Vacationing in Michigan- contd.

So, when last I left the keyboard, I left the final portion of our trip to Michigan untold. And now it is time to remedy that situation. On Monday Mom showed a couple neat museums in Alpena but she came up with an even better idea for Tuesday- a trip to Mackinac Island, a fabled place in Michigan history which somehow I had managed to never visit in spite of so many summers spent in the northland. The weather looked promising- glorious even and so the decision was easily reached that we would set off on Tuesday morning for Mackinac.

It is a beautiful island resort and it has been a resort area since the end of the Civil War. To get there you have to ride a ferry boat and we picked seats right behind the boat captain’s controls to have a view of the approach. When you get to the island there’s an interesting surprise- NO motor vehicles! There are exactly 2 powered vehicles on the island, a fire truck and an ambulance. Everything and everyone else travels by horsepower, typically 2 horsepower, meaning draft horses pulling carriages or carts. The good citizens of the island banned horseless carriages in 1897, one was snuck onto the island causing havoc and injury in 1902 and after that, the horse lobby won and self-powered vehicles were prohibited. So there are 400 resident draft horses on the island during the summer and they have very nice barns, exercise pens and rest pastures for their maintenance. The horses don’t winter on the island but are instead shipped over to the mainland and boarded with farmers all over the upper portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan.

We took a pleasant carriage ride on the tour around the island, entertained by a driver and tour guide and 2 Belgians that were not so pleased to be back in the harness after their winter break.

We saw and photographed probably the most photographed rock in Michigan, Arch Rock-

spoiled most of the tour guide’s lame jokes and departed the tour at the entrance to Fort Mackinac. The fort was built as a defense for the straits, surrendered to the British without a shot being fired at the outbreak of the War of 1812, held captured Confederate supporters during the Civil War and is now a very nice museum of life on the island and behind the walls during its heyday. There are young men dressed in the military uniforms of the times giving demonstrations- (yeah, cannons!)

and describing life in the fort. Due to the fort’s idyllic location and minimal military necessity, life was pretty good at Fort Mackinac and a desirable place to be stationed.

Lunch was served at The Tea Room, outside on the deck in the glorious sunshine and due to the early season and mid-week timing of our trip, we had the staff’s complete attention. The manager came over and visited with us for a bit and it felt like we were living the lives of The Rich and Famous while enjoying some delicious lunch.

The view from the Tea Room was really nice too, although the harbor was empty of pleasure boats due to the earliness of the season.

Take special notice of how clear and blue the water was. I didn't see water during our Carribean cruise that was any prettier than it was here.

After lunch we left the fort, walked down the hill and did some window shopping and browsing down Main Street. We didn’t buy anything but ice cream cones but we did have a very nice look around at the artist and t-shirt shops. Remember that I said everything gets delivered on the island by horse and cart? Even the UPS delivery guy has a hose cart! He even had a dedicated driver to manage the horses as he unloads boxes and makes his deliveries.

I thought this was the funniest thing I saw all day.

One of the beauties of the day was the early season timing of our visit. Travel to the island between Memorial Day and Labor Day and the place is packed with tourists on horse carriage, foot or bicycle and sight-seeing becomes an effort in avoiding being jostled by all the thousands of people that flock to the resort. Instead, we had lots of elbow room and opportunity to look at the beautifully maintained historic homes, hotels and shops because we visited so early in the year. We were a couple weeks early for most of the flowers to be in bloom and one of the island’s charms are the beautifully groomed flower beds in every yard and corner. But we did see some of the early bloomers and enjoyed some terrific spring weather.

It was a grand day with the 2 most important women in my life and we all had a great time. Dinner was at Big Boy back in Alpena at the end of the trip. Why don't we have Big Boy's here? I really miss them!

The next morning it was time for a few more pictures-

before getting back into the rental car and setting Magellan in search of the Detroit Metro Airport. That's my Mom on the left, Grandma Manning in front and my uncles- Mike and Glen in the back row. Mom and Grandma really have a great deal in their home, Mike lives in the basement with his wife and Glenn lives next door with my aunt and cousin. There are more aunts and uncles just minutes away and most of them are at the house very regularly.

But we got back to the airport and back to Salt Lake City without much drama. It was raining at our layover in Chicago and our plane left late but we got home safely to 2 very cats!