Mackinac Island

Main Street on Mackinac Island. Our hotel is the yellow building in the center.

We're spending a few days on Mackinac Island, Michigan for our 40th wedding anniversary. It's a pretty but small place (only 8 miles around), which banned cars and other motorized vehicles many years ago in order to maintain the rural ambiance of the place. It worked. The only modes of transportation are horses, horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. Even the local taxi's are horse-drawn. The constant clop-clopping of the horses passing below our window really adds a nostalgic air to the whole place. Combine that with the smell of chocolate fudge wafting up from the store just below us and you have the makings of a truly memorable stay.



Here are a few views of Main Street to give you an idea of how pretty it really is. The weather cooperated the day we arrived so we hustled out to take as many photos as we could before it turned showery. It cleared briefly the afternoon of the 7th, our anniversary, so we went out to dinner and walked around the town some more. Most of the day-trippers had returned to Mackinaw City on the ferries by 6 PM so we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. The shops were open until late - especially the several confectioners making & selling fudge, which is something of a local institution here. Guess they make it by the gallon and sell as much as they make to all of the tourists who descend on the island between April and October every year. It's a pretty seasonal destination - but a beautiful one when the weather cooperates.

We donned our rain gear and walked about half way around the island before returning to the town.


Rush Hour - Passing is on the left



A view of our suite in a downtown hotel - right across the street from the ferry terminal


Making fudge by the bucket-load


40 Years and counting



The island was the setting for the movie "Somewhere in Time" back in 1982, starring Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour. Most of the film was shot at the Grand Hotel just up the hill from us. Would have stayed there but the recent reviews were pretty bad. Guess the place was sold a few years ago and the new owners are running it into the ground. So...we opted to stay at the Main Street Inn & Suites in the center of town - a new place that has justified its number one ranking as far as we're concerned. Really a gorgeous place, and a warm, sry and inviting haven on a blustery day...which is what we have today.

Leaving on the 9 AM ferry tomorrow to pick up the car in Mackinaw City, then continue the drive - this time towards Rapid City, SD and Mount Rushmore.