How lovely to wake up in the morning, with the waves rolling in right next to us! There was a short trail that also led to the beach, which was great for Sheila as she was able to sniff and explore, the new nature smells here piquing her curiosity.
We'd planned to visit Mackinac Island, although we'd hesitated when we realized that the trip is a rather expensive endeavor: it costs $48 each to take a return ferry, as there are no vehicles allowed on the island. eBikes are also not allowed, and if we wanted to rent bikes it would cost $10-15 an hour. And since we'd expect to be there for a few hours, would we need to purchase any food or drink too?
But the appeal of Mackinac Island to visitors like us won out in the end: it's a popular destination because of its historic charm, horse-drawn carriages and natural beauty, with Victorian architecture and a relaxed atmosphere. So we bit the bullet and forked out for the ferry ride over.
Lehto's Pasties
Rather than buying what would likely be an expensive lunch on Mackinac Island, we went to Lehto's Pasties, a pasty shop that's been around since 1947 and is still family owned and operated. We went to the original store first in St. Ignace, but it turns out that they only sold beef pasties at this location, so we drove to the downtown store instead that sold beef, chicken, and vegetable pasties. We had no idea how big they would be so asked the shop employee how big they each were, and she showed us a rough idea with her hands, so we figured we'd get 3 pasties: 2 veggie, and 1 chicken, so we could have 1.5 each. Well... as soon as she handed us our bag with pasties we immediately knew that we probably should hve ordered 1 apiece, as the bag was HEAVY!
Riding the Ferry
Across the road from the downtown Lehto's store was the ferry we were taking, so it didn't take us long to head over and hop on the ferry. There are multiple ferries that go to Mackinac Island, and we chose Arnold Transit Company as our ticket didn't require a scheduled arrival or departure time.
We hopped on the fast ferry, which only took 15 minutes, sitting at the top of the vessel. Compared to when we took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, Sheila was more comfortable with this ferry, with fresh air breezing past as we sailed along. It was a stunningly beautiful day to be out on the water, with the lake glistening from the sun's rays. We saw buoys and a small lighthouse, and as we neared Mackinac Island, grand and glitzy mansions on the cliffs. Not a bad view to have, especially on a day like today!
First Impressions and Fudge
Once we disembarked the ferry, we stepped right onto the Lakeshore Drive, a street that was teeming with people. Mackinac Island is apparently known as the "Fudge Capital of the World," with the first fudge store opening back in 1887 on the island by the Murdick family. They made fudge on marble slabs, which drew crowds and wallets to the store. The Original Murdick's Fudge store is still around today, and we saw workers still laying out slabs of hot fudge like they've been doing for well over a century.
Besides gawking at the fudge and ice cream shops, the streets had hotels, souvenir shops, and other boutique stores all lined along it. There were also a lot of horse-drawn carriages ready to transport people around the island, with two or three horses at the helm of each carriage. People were jostling around each other on the street, it was so busy!
We got off this main street, heading to a small park with benches and a tiny bit of shade to eat our pasties. As expected, each pasty was massive, as they were jam-packed with ingredients! Lisette wasn't able to finish her vegetable pasty in one sitting, which included a mash of root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and rutabagas, as well as onions and peas, mixed with a gravy and stuffed into the pasty. A very heavy meal!
Man-made Attractions: Chapels and the Fort
We didn't take our eBikes across because we read that they weren't allowed--yet we quickly noticed that a lot of people managed to sneak their eBikes on! Bummer... but we figured that despite the excruciating heat, we could explore the island by foot and work off the hearty pasties we'd eaten.
Not too far from the ferry dock and further into the island, we saw a couple of pretty chapels and historic buildings, including the Missionary Bark Chapel in Marquette Park, a curious structure that is a replica of one built by the Jesuit Mission in 1670-71. It's a tiny structure, with a small exhibit inside.
Further uphill is the entrance to Fort Mackinac, a former British and American military outpost from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. Tickets costs $15.50, so we skipped that and went up the Fort St Scenic Lookout, where we were able to stroll and see the grounds surrounding the fort as other people ambled past us, whizzed past on their bikes (or eBikes...), or sat in carriages with the horses clomping along.
