On to Mackinac!
After crossing the Mackinac Bridge (inspiring fond memories of walking across the bridge with my Grandma one Labor Day) and taking the ferry across the Mackinac Straits, we arrived on the island on Wednesday night.
Of course I'd been to Mackinac several times growing up, but I honestly don't remember that much about it. I remember some sort of re-enactment at the fort, and looking through Arch Rock. That's about extent of it. I was a
lot more impressed with the island this time around. The Victorian homes! The amazing views! Much like the trees at Tahquamenon Falls, I guess those aren't things a kid is likely to notice or care about. But mostly, I was amazed at how Mackinac Island doesn't feel like a place that even belongs in the Midwest (no offense to Midwesterners, of course). It feels more like New England. (And probably has the prices to match.)
We rented bikes for a few hours on Thursday morning. Claire was so excited about the bike ride, "Bikes!" was the first word she said when she woke up that morning. Here she is in her Burley trailer, behind my bike.
Elsa got this "Weehoo" thing, which was attached to Bob's bike. We had planned to get her one of those little-kid tandem bikes, but this seemed a little safer and more stable, given that she isn't used to riding without training wheels. It had pedals to help out Bob on hills, although the bike rental guy was pretty honest about the fact that Bob "probably wouldn't notice she was doing anything." What he
did notice is it gave his bike a turning radius roughly equivalent to that of an 18-wheeler. Another issue with the Weehoo was that, whenever we rode through puddles, the back wheel of Bob's bike threw mud right into Elsa's face. At least, we
really hope it was mud. It was all over her shirt, in her hair ... everywhere!
The bike rental company gave us a brochure with a self-guided bike tour of the attractions. We rode up to the center of the island, which involved going up some very steep hills. Not an easy task when we were hauling 30-40 pounds each!
Our first stop was the Grand Hotel. I really wanted to go up on the famous porch, but we quickly learned that they charge $10 per person to go up there. The view definitely wasn't worth that. Fun fact: The Grand Hotel was built in 93 days. The lumber used to build it was brought to the island by horse and wagon, across the ice.
Next we stopped at "Sugar Loaf," which is this giant rock with little caves all through it.
We also biked past the cemetary. More fun facts: There is very little topsoil on Mackinac Island, so the graves are very shallow and the caskets frequently unearth themselves and have to be re-buried. Another fun fact: The military cemetary on Mackinac is one of only four places in the U.S. where the flag is flown at half-staff 365 days per year, in honor of the unknown soldier. (The other three are Arlington, Gettysburg, and Pearl Harbor.)
And of course, the famous Arch Rock.
Such an amazing view from up by Arch Rock! Oddly enough, the view up there reminded me of Hawaii (specifically, Kauai). How weird is that?
Elsa was inspired to take a few pictures too.
After our self-guided tour, we biked part of the road that goes around the perimeter of the island. This is an actual state highway—the only one in the U.S. that doesn't allow cars!
A view of the bridge from our bike ride.
After an exhausting bike ride (for kids and grown-ups alike!), we headed back to our hotel room for naps all around. Here are the girls in our very pink hotel room (they loved that).
After naps, we went to Fort Mackinac.
Fort Mackinac was originally built by the British during the Revolutionary War. And the re-enactment that I vaguely remember from my childhood definitely featured colonial guys in red coats. But these days, Fort Mackinac has fast-forwarded to .... 1888. Why 1888? Because that's when the Fort was last remodeled, I guess? Here are our circa-1888 re-enactors firing the cannon for us. Apparently this cannon has never fired anything but blanks. It was always used ceremonially, even in 1888. But it was really loud!
The 1888 re-enacting probably makes sense from the standpoint of how the fort
looks, but obviously there weren't any acts of war going on in Michigan in 1888. So apparently the soldiers of the time were managing a national park. Which leads us to another fun fact: Mackinac Island was the U.S.'s second national park (the first, of course, was Yellowstone). But after about 20 years, the federal government turned it over to the state of Michigan, and the majority of the island became Michigan's first state park. That was when the U.S. military abandoned Fort Mackinac.
We did the fort's "Children's Tour," which mainly consisted of this nice lady pointing out the school building and talking about what kids did on Mackinac Island in 1888. They went sledding, ice skating, bought fudge (well, of course they did), and played games like this one, which we all got to try out. The idea was to put a hoop on a crossed pair of sticks and throw the hoop by uncrossing the sticks.
I was hopeless at it (you're all shocked, I know). I think Claire was actually better at it than I was.
There was also an entertaining little museum. This is what we would have looked like if we lived in Victorian times. And if I was a little stuffed bear named Tico.
Hats! There were hats to try on!
More hats!
And guns!
This is what we would have looked like if we were brave soldiers making the ultimate 1888 sacrifice: Helping to manage a national park.
We had a good time at Fort Mackinac. I really enjoyed learning about the history of the island, it's actually quite interesting.
Even more enjoyable: That night's ice cream and chocolate-dipped cookie on a stick. Yummy.
The next morning was our "horsey ride." Once the bike ride was over, the horsey ride was all Claire talked about, the entire time we were on Mackinac Island.
Here are the girls on the carriage, all ready to go. Doesn't Claire look excited?
The carriage ride took us to most of the same places our bike tour did the day before, but Claire loved the horsies, of course, and we had a very entertaining driver.
Our horsies.
After the horsey ride, we boarded the ferry and headed back to the mainland. Claire said, "Bye bye, Matiwaw! Bye bye, horsies!" over and over for the entire ferry ride and for at least 20 more minutes after we got into the car.
So, bye bye, Matiwaw Island! See you next time!
On to Mackinac!
After crossing the Mackinac Bridge (inspiring fond memories of walking across the bridge with my Grandma one Labor Day) and taking the ferry across the Mackinac Straits, we arrived on the island on Wednesday night.
