Mackinac Island

Today was the day that Grace has been waiting for, for 20 years.  After breakfast, we hopped on the Shuttle boat to the picturesque Mackinac Island.  Mackinac Island is small and does not have any motor vehicles on its roads, only horse drawn vehicles and bikes.  The boat ride is only 16 minutes, but our trip took a detour under the Mackinac Bridge for a brief explanation on its history.

Once on the island we thought Grace was going to hyperventilate as she was eventually going to visit the Grand Hotel, which is where her most favorite movie, Somewhere in Time, was filmed.  First though, we took a horse drawn buggie tour of the island, where we learned history of the Fort, the famous residents, and toured the State Park.  We visited Arch Rock, which is an unusual formation from the last ice age.

But, the main attraction, for us was the magnificent Grand Hotel.  Our carriage ride dropped us off at the hotel.  The building is very impressive and the grounds are equally impressive.  Once inside this place just oozed elegance.  We wandered around and eventually came across a display of pictures from the making the movie.  Grace was excited to see this display.  She and Nan were excited to find a DVD of the movie at the hotel newsstand.  I guess Mike and I know what we'll be watching soon.

We ventured up to the Grand Hotel's Cupola Lounge which is at the top of the hotel and affords a great view of the island and harbor.  We celebrated our visit to the island and then headed back downtown to do some more sightseeing...actually shopping.   We caught the 4:00 PM return boat and made sure we stayed inside because even though the sun was out it was very cool. 

After dinner Mike and I walked to the docks to view the great lakes USCG ice breaker the Mackinaw and the Keewatin, which a 105 year old ship being moved to Canada, that were tied up for display.  We also had to  make sure we watched the Wallenda tight rope walk across the Falls.  When we were there earlier in the week, things were just being set-up.