AN & JFP – U.P. 2014 – Day #2

This was Mackinac Island day.  We chose not to rush and opted for the Star Line 10:00 AM ferry, giving us an unhurried morning with breakfast “on” and at the motel.  The morning was cool but not really cold and the sun broke through periodically, more and more so as the day wore on.  Star Line has the “rooster tail” slightly higher speed ferries and the 10:00 AM run had the added benefit of a “side trip” to just into Lake Michigan by a few yards taking us under Big Mac twice, which made for some “photo ops”.

Once on the island we wandered more or less at random for a while but when we found ourselves at the foot of the Fort by the ticket booth we elected to go up and in.  Its position on the heights makes for some great overlooks, and we found our wanderings in the fort very interesting, more so than I expected.  Towards the end we went to the Tea Room operated by the Grand Hotel and had very elegantly served coffees, sitting outside in the sunshine.

Our next target was the hotel, but to get there we needed to wander through the tourist shops area so our journey was quite slow with some purchases made & others plotted for our return to avoid too much lugging around of stuff.  The hotel gardens were quite sparse but did have a lot of daffodils in bloom (& geraniums in window boxes).  We wandered the full length and took some pictures and then started the more pleasant return journey since this time it was downhill with the stiff breeze at our backs!  There is a strong sense of olde worlde living with horse-drawn everything, from the hotels luxurious carriages to the grungiest of work carts.  Clearly it is the start of their “season” and signs of frantic preparations were everywhere.  It also meant that the shops had maximum stocks and lots of choices, of which we took considerable advantage.

We did some more shopping and wandering but were getting hungry and leg-weary so we chose a nice bistro and had a good sustaining meal, planning to only snack later.  Conveniently their back entrance opened onto the pier from which our return ferries ran so we agreed we had seen/done enough and took the next ferry back to St. Ignace, where we recovered from the exertions of the day and later soaked our weary limbs in the hot tub.

We took pictures and what we selected as memories may be seen here.