Mackinac Island will rank high on our favorite stops list, if for the only reason being it’s uniqueness. Beautiful, historic Mackinac Island sits on Lake Huron between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas and is world famous for its homemade fudge and poop smell. Mackinac Island State Park is filled with trails, woods and limestone covering most of the island. The island combines natural beauty, rich history, top notch architecture, award-winning gardens, and very good restaurants and shops. But, the most interesting feature is NO cars are allowed on the island. The only transportation is horse drawn carriages/wagon (hence the poop smell) and bikes.
The island’s prohibition of motor vehicles takes you back to an era when horsepower really meant horse–power! We saw horse-drawn hotel shuttles, private carriages, taxis, package delivery wagons, and garbage wagons.
We spent our days exploring by foot, bike and horse drawn carriage. Day 1, we took a bicycle ride around the circumference of island with Steven and Theresa and a few of their friends. It was an 8.5 mile tour, surrounded by clear blue water and limestone rocks. We stopped to view the famous Arched Rock. the views really made us think we were on a Caribbean island surrounded by clear blue water. E-bikes are not allowed, so we left our batteries on the boat. We try hard not to use the pedal assist on the bike but in all reality hills are big! It was nice to realize that we did just fine without our batteries.
Along with Ship Faced, Sweet Equity and few of their friends, we ate our way around the island. Our first meal was an outdoor cafe, Bistro on the Greens, delish fish sandwich with local beers. One morning we had breakfast at Chuckwagon, an adorable, tinny-tiny restaurant with superb, quick service and decorated with cowboy items. The second day we stopped for breakfast at Winchester’s, and hands down it was the absolute best Chicken and Waffles with pecan butter and whipped cream!
The second tour around the island was on a horse drawn carriage that went through the woods and made stops at Surry Hill Museum and Arched Rock. Our final stop, was up to Fort Mackinac which is a walled cluster of military buildings on a coastal bluff. On the way there, the carriage made a stop at the Arched Rock. It was interesting to see this formation from the top, with the sun shining through, compared to the day before when we observed it form the bottom on our bike ride. The final stop of the carriage ride was at Fort Mackinac and we were happy we did not have to walk up the hill! After touring the fort, we had lunch and fancy cocktails at the Tea Room in Fort Mackinac set high up on a hill overlooking the harbor. The view was spectacular! Next we walked over to the Grand Hotel, know as a Great Lakes Landmark. Build in 1887 it is the world’s largest summer resort hotel with the longest front porch in the world. We toured the hotel and had drinks on their famous front porch. We ended up at the Grand Hotel Geranium Room enjoying a local beer named for the porch while enjoying the scenery and venue. Both locations had different but just beautiful views!
We filled our nights with fun and laughs between sitting at Marquette Park watching Mackinac’s Got Talent, pulling together benches on the deck on Pink Pony to have just a few drinks, singing along with the one man piano man taking request at Winchester’s, and enjoying live music at the Pink Pony. Between singing, laughing, learning new sayings, and shutting down a couple of bars we did not feel our age!
We just loved this island and the truly unique experience and did not want to leave, so we stayed one more night! We were so happy the marina could accommodate us. Ya, more fudge, fun, admiring flowers, singing, eating, drinking, shopping, exploring and smelling poop!
