-shirt joints. I was expecting something a little more upscale to be honest.
Renting a bike and cruising the island would normally be a very pleasant diversion but on our day, it was butt-numbing cold and I was chilled through despite my many layers. My two companions proclaimed me to be a total wimp since they did not seem bothered by the weather at all. It costs $35 a day to rent a bike and the ride around the island is only 8 miles. There are other interior routes, but because I was begging for something hot to drink we opted for the fort vice a mono-speed climb over the interior hills and dales. As such we really did not get our money’s worth that day, but I can image that on a spring or summer day, such a jaunt would be idyllic.
I had received a Navy fix on the ferry ride over but also received an Army fix at the fort, which has a commanding view of the waterfront. Alas, we did not have nearly enough time to spend at the fort because we wanted to catch the $42 lunch buffet at the Grand (we missed it), but I did get to see the Officer’s Quarters and the cool animatronic figures depicting the attack in 1812 (shudder but they surrendered w/o a shot being fired). I don’t know what is wrong with the Army today. Back then, the fort was commanded by a 1LT, who made enough money to hire a small platoon of servants to keep house for him and his family. When I was a LTJG/1LT I was sleeping on an air mattress because I could not afford a real one. There is a large and impressive museum as well that we breezed through. You could easily spend several hours there if military and early American history interests you.
The rest of that first day was spent at the Grand Hotel, which I will cover in my next post.
I suppose everyone needs to visit Mackinac Island at least once, but in retrospect I wish we had stayed near Munising. There was much more to do in that area. As crowded as it was on the Island in October, I would hate to see the mobs in the summer.
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