We have two days here in St Ignace to tour and do laundry. The weather was great yesterday, with blue sky, and forecast to be 81, so we toured. Anne-Marie and I drove into town, without a plan, as she had already set the slow cooker for 5 hours with the Wolf At the Door Chili, and we had plenty of time.
We decided to visit the Mackinac Island again, and of the three boat services, we choose the Arnold Line, just for fun. This is our boat at dock, and it holds up to 400 people. The Captains chair, and what looks like an airplane pilot control station.
We rode on the top deck, for the views, and for the breeze . This big boat is really fast. Entering Mackinac Bay, we passed a ferry boat with a UPS truck on it, and as vehicles aren’t allowed on the streets, we thought that this is only how UPS gets packages to the dock, and then the horse drawn freight wagon is loaded for final delivery.
The Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, has a front porch 660ft long, and is the largest building seen from the boat. The Grand Hotel provides the ultimate in accommodations, and even has a formal dress code requiring proper dinner attire, coat and tie for men and dress or pantsuit for females, and is required in all areas of the hotel except the Cupola Bar. The hotel has it’s own elegant carriages to transport guests in their accustomed style. This is a very foo foo type of place, a non-guest is charged $10 each to enter the hotel, and the rooms start at $600+ and advance to over $1000+ per night.
Downtown in Mackinac was incredible with horse drawn carriages and wagons, thousands of bikes parked and in use, and people walking with no real traffic flow patterns, all over the Main Street. The only vehicles allowed on the island are the public safety type, fire, police, ambulance, and the power company has a line truck hidden somewhere, and in winter when the roads are too slick for the horses, snowmobiles are used. When Huron Lake freezes, snowmobiles are the only way to get across the ice.
When we were visiting Mackinac Fort, a huge freighter ship passed through the straights. This is a view of the boat docks of the other two boat services, and there are hundreds of people on the boats and dock.
The historic Mackinac Fort is taken care of by the Michigan State Parks. There were almost continuous reenactments by the park employees, this one generated a lot of interest, with the demonstration of firing the rifles and advancing the lines. The cannon firing demonstration was done with one pointing over the wall aimed at the bay.
The buildings were set up just like when they in use in the 1800s.
The blockhouses all had cannons in them, and one had mannequins reenacting the time when the fort changed hands from the US to the British. The French, British, and USA all had roles with the fort, from Revolutionary times to the late 1800s.
The Post Canteen display, and they had a tavern here in the later years, in an attempt to keep the soldiers on the fort grounds, rather than having them visiting the town.
A wide view with one of the many cannons. The views from the outlooks of the fort were great, and all points of the bay could be viewed as could the town.
Anne-Marie and I didn’t sign up for one of the narrated horse carriage tours, but we were able to get a ride down the hill on this carriage. The operator is a college student, with only one more season of working on the island.
There are working horses pulling wagons of different types, and all doing different jobs, the wagon with sides is used for garbage pickup, and the wagons on the dock are used to deliver freight on the island.
We visited the island last year, and the narrated carriage ride and touring the stores downtown took up a whole day, and the visit to the fort is another days trip in its own. Anne-Marie said that there is a tour of the historic buildings downtown that we have yet to do. We did the tourist stuff, we bought T-shirts, and too much fudge 3 1/2 pounds (weighed when we got back to the trailer) and caramel corn, and we can return next year and still explore something new.
Today is a lesser demanding day with only laundry on the need to do list.
Very cool! Back in the early 70's the wife and I toured Macinaw Is. with a promise to return. Now that we are full timers we will accomplish that promise in the Spring. Thanks for reminding me.
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