Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island makes a great day trip or a week's vacation. Once you dock your boat at the marina or step off the ferry, you step back in time to the early 1800's.

During the summer, the island atmosphere is simply enchanting, with it's historic waterfront village, horse-drawn carriages, Colonial homes, and locals dressed in period clothing.

We took the ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island and on the way in, we can see the giant mansions way up high.

Sitting high on a hill overlooking the straits, is the Grand Hotel with the worlds largest veranda.

 

As the ferry pulls in, I know this is going to be a fun day.

 

 

No motor vehicles are permitted on the island, so the mode of transportation is by horse, bicycle or foot.

 

So we join our friends, Jim and Joy, and Michael and Judy, on a carriage tour around the island.

 

 

These three boys will be our mode of transportation today. They only work half a day and in the winter they are brought over to stables on the mainland.

 

 

We load up and start our tour of the island.

 

 

Once a commercial depot for fur trappers, the island was then occupied by the British during the American Revolution. Several downtown buildings are National Historic Landmarks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Mackinac, overlooking the Straits of Mackinac was originally a British outpost until American troops captured the island 20 years after the Revolution.

 

 

Today, it is home to military reenactments, bugle and drum corps music, and rifle and cannon demonstrations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No visit is complete without a visit to the Grand Hotel.

 

 

This opulent hotel of yesteryear, offers guests formal gardens, tennis, biking, golf, fine dining and royal hospitality.

 

 

There were three weddings that we saw going on at the time.

 

 

The porch is famous and runs the full length of the building.

 

 

 

 

What a place and what a day!

The Straits of Mackinac

The Great Lakes system is a series of steps from Lake Superior, 602 feet above sea level, through successively lower lakes and the St. Lawrence River to the sea. Lake Huron and Lake Michigan share the same water level; only the bed of a very ancient river, widened over centuries by the persistence of water and the scouring of ice, has kept the passage open. Today a strait, four miles wide, separates the two peninsulas of Michigan. This strait carries a name venerated in American Indian lore, Mackinac (pronounced "Mack-in-aw"), "the Turtle," whose back supports the world, according to one tradition. The Straits of Mackinac, like all narrow passes, have long been considered an area of potential strategic importance and, at times, a navigational challenge.

From it's beginnings as a French fur-trading post in the late 1600's and a British fortress in the 1700's, Mackinaw City has grown into a summer resort town. Many of the original summer cottages have been handed down through generations. We were invited to Mary and John's cottage to celebrate three boats that just finished the loop up here in Mackinaw. What an honor!

The cottage is on the water, with a hot tub overlooking the Mackinaw Bridge. The cottage is adorable and the view is spectacular.

We relaxed by the water, eating and drinking and telling boat stories.

 

 

And of course, we toasted to the completion of their Great Loop adventures, and to our future adventures, on the second half of the Great Loop on Karma.

Bear Drop

Bear Drop Harbour is easy to get into, scenic, with good rock climbing and blueberries. Apparently, the bears like it too, so I didn't go ashore.

A storm was blowing in so we waited and nothing happened, so we had a party.

We also invited new friends, so we had a full house on the boat, One September.

 

 

A beautiful sunset with good friends.

 

 

In the morning, we head out towards Thessalon, as Boreas takes the lead.

 

We could see in the distance a cloud bank coming towards us. It was fog and we had 40 miles to go.

 

 

It swallowed us up for two hours and it was very spooky.

 

 

Thessalon is the last outpost before we head back to the United States. It's a very small town with one open restaurant, the Pepper Pot, which is where we celebrated my birthday dinner with friends.

 

 

We walk along the shoreline line on our way back from dinner.

 

 

We sadly say goodbye to Canada which was an experience of a lifetime.

Oak Bay Day Two

Boreas the next morning.

 

 

 

 

Here comes Micheal and Judy on the boat, One September.

 

 

Next comes Jim and Joy on the boat Jim's Joy.

It looks like Party Time again!

We take off in the dingys to explore the area.

We find a cove to land the dingy and we move out on to the rocks.

 

 

Living in the moment.