Mackinac Island

If you are ever in northern Michigan and want to visit Mackinac Island you should expect your visit to take a full day. To begin with, “The island can be reached by private boat, by ferry, by small aircraft and, in the winter, by snowmobile over an ice bridge.” – Wikipedia

We ended up standing in line for about an hour to get on a ferry. The learned from an employee that the ferry company typically runs three boats back and forth to the island but at the time we were there they didn’t have enough people to crew the third boat, hence the back up you see below.

The ferry ride only took about half an hour each way. And we were not prepared for the chaos of too many people all on the main street when you get in to town. “According to the 2010 United States Census, the island has a year-round population of 492. The population grows considerably during the summer from tourists and seasonal workers. Hotels, restaurants, bars and retail shops, open only during the summer season, hire hundreds of short-term employees to accommodate as many as 15,000 visitors per day.” – Wikipedia

“Motorized vehicles have been prohibited on the island since 1898, with the exception of snowmobiles during winter, emergency vehicles, and service vehicles. Travel on the island is either by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. Roller skates and roller blades are also allowed, except in the downtown area. Bicycles, roller skates/roller blades, carriages, and saddle horses are available for rent.

An 8-mile (13 km) road follows the island’s perimeter, and numerous roads, trails and paths cover the interior. M-185, the United States’ only state highway without motorized vehicles, makes a circular loop around the island, closely hugging the shoreline.” – Wikipedia

We ducked down one of the side streets, found a quick bite to eat, and then started walking. We decided we’ve been sitting too much in the RV and needed to move. Mackinac Island is very walkable, though it does have quite a few hills so can be a bit challenging if you are a wee bit out of shape, say, from sitting in an RV too long. 🤷‍♀️

One of the main things we wanted to see was the Grand Hotel, a short 15-20 minute walk from the ferry dock.

As the sign says, the Grand Hotel has the world’s longest front porch. It is 660 feet long and several stories tall. And it has amazing views from the porch.

As you walk up to the hotel you are greeted by several signs. The first explains that there is a charge to visit the hotel and porch. We had been told by Michiganders that the fee is to keep the porch and hotel from becoming too crowded with looky-loos for the registered guests staying there.

We paid the fee and took a tour through the hotel before finding a place to sit on the porch to enjoy a drink and the view.

The Grand Hotel has been the site of many notable events and two movies. “U.S. Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have visited the hotel. The hotel also hosted the first public demonstration of Thomas Edison’s phonograph on the porch, as well as regular demonstrations of Edison’s other new inventions. Mark Twain also made this a regular location on his speaking tours in the Midwest.” – Wikipedia

As I mentioned before, motorized vehicles are prohibited on the island, so there are horse drawn carriages everywhere. While it is quite romantic to think about horse drawn carriages, walking around them is quite another thing. Or, rather, quite a smelly thing. There are people who work full time to scoop the poop from the streets but you still need to watch your step.

Michigan’s first state park is on the island. We walked by but didn’t spend much time here.

Near the state park is the Michigan Governor’s summer residence. The home was built in 1902 and free tours of the summer residence are available through Mackinac State Historic Parks during the summer.

Also nearby is Fort Mackinac. “Built by the British in 1780, Fort Mackinac was closed as a fort by the United States in 1895 as it no longer had any strategic purpose. It has been restored to its late 19th-century state through efforts beginning in the 1930s.” – Wikipedia

All of Mackinac Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in October 1960. Back in town near the ferry dock are many restored buildings and points of interest. We passed by the American Fur Company Store. “The Agency House of the American Fur Company was built in 1820 as the residence for the company’s Mackinac Island agent, Robert Stuart. It has been adapted as a fur trade museum and is open to the public.” – Wikipedia

After our day walking around Mackinac Island we were really tired and slept quite well. Moving around was just what we needed.

The next day we drove about an hour and a half south to “mooch dock” at our friend’s lakeside home. What is mooch docking? Moochdocking is RV camping on a friend or family’s property for free. This might mean parking in their driveway, on the street, or somewhere on their land. In this case, Dan and Paige’s home on a lake was amazing and we were so happy to be able to visit with them.

Once we got the RV all set up for the night we were invited to take a cruise on the lake in their boat. When Dan first mentioned that he wanted to take us ‘out on the lake’ we weren’t sure what that meant. But it was Dan’s birthday and we were open to whatever he had in mind. We should have known better, these two have been doing this for a long time and have the perfect set up to enjoy their lake.

Paige kept pointing out all the homes of significance around the area. And at one point she said that people had even built lake homes on the little islands in the middle of the lake.

Dan pulled the boat up close enough for me to get this picture. Much of the lake is shallow around the islands. You can see the reeds growing in the water…the water is only 2-3 feet deep there.

We ended the night watching the bluebirds and a woodpecker from their back porch.

The next morning Joel and Dan went kayaking. Meanwhile, Paige and I enjoyed some coffee and tea on the back porch and watched bluebirds. It was so peaceful.

The area in northern Michigan turned out to be such a wonderful surprise. So much better than anything we expected. Next time we come back we plan to stay longer.