Mackinac Island, Michigan

Any trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan should include a trip to Mackinac Island. It is a beautiful place and I found it necessary to post it on two pages instead of one.  Enjoy...

Situated just off shore in Lake Huron, it is reachable only by boat, except in the winter if/when an ice bridge forms, when snowmobiles are allowed as maintenance vehicles. Bicycles and horse drawn carriages are the preferred means of transportation, as motor vehicles have been banned on the island since 1898.  Michigan highway 185 circles the island along the shoreline. It is the only State Highway in the United States that does not allow motor vehicles. It is widely known for it's fudge factories, so if someone sends you a text with WTF ?.. you'll know it means,  "Where's The Fudge?"

The short trip to the island is by boat and our pilot was nice enough to make a short detour to take us over for a close up of the Mackinac Bridge. This bridge connects the Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and spans the Straits of Mackinac which connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.

Since it is a suspension bridge, it's subject to swaying in high winds, making a solid roadway virtually impossible. We sailed directly under the roadway and that shadow above is actually an automobile passing overhead.

Greeting all  visitors to Mackinac Island is the Round Island Point Lighthouse and caretakers home. It was built in 1895 and has weathered the sands of time. It functioned as a lighthouse until late 1947 when it was replaced by an automated beacon across the channel.

This is the "new" automated beacon, built in 1947 to replace the Round Island Light, pictured above.

With over 150 Lighthouses, including the Round Island Light, Michigan has more lighthouses than any other State in the United States.

Once past the lighthouse and beacon we entered the channel to the Island Dock. While many homes dot this area of the cove, eighty per cent of the island is part of the Mackinac Island State Park.  Originally it was a National Park established in 1875 as the Nation's second National Park behind Yellowstone. When the federal government left the island in 1895, all of the federal land, including Fort Mackinac, was given to the state of Michigan and became Michigan's first state park.

The "Welcome" sign that greets you as you step off the ship from the mainland.

Pictured here and above is the modern day street scene taken down main street on the Island. Because automobiles scared the horses, they were banned from the island in 1898. That ban is still in effect today. Exceptions are emergency vehicles and with a permit, construction vehicles.

One of the Island attractions is the Grand Victorian Hotel. Built in 1887 it has seen its' share of celebrities and honors. Its' swimming pool was built in 1947 for Ester Williams use in the movie "Time for Keeps".  Also, the majority of one of my favorite films, "Somewhere in Time" was filmed on site, here at the Grand Hotel.

 We visited "Arch Rock". If you look closely, you can see several people down at the shoreline in this picture. They are adjacent to M-185 that encircles the island. This 8.5 mile road is available to hikers and bikers only.

Arch Rock is a natural limestone formation 146' above Lake Huron. Limestone is not an ideal material to form an arch and it is quite rare in North America. Studies hint this arch may not survive past 2025 unless steps are taken to preserve it.

So ends this page of Mackinac Island. There's more to follow as time permits. As you can tell, the skies were cloudy and the boat ride over was a bit nippy. By mid morning though, most of the cloud cover was gone and it was T-shirt and Shorts weather again.