Day Two: Mackinac Island (Pt. 2)

Within minutes of turning in the bicycles, we regretted not bringing our strollers over on the ferry. Hayes needed to be carried therefore Charly insisted on being carried.  We had heard the island could be easily explored by foot, but we wondered if that meant carrying a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old the entire time!

Charly was a little frustrated and confused as to why we couldn't rent a bike for her too. She is a pro on her tricycle at home but we haven't attempted a bike with training wheels yet. However to her, a bike is a bike, her tricycle included. So she pointed out every single little kid on a small bike the whole time. "See!" she'd say. "I told you they have little bikes. I want one!"

Mackinac's main strip downtown was not more than 3-4 blocks long. Most of the shops were either souvenir shops or fudge shops. The entire island smells of fudge. It is quaint and eclectic and transports you to a time that blends past and present. There are a number of inns on the main strip and restaurants too, but most of the impressive inns were located away from downtown. The Grand Hotel, being one example. And many of the best restaurants on the island are joined with some of the inns or located off the main strip.

One particular restaurant we had read rave reviews for was The Chuckwagon. Out of 44 restaurants on the island, Trip Advisor ranked The Chuckwagon as the second best, behind a popular fudge shop. The reviews sounded legit and we wanted to give it a try. The one problem . . .

The Chuckwagon is nothing more than a hole-in-wall. Quite literally. Inside are four tables for two, a bar that overlooks the grill and stove top seating 8-12 patrons, and two booths in the back for 4-6 people. In all, the tiny burger joint seats maybe 30-40 people at a time. Lines build up quickly. Luckily, when we were ready to eat, a booth in the back opened up and there really was no line. It would have been worth the wait regardless! I got a bleu cheeseburger and Kelli got a cherry chicken salad sandwich. They were both awesome! I don't know if I'll eat cheeseburgers again without a pretzel bun. By the time we were finished eating and resting, the line outside the place was long. Like I said, we lucked out.

Another place we wanted to visit was J.L. Beanery, a small coffee shop on the water, another popular, well-reviewed spot on the island. I bought a Michigan-cherry flavored coffee and was hoping to score a souvenir cup or some beans but found none. Just a friendly shop owner that tried chatting up Hayes. The coffee was good and the atmosphere was, well, "Mackinac." But that's a good thing. We hung out near the racers and boats and chatted briefly with a couple on vacation. They were amazed that we were surviving with two small children! They have a grand-daughter Charly's age and their daughter had wanted to travel with them but they advised against it because they didn't really think Mackinac Island was a place for small children. They told us they saw us get off the ferry and laughed. Then assured us that we weren't the only crazy ones with small children on the island.

 

The other must-see was The Grand Hotel. This hotel opened in the late 1800's and boasts 385 rooms with no two being similar. It has been featured in many movies and has a strict dress code. A tour costs $20 and we didn't think the kids would be interested. An average nightly stay costs around $300 although deals can be found much cheaper. It was quite massive with a really cool courtyard too.

The Grand Hotel was a jaunt from the downtown strip and since Kelli and I had to carry both Charly and Hayes, we were exhausted by the time we returned. The view from the boardwalk was awesome though. We caught a better view of the Round Island Lighthouse, we got to see the Star Line Ferry bring people back to Mackinaw City with it's "tail" of spray behind it, we got to watch thousands of sailboat racers celebrate as results of the "Race to the Mackinac" were read in the lawn of the Grand Hotel, we had some strangers snap a family photo of us, and we discovered that Mackinac Island has a public school!

We learned later that Mackinac Island is home to around 430 people year round. During the summer months, ideal for tourism, the island becomes home to many more obviously, as seasonal business employees live on the island. We were a little amazed at how large the school is for a community with a population of 430 people.

We decided to call it a day after 6 hours on the island. We boarded the ferry, somehow avoided spray again from the waves despite nearly the entire rest of the passengers getting drenched, and saw the Round Island Lighthouse up close.

We had one more lighthouse we wanted to see while we were in Mackinaw City and that was the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse was built in 1892 and it's location marks the spot where Lake Michigan joins Lake Huron. The lighthouse is almost the first thing you see as you cross The Mighty Mack and drive into Mackinaw City. It is located on a rocky beach just below the bridge.

It was cold and windy but we could not deprive Charly and Hayes of an opportunity to toss some pretty amazing rocks into some aqua-blue blue water! So we sat back and let the kids throw . . . It tuckered them out and they went to bed that much easier, our first full day in the books. They needed their rest for what laid in store the next day.