Of course I'd been to Mackinac several times growing up, but I honestly don't remember that much about it. I remember some sort of re-enactment at the fort, and looking through Arch Rock. That's about extent of it. I was a lot more impressed with the island this time around. The Victorian homes! The amazing views! Much like the trees at Tahquamenon Falls, I guess those aren't things a kid is likely to notice or care about. But mostly, I was amazed at how Mackinac Island doesn't feel like a place that even belongs in the Midwest (no offense to Midwesterners, of course). It feels more like New England. (And probably has the prices to match.)
We rented bikes for a few hours on Thursday morning. Claire was so excited about the bike ride, "Bikes!" was the first word she said when she woke up that morning. Here she is in her Burley trailer, behind my bike.
Elsa got this "Weehoo" thing, which was attached to Bob's bike. We had planned to get her one of those little-kid tandem bikes, but this seemed a little safer and more stable, given that she isn't used to riding without training wheels. It had pedals to help out Bob on hills, although the bike rental guy was pretty honest about the fact that Bob "probably wouldn't notice she was doing anything." What he did notice is it gave his bike a turning radius roughly equivalent to that of an 18-wheeler. Another issue with the Weehoo was that, whenever we rode through puddles, the back wheel of Bob's bike threw mud right into Elsa's face. At least, we really hope it was mud. It was all over her shirt, in her hair ... everywhere!
The bike rental company gave us a brochure with a self-guided bike tour of the attractions. We rode up to the center of the island, which involved going up some very steep hills. Not an easy task when we were hauling 30-40 pounds each!
Our first stop was the Grand Hotel. I really wanted to go up on the famous porch, but we quickly learned that they charge $10 per person to go up there. The view definitely wasn't worth that. Fun fact: The Grand Hotel was built in 93 days. The lumber used to build it was brought to the island by horse and wagon, across the ice.
Next we stopped at "Sugar Loaf," which is this giant rock with little caves all through it.
We also biked past the cemetary. More fun facts: There is very little topsoil on Mackinac Island, so the graves are very shallow and the caskets frequently unearth themselves and have to be re-buried. Another fun fact: The military cemetary on Mackinac is one of only four places in the U.S. where the flag is flown at half-staff 365 days per year, in honor of the unknown soldier. (The other three are Arlington, Gettysburg, and Pearl Harbor.)
And of course, the famous Arch Rock.
Such an amazing view from up by Arch Rock! Oddly enough, the view up there reminded me of Hawaii (specifically, Kauai). How weird is that?
Elsa was inspired to take a few pictures too.
After our self-guided tour, we biked part of the road that goes around the perimeter of the island. This is an actual state highway—the only one in the U.S. that doesn't allow cars!
A view of the bridge from our bike ride.
After an exhausting bike ride (for kids and grown-ups alike!), we headed back to our hotel room for naps all around. Here are the girls in our very pink hotel room (they loved that).
After naps, we went to Fort Mackinac.
Fort Mackinac was originally built by the British during the Revolutionary War. And the re-enactment that I vaguely remember from my childhood definitely featured colonial guys in red coats. But these days, Fort Mackinac has fast-forwarded to .... 1888. Why 1888? Because that's when the Fort was last remodeled, I guess? Here are our circa-1888 re-enactors firing the cannon for us. Apparently this cannon has never fired anything but blanks. It was always used ceremonially, even in 1888. But it was really loud!
The 1888 re-enacting probably makes sense from the standpoint of how the fort looks, but obviously there weren't any acts of war going on in Michigan in 1888. So apparently the soldiers of the time were managing a national park. Which leads us to another fun fact: Mackinac Island was the U.S.'s second national park (the first, of course, was Yellowstone). But after about 20 years, the federal government turned it over to the state of Michigan, and the majority of the island became Michigan's first state park. That was when the U.S. military abandoned Fort Mackinac.
We did the fort's "Children's Tour," which mainly consisted of this nice lady pointing out the school building and talking about what kids did on Mackinac Island in 1888. They went sledding, ice skating, bought fudge (well, of course they did), and played games like this one, which we all got to try out. The idea was to put a hoop on a crossed pair of sticks and throw the hoop by uncrossing the sticks.
I was hopeless at it (you're all shocked, I know). I think Claire was actually better at it than I was.
There was also an entertaining little museum. This is what we would have looked like if we lived in Victorian times. And if I was a little stuffed bear named Tico.
Hats! There were hats to try on!
More hats!
And guns!
This is what we would have looked like if we were brave soldiers making the ultimate 1888 sacrifice: Helping to manage a national park.
We had a good time at Fort Mackinac. I really enjoyed learning about the history of the island, it's actually quite interesting.
Even more enjoyable: That night's ice cream and chocolate-dipped cookie on a stick. Yummy.
The next morning was our "horsey ride." Once the bike ride was over, the horsey ride was all Claire talked about, the entire time we were on Mackinac Island.
Here are the girls on the carriage, all ready to go. Doesn't Claire look excited?
The carriage ride took us to most of the same places our bike tour did the day before, but Claire loved the horsies, of course, and we had a very entertaining driver.
Our horsies.
After the horsey ride, we boarded the ferry and headed back to the mainland. Claire said, "Bye bye, Matiwaw! Bye bye, horsies!" over and over for the entire ferry ride and for at least 20 more minutes after we got into the car.
So, bye bye, Matiwaw Island! See you next time!
2 comments:
Fun visit to the UPper Michigan! We love reading your travel log and to see the pictures of Elsa and Claire.
XO to Girls from both of us.
Dad
We love looking at pictures of your trip. Looks like an amazing time on Matiwaw Island!
Ellen
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