Natural Scenic Attractions: A Rock and Cave
We soon arrived at a beautiful bike path with a dense cacophony of trees around us, providing shade and lovely scenery. We saw the Eastern White Pine (Michigan's state tree), as well as cedar, birch, maple and other beautiful thick trees, eventually arriving at a scenic overlook to see Arch Rock in front of us (best to ignore Google's instructions and just walk across the path to see the rock from the top, rather than take a long walk to the base of Arch Rock, which was what we were being instructed to do). A natural limestone rock formation, Arch Rock is one of the most famous rock structures on the island, with a lot of folks taking pictures along the man-made bridge beside it, and also marveling at the beautiful lake view, with the water expanding out as far as the eye could see.
We turned back the way we came, eventually veering to see Skull Cave, a small cave with a narrow slit. You can't go inside the cave, but its historic significance is that it was a burial site for Native Americans, and was the hiding place for fur trader Alexander Henry in 1763, during the Pontiac Rebellion, a conflict between Native American tribes and the British.
More Historical Attractions
Speaking of burial sites, we went past an old Catholic cemetery, called St. Ann's Cemetery. We had to share the road with horse carriages, so we were careful to move out of the way onto the thin strip of grass when we could to avoid them--as well as avoid the heapings of fresh horse poop! At one point though Sheila bit into a fresh batch before the street cleaners could get to it... after Lisette told her to drop it she did spit out a chunk, but noooo Sheila, don't be a gross dog!
For a further step back in time, there's a free Grand Hotel Stable & Carriage Museum that's definitely worth the visit. There are so many beautiful carriages to see, and it's fascinating to note how the different styles and how they've evolved over the decades. Next to the carriage there's the stables with a few horses, with a chart at the entrance noting how tall they are so you can see how you stack up. We are both shorter than the tallest horses in the stables!
The Grand Hotel
From the ferry ride, we could already see the Grand Hotel, looking out onto the water to give its guest sweeping views of the Straits of Mackinac. Living up to its name, it is certainly the grandest building on the island. It's an enormous, iconic building: a towering white building with what seems like countless columns. It opened in 1887 and has the world's longest porch, spanning 201 meters (660 feet).
We walked up to the immaculate gardens with their vibrant plants and flowers in front of the hotel, and made our way to the porch area. We then walked down some stairs leading to the grounds where there was a pool for guests, as well as numerous historical games on the lawn (croquet, bocce and corn hole--perhaps representing old Europe and the US)! The surrounding area also has a couple of beautifully maintained greenhouses as well, and we started to imagine what it would be like to own one of these and be able to grow fruit and vegetables!
Making our way back to the ferry terminal, we stopped by the shore where families were hanging out on the water's edge, sitting on the rocks or going for a dip. Yes, it was still very hot! Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long for the return ferry back, although we caught the much larger and slower ferry, which dropped us off at a different terminal, so we had to walk an extra 15 minutes or so to get back to the RV.
She Sells Sea Shells in Michigan
In the town of Cheboygan in Michigan (as opposed to the Sheboygan in neighboring Wisconsin, which we'd just been to!), there's a curious shop called Sea Shell City. What makes it curious is that it sells a huge variety of shells--yet none are from the area (we didn't see a single shell in the Great Lakes!). There were shells from the Pacific Islands, from the Philippines, from the African continent... it was impressive to see the massive collection they had. We were also surprised to see so many people there, holding baskets that they were filling with shells to buy! One lady was probably purchasing at least $100 worth, if not more.
The other curious thing about this shop is that it has a display of the Man Killing Clam, a bleached shell of a Giant Clam at the back of the shop, weighing more than 225 kilograms (500 pounds). It's from the Philippines, and has a light inside it to illuminate the shell. It certainly adds to this store's quirkiness!
After browsing the store, we had a long drive ahead of us (over 100 miles!), before arriving at a rest stop for the night. From the northern part of Michigan, we're now in the east-central part of the state, where we'll be exploring this part of the world tomorrow.
Route Map