Day Two: Mackinac Island (Pt. 1)

We couldn't travel to the state of Michigan without seeing Mackinac Island. For those that haven't heard of it, the entire island of Mackinac is a National Historic Landmark located in Lake Huron. All forms of motorized transportation have been banned on the island. It's a small island, measuring only 3.8 square miles, and can be traveled easily by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage.

We hopped aboard the 9:00 am Star Line Ferry, whose dock was directly across the street from our hotel, because it was the only ferry that detoured slightly so to take us underneath the Mighty Mack Bridge on our way to the island. Driving over the bridge at dusk, we didn't feel like we could soak in how impressive it is. In the morning light, with the bright blue water below it, the bridge is really incredible. It is only 400 feet shorter than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA.

I kind of went overboard taking pictures of it. It was so cool.

We sat on the right side of the open-air second deck of our triple-decker ferry so we could have good views. It was a brisk morning and I felt unprepared (though I didn't admit this to Kelli) as the only member of our foursome without a sweatshirt. Our ferry captain came over the speaker system and told us that due to the cooler-than-average temperatures and the wind, there was a good chance people in the second and third decks could get splashed. Kelli and I quickly calculated the wind direction and thought we should be okay. We were. We felt a little spray as the entire opposite side of the ferry got wet and crammed over onto our side, but it wasn't bad. 

Charly was fascinated by the boat ride!

  

Hayes fell asleep.

We could not believe how blue and clear the water of Lake Huron was. The waves were a little wilder than usual but combined with the blue sky and numerous clouds, it all made for a rather picturesque ferry ride.

The above picture shows Mackinac Island's two lighthouses, the Round Island Lighthouse (far right) and Round Island Passage Light (far left). The lighthouse was built in the 1890's because Mackinac Island often got in the way of ships traveling in Lake Huron. The island itself was a hazard so the lighthouse was built to warn vessels it was there. It looks more like an old schoolhouse than it does a lighthouse, but it has awesome character nonetheless.

This strange feeling came over both of us, the closer we came to the island. It's hard to describe but it's a feeling that never really left us the entire day. We felt like we were being transported to some strange place that didn't really exist. Suddenly, home felt very, very, very far away. Even though we were just in Michigan!

There are three different ferry companies that shuttle tourists to Mackinac Island and all run on similar schedules. So when we docked on the island, so did literally, thousands of other people. We thought maybe being a Tuesday, the island wouldn't feel so crowded. That was not the case. It was packed. We discovered that the Bayview Yacht Club's "Race to Mackinac" sailboat race had just concluded. The island was crawling with racers, racers' families, and fans.

We used Trip Advisor to do a lot of our research and it sounded like renting bikes was the thing to do. While pricey, we found many testimonials suggesting renting bikes and riding around the island to sightsee. We thought the kids would love tooling around in a Burley so our first stop off the ferry was one of many bike rental places on Mackinac's Main Street. For $8 and hour, we rented bikes and a trailer and started out.

The island's "Main Street" actually leads to the shore and follows the perimeter of the island. It is precisely 8.3 miles around. We were feeling ambitious!

The kids were not as big of a fan of the Burley as we thought they would be! Hayes couldn't quite get comfortable and Charly demanded the cover closed! We stopped about a mile down the road to let them stretch and throw rocks into Lake Huron. Charly is obsessed with rocks lately, and we were worried that we wouldn't be able to get her back in the Burley!

We eventually did get them back in the trailer and hit the road again. Another mile down the road we found Arch Rock, a famous rock on the island that is eroding from the inside out. It is believed that within 5 years the rock will be gone.

Along the side of the road we noticed all these stacks of stones. Apparently a popular thing for visitors to the island to do is see how high they can stack stones on the shore. We tried our hand at it but Hayes ended up knocking more down than we could stack up, so we gave up!

Another mile down the road (3 total now) and my ambition turned to exhaustion. Charly and Hayes still weren't really fans of the Burley, the temperature was mid-to-high 60's, and a good 10-15 mph wind was blowing directly in my face! We really wanted to say we biked the full 8.3 miles around the island, but I couldn't pull the nearly 60 lb. trailer behind me in midst of all the obstacles. I wussed out.

Of course as soon as we turned around to bike back to downtown, the kids fell asleep and the temperature rose! Figures . . .

The bicycles proved hard to maneuver downtown amidst all the people, so we turned them in for the day and decided to explore downtown on foot. Our research had turned up a number of shops and restaurants we wanted to check out and we didn't think it was fair to keep the kids confined to a bicycle trailer any longer.

To Be Continued . . .