This is how I would describe Mackinaw Island. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad I went and I got it off my bucket list. But do I yearn to go back? Maybe in the winter if it is open. More on that....
The day started off with good weather. Of course, this morning I could have had a fire if I wasn't breaking camp and getting on the road! Armed with my trusty head lamp, I started dissassembling my tent in the dark while still covered with heavy dew. It will need an airing out when I get home. I was on the road a bit before 8:30 which was a little later than planned but still good for getting Buddha dropped off at day care and catching the 10 or 10:30 ferry.
I'm on I75 cruising when I realize I'm low on gas. Rookie mistake! First exit I pull over and find a Shell station two miles away but then my strong willed gps took me to the one four miles away.
As I creates a hill to the station in Kinross, I see a big complex and I think what a nice school here. When I get closer, I see it is a prison and they are adding on to it. Not to go on a political rant, but I'd did make me sad that we are investing so much to keep people incarcerated and not rehabilitating. Or letting out black people jailed for selling marijuana when now white people are buying it legally. I remember in the 1990s thinking, yea privatizing prisons will be good. The government can't run anything cost efficiently.
But now jaded by 30+ years in corporate America, I realize it's just as bad to have corporations running prisons because they are always looking to make more money, which means they need more prisoners. If I researched it, I'd probably find PACs that lobby for stricter laws are connected to the companies who run these prisons. Anyway. Short rant over.
I got Buddha dropped off for day care, my car parked, and biked down to the ferry and made the 10 am. This one goes under the Mackinaw bridge which they are very proud of. Having grown up near the twin span Delaware Memorial Brisge and having seen the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, it was impressive but not awe inspiring.
We then turned toward the island and arrived in about 20 minutes. I sat next to a couple on the top deck and the gentleman had been to the island before. I was able to answer his quiz questions because I had read my book the night before! He was surprised. They recommended Mary's Bistro for lunch, so I made it my goal to bike around the island and then get lunch.
It is really cool be on a road and not have to worry about cars. Only horse taxis and people on the wrong side. The water is beautiful and clear and has tropical blue colors. I stopped at the rock formations highlighted in the book -- Devils kitchen and the Stone arch. Much of the island is made up of brecciated limestone which has been subject to flooding when Lake Nipissing covered all of what are now currently the Great Lakes. It's an almost
Bone like rock with rounded shaped and crevices.
Overwhelmed by the more than 50 brews on tap, I opted for a dark and stormy at lunch and breaded whitefish and chips. This was clearly fresh breading and not some frozen crap. They also make their own tartar sauce but I'm not a fan of tartar sauce in general so I can't tel you if it is really good.
Now that I was loaded up with some carbs, it was time to push my bike up the steep hill past the governors summer home (lovely!) and Fort Mackinaw to being my bike trip around the top to see the skull cavern, Fort Holmes, and the Sugar loaf rock formation. I did end up pushing my bike partly up another hill, but in my defense Inhad my New York security chain which me that weight at least 15 pounds and bike repair gear in addition to my water bottle and book. It turns out no one locks their bike on the island so joke is on me; I got my own personalized CrossFit work out. Lol.
I then came down hill and toured Fort Mackinac and as the man on the boat said, it was very well Done. An assignment here seemed like it was pretty cushy overall, because on we recovered the fort in 1814 at the Treaty of Ghent marking the end of the war of 1812, there was no military action here. The British had mounted a surprise attack from the rear of the island and held this strategic position for the duration of the was. They had held it for much of colonial time as well.
After the Fort was decommissioned, it became the nation's second national park after Yellowstone. (More quiz questions that i knew the answer too thanks to my $6 book). It was reverted to a state park later and it is well preserved and very interesting. As the man said the most interesting man made attraction on the island.
Near the fort is the "Somewhere in Time" gazebo. For those of you not familiar with the movie, it's a time travel romance starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I stumbled upon it years ago and I love me a time travel romance. It is one of those originally panned become a cult classic movies. I also watched an interview with Jane about the movie before my trip where she divulged that she and Reeve had a great romance and might have married except he went back to a former girlfriend who turned up pregnant.
On the ride down the hill, I went by the Grand Hotel. I had originally planned to go in, but it was mobbed. And the snooty doorman told me no bikes allowed as I went over to read the historical marker sign. Ugh. Reaffirmed my decision not to stay overnight there for $600 a night!!! Pretentious!
Instead, I explored the Stone church down the road which was lovely. I had also toured a gorgeous Catholic Church earlier in the day. I do t think I've ever seen stained glass depicting native Americans and a missionary before. It made me wonder why white people feel they needed to press their beliefs on a culture that I feel is spiritually more mature than Christianity may ever be. Apparently the French and the Jesuits were kinder to our orignal peoples but compared to the Catholics locking them up on boarding schools and taking away their culture, I'm not sure that's saying too much.
I concluded my stay by having a drink on the beach and soaking my tired dogs in the surprisingly warm water and buying the smallest amount of fudge possible ($16!) and having an ice cream. The shops all looked to be filled with stuff made overseas that I could buy anywhere, so I took a pass on them.
I also felt sorry for the draft horses carrying people around day after day living lives of silent desperation. There is a never ending job of scooping up poop, which even here is some by nonwhite people and does not eliminate the prevailing smell. Don't get me wrong, I've been around horses all my life and I don't mind the smell of barns, but just straight poop.... i also wondered where do all of the people who work here live? Surely the servers and store help are not living in homes here that start at $1M. Is there a secret ferry back to the mainland every night for workers?
I took the 4 pm ferry back to the mainland, stopped
for an iced coffee, picked up Buddha and got on the road to my air BNB in Presque Isle where I arrived in time for sunset.
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