Mackinaw City & Mackinac Island

We got to spend 4 days up North at Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and touring the U P. I'd finally convinced Tom that I REALLY needed to go to the island before we moved from Michigan. As it was the last weekend everything was open up in Mackinaw, we decided we better just go do it, thank goodness Tom still had 2 days of vacation. We had a great time and enjoyed our 4 days together, even Tom was glad that we went! My alltime favorite movie is "Somewhere in Time" (which was filmed on the island at the Grand Hotel). I was so excited to get to go through the hotel and enjoy "being" there! We also did the carriage ride around sections of the island and enjoyed visiting Ft. Mackinaw. It was really fun being in a place that has no automobiles! Besides horses, there are LOTS of bicycles. I don't think I've ever seen so many bikes in one place before. And boy can they get going FAST on those downhills! What fun we had watching all the horse drawn wagons/carriages carrying people, luggage, bales of hay, boxes, etc. around town. I didn't envy those guys that had the job of cleaning up after the horses! They really did do a great job at making sure the streets were cleaned up quickly and often! You can rent bikes, horses and even buggies! I don't think we could have gotten a horse pulling a buggy to even move, and I was sure I wouldn't get toooo far on a bike. The horse sounded like fun, but at $35 per 15 minutes, I couldn't afford it, and I was afraid I'd fall off!

There is a motorized ambulance and fire truck. Even the taxi's are horse drawn carriages. In the wintertime the residents who stay on the island do get to use snow mobiles and lots of winters the lake is so frozen they can ride the snow mobiles to St. Ignace and do their shopping! Sounds scary to me! There is also an airport on the island, but most people get to the island on the ferry boats, an 18 minute ride. If you ever get the chance to experience Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island, you won't regret it!