Lauren Elizabeth

Mackinac Island

On the very last day of our week long road trip we went out to Mackinac Island. Growing up I had watched the movie Somewhere in Time with my cousins. At that age I just really thought it was cool because Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman was in it and that guy that got paralyzed. I remember crying and thinking this is such a depressing movie, but I was a sucker for all those movies with the fancy dresses and the big hair (Ann of Greene Gables was a staple in our home). So I knew about The Grand Hotel from seeing the film. It was a for sure must see while we are living in Michigan. When we found out that it was only about 35 minutes from where we were staying in Harbor Springs we knew we could make a day out of it.

We left pretty early in the morning and took the ferry across the lake. As you come in you see the hotel up on the hill and on the other side another great light house( I think we saw at least 8 or 9 great lighthouses on this trip). As soon as we got off we headed straight for the bike rental. On the island there are no cars. So everyone gets around by bike, horse and buggy or on foot. So cute right? It is about 8 miles around the whole island. Vi got to ride in her own little carrier on the back of Mike's bike. She was not a fan at first. We had to stop and feed her part way and then she fell asleep and the rest of the ride was nice a quiet. It was beautiful. The water up north is just so clear. It wasn't too hot yet and there were a lot of wooded areas too. We really loved the bike ride and you get to see a lot of the island. Once we got back we stopped and had lunch under a tree by the Mackinac Library. There were lots more darling homes and beautiful flowers. All the peonies and poppies had just come out up there. So everything was in full bloom and it was gorgeous. After lunch we went up to see the hotel. It is known for having the longest front porch of any hotel. It's so great because everyone is just sitting out on the rocking chairs that line the whole thing. We went up into the hotel and walked around for awhile. This hotel was so fun. It was like old Hollywood regency. There were palms tree prints everywhere and the bright furniture with the extravagant curtains and tufted couches. I loved it! I was also a total creeper and peeked into a room as mike and I walked down the hall. It was so over the top with drapes around the bed and velvet galore! It was so fun! We saw a small art exhibit they had there. One of the workers just came up to us a reached out for vi and held her for about 5 minutes. It was unexpected but cute. We fed Vi in the air conditioned hotel since we knew she would enjoy that a lot more. We really loved the whole thing. From there we walked to the fort that is on the island and walked around there and the governor's mansion. It was a bit of a hike so we really got our work out in for the day. Then we went on a fudge hunt. We were trying to find a salted caramel one like the one we had in Holland. We found one and it was delicious. We ate a lot of it on the ferry ride back to our car. Mackinac is known for having good fudge and there are about 20 shops just on the main street. We really had a great time. From there we made the drive home and Vi slept a lot of the way. We really ended our trip with a bang. It was so fun and we can't wait to go back.