2016 Mackinac Island

Quick trip in Michigan to Mackinac Island Oct. 2016

My wife Lynn in general seems lucky. Look, we ended up together so how lucky is she ;)
Lynn entered a contest by WXYZ radio and in July was notified she won a two night stay at the Lake View Hotel on Mackinac Island, ferry tickets over, and a food gift card worth $100 at Goodfellow's restaurants.

We already had booked a Italy/France cruise vacation for September but you can't beat a trip where most of the expenses are paid. So we made plans to use the prize before it ran out and most places closed on the island the end of October. The other caviate was that the booking excluded the weekends. Luckily I had been storing up a fair amount of vacation time, so I didn't feel to bad using some.

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MI in Oct.

Mackinac Bridge

Upper Peninsula sign

Up to the Upper Peninsula leaving the trolls behind (trolls live under the bridge), Michigan talk... We had tickets with Shepler's ferry service and it only takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the island. We paid an extra $10 per person to take our bikes and have a license for our time on the island. I guess I should mention for those not familiar with the island that it is a car free zone. Might be a emergency vehicle or two, but mainly horse drawn carriages besides bikes and walking to get around.

Mackinac Islands web page, for more info.

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Shepler's Ferry

Mackinac Bridge

Grand Hotel from water

Mackinac

Lake View Hotel

We made it to the hotel by 1:00 but check in was not until 3:00 so we checked our luggage in and started exploring. There were a lot of sales this time of year as many businesses were preparing to close for the season. Most close the end of October and only about 500 residents live there over the winter. We heard only one ferry runs during the winter, as long as water isn't frozen over and it is slow taking about 45 minutes.

We explored Wednesday, had a nice dinner at the hotels restaurant "Goodfellows" and relaxed. The next morning we got up and had the hotels included breakfast that was nothing fancy but adequate, with cereals, waffles to toast, muffins, donuts, toast, juices and coffee. For $5 you could get an omelette. After breakfast we bundled up and went for a bike ride around the island. M-185 is the only highway in the US that does not allow cars. It was only a little over 8 miles around but was a nice scenic ride.

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Downtown

Fudge

biking

Arch rock

shore line

Nicolet Watch Tower

History signs on M-185

Lake Shore

Devils Kitchen

M-185

After biking around we had lunch and then decided to go for a walk through town, past the park, fort and to the Grand Hotel. We passed a Pileated Woodpecker next to the golf course walking to the Grand. After exploring the Grand Hotel we walked back to town which is close and we came back up an alley next to the Lake View Hotel where we had our bikes parked. We went to the pool and enjoyed the whirlpool and sauna for a little while.

Thursday night we went out for a snack to finish up our gift card, then tried out a new place to eat. Nothing great but it was fun to get out and tour the town again at night. On the way back I picked up fudge (3 slices for the price of two) and some caramel corn. It Lasted about a week and a half until it was all gone, see I have some willpower.

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Park

Fort

Fort View

Pileated Woodpecker

Lake View Pool

Grand Porch View

Lake View Balcony

Lake View Hotel Balcony

Soo Locks

Friday we decided to leave early, had breakfast, caught the ferry with our bikes and then headed north to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to see the Soo locks. We were lucky to see a freighter going through the locks, then had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in town. Back heading south and picked up some smoked fish to try (white fish and trout). I like the trout a little better as it was more moist and ate them both within the first few days back.

I like seeing Wind turbines, and we saw a bunch on our way up and a couple coming back right across the bridge.

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Locks Raising

Mackinac Bridge

Wind turbines

45th Parallel