Mackinac Island day 3

Our second full day on the island began leisurely. We didn’t arise until well after 8am, got dressed and headed downtown to Starbucks where we grabbed our morning coffees. We strolled back to the hotel and relaxed (the operative concept at work for us here) for an hour or so.  

Across from our hotel was a bike rental agency — one of a half dozen or so near town — and we picked up a pair of “cruisers” for our tour around the island. Indeed, our singular goal for the day was to ride the 8.2 miles of Michigan state highway M-185, the one and only highway in the state closed to motorized vehicles and that goes right along the coast around the island. And so we did. 

Lots of road erosion for the first half or so of the trip but the second half was smooth and clean. We stopped at Arch Rock, or rather the base of it, and cruised on to British Landing, a point of no small historical value for you enthusiasts of the War of 1812. You can find out more about Mackinac Island’s part in the War of 1812 on the Mackinac State Parks website.  There’s also a set of restrooms at the Landing and it’s a major junction for those wanting to head inland. 

We completed the circumnavigation of the island in just about 90 minutes. After dropping off our bikes we walked back into town and stopped at the Pink Pony in the Chippewa Hotel for lunch. Table service was full but the bar was wide open so we opted to do self-service at the bar. Like Panera they give you a number and bring the food to your table. No muss, no fuss. Susie had soup and sandwich and I went for the whitefish tacos. Quite good all ‘round. 

After lunch we both headed back to the hotel. While I took a nap Susie went back out for a stroll around the nearby East Bluff. We met up a couple of hours later downtown for coffee at Moomers and hung around downtown for a bit. Returning to the hotel I caught up on my travel notes and prepped photos for the soon-to-be-published blog notes. 

That evening we had a late dinner (7:45) at nearby 1852 Grill in the Island House, probably 200 yards from our hotel. The atmosphere was lovely, we had a table at the front with a gorgeous view overlooking the harbor and beyond. The food was scrumptious: we shared a plate of BBQ shrimp with cheddar grits followed by the walleye for Susie and the wienerschnitzel for me.

A wonderful, relaxing way to spend our final day on Mackinac Island. It’s been probably 25 years since we were here last and the pace (and place) hasn’t really changed much at all.

Arch Rock from M-185

quite a lot of road erosion

British Landing

The Bridge, one last time. . .

 

Walleye

Wienerschnitzel with spaetzel and cooked red cabbage

BBQ shrimp with cheddar grits

Mackinac Island day 2

On Wednesday, our first full day on the island, we languished a bit in our room before heading over to the main building for coffee and breakfast. Since all the breakfast offerings were one form or another of prepackaged food we just focused on the hot brown water followed by a couple of bananas. Fortunately there’s a Starbucks just up Main Street where we made up for the bland coffee offering of the hotel. 

Since we had to remain close by the hotel in order to be ready to move into our new room we just strolled through town: first downtown and then back east, just past our hotel, we popped into Saint Anne's Catholic church. Madame Laframboise was instrumental in helping to found the original building and upon her death in 1846 she was buried, per her wishes, beneath the altar of the church. Once back onto Main Street we headed east along M-185 briefly until we reached Mission Point Resort before returning to the Harbour View. We then had lunch at Bill’s Grill outside our hotel — light sandwiches — before settling in to our new room and relaxing before heading off to afternoon tea at the Grand Hotel.

About 3:30 we called for a taxi and headed off to our destination. Our taxi driver drove right past the “guard” at the entrance so we didn’t have to pay the $10 entry fee for nonresidents of the hotel. We made our way upstairs to the main level, found a comfortable place to sit and settled in for the afternoon. Susan had the tea and I just sipped a “champagne” label for the Grand Hotel. No idea where it came from. 

Susan gave the tea experience a grade of C-, and indeed it didn’t look very impressive. But the harpist playing nearby was superb, her choices of music wonderful and we hung about until everything closed down, at 5pm. We made our way out of the hotel along the long porch and up West Bluff Street before turning back to the hotel and then down into town for dinner.

We ate at The Village Inn, a place run by a Jamaican chef and while Susan had a crispy, fresh salad, I opted for the house specialty, “planked whitefish”: Lake Superior whitefish surrounded by Duchesse Potatoes and perfectly prepared vegetables. Tasty and spot on!

After dinner we meandered through town and ended up back at the hotel where we sat out on our patio with a glass of Nocino from Long Road Distillery in Grand Rapids (we brought a small bottle with us).

 

view from our room - can't get enough of the water

Memorial Park off Market Street

note the last two lines. . . 

note the sign on the fence

just outside of town on the west side of the island, along M-185

interior of Saint Anne's - madame Laframboise is buried beneath the altar

entrance to Mission Point

across the road from Mission Point

M-185 in front of Mission Point

Bill's Grill, on the grounds of the Harbour View Inn

taxi driver

tea service area

The Porch

sunset viewing area

looking back at the GH from West Bluff

presumably takes you down to M-185

yep, it's grand alright

color change already

memorial to Woodfill Park