Sunday, August 21, 2022

Saturday, August 20th - Day 51, Mackinac Island

We have driven the coach 1,430 miles and the car another 1.770 since leaving Centertown.

The weather was good today, until late afternoon, when we started getting occasional light showers. We were back at the coach long before it started raining.

Some campground stuff first. The car next door.  I need to get over there when the folks are out and get a better look at it.


One of the 20+ yurt tents that must be part of the campground.

We took the 9:30 ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island. As part of the trip the ferry makes a loop under Mighty Mac before heading to the Island. It isn't foggy, that is spray from the boat. She is a beautiful bridge. Clearance for ships is 155'. The roadway is 199' above the water. The water is 140' deep at the piers. The piers are sunk 105' into the soil/rock bottom.




We thought the Island was commercialized when we walked around it over 50 years ago. Now the area around the docks is so touristy that it is hardly worth bothering with, but once you get away from that area it is still a nice place to visit.

There are 3 ferry companies that bring people from both Mackinac City and St. Ignace. The water is fully of ferries. There are 3 bunched together in the photo.
Rent a kayak.
Rent a bike.
But you may want to bring your own across on the ferry, many people did.

Gordon Food Service semi's are brought over on freight ferries. The semis pull onto the pier and are unloaded into horse drawn wagons.



Our neighbors at the campground had been to the Island the day before we arrived. They told us to make sure we ate at the Chuckwagon, so we did. The restaurant is no more than 20' wide. These 2 guys did all the cooking and were interesting to watch. I took this photo from my seat at the bar.
Our breakfasts. Everything was good.
They cram a LOT of folks in a small area, and feed them fast. No pressure to hurry eating. The waitress came by and refilled my coffee cup at least once.

With all the horses on the Island they eat a lot of hay. This freight ferry brought some over. A fork truck is moving the bales from the ferry to the pier. I didn't see how they were being loaded and hauled away.



Some photos leaving the Island. Many beautiful homes. I should have taken photos of some of the flowers planted around most of the homes. They must have a LOT of people who love flowers as much as Alice Longfellow.

The Grand Hotel. You can have brunch there for $80/person.

We enjoyed visiting the Island again It is very commercialized, especially near the docks. We didn't walk a long way away from the docks but it was easy to get out  of the heavily commercial area and see nice, well kept homes, most with lots of beautiful flowers around them. There is a lot of points of interest worth seeing that we didn't bother with, most we saw 50 years ago. For people capable of riding bikes, so that you could get further away from the commercial stuff. It would be a great place to visit. There was a nice playground, open for all, at the public school building.

Kathy has a couple of photos on her phone that I may put on my laptop and add later. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.





No comments:

Post a Comment