Day 15 – Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Mackinac Island, Michigan

We called the ferry company last night and made arrangements for a shuttle to pick us up at the state park so we wouldn’t have to drive down into town and leave the motorhome in the parking lot all day.  The shuttle picked us up at 9:00, and it was a short ten minute drive to the ferry dock.  On the way over the driver explained to us the difference between the two ways we see the name of the island spelled:  “Mackinac” and “Mackinaw.”  This area was originally explored by the French trappers and traders in the 1600’s, and their adaptation of the Indian name for the strait between the lakes was “Mackinac.” In French the “c” at the end was silent.  When the British came along a few years later, their adaptation of the Indian name was “Mackinaw.”  Today, there are only three entities which continue to officially use the French spelling:  Mackinac Island itself, the Strait of Mackinac (the wide channel between Lakes Michigan and Huron), and the Mackinac Bridge over the Strait.  In all cases, the “c” at the end is silent, so the pronunciation is the English version, “Mackinaw.”

It’s a 25-minute ferry ride over to the Island, and as soon as we left the dock we were enveloped in thick fog, which remained until we entered the harbor at the island.  Even then, a very light fog lingered for most of the morning, finally clearing into a beautiful sunny day just before lunch time.  Disembarking from the ferry is like stepping back a hundred years.  There are no cars allowed on the island – at least no private cars.  There are a few service trucks, but for everyone else, transportation is by bicycle or horse-drawn buggy.  Even the freight delivery on the island is by large wagons drawn by sturdy draft horses.  Surprisingly, however, the streets are very clean.  I noticed a brown UPS truck sitting on the dock near the ferry terminal, and surmise that it comes across in the morning and parks there after unloading all the packages for the hotels and shops for delivery by wagon or bicycle.  I guess that during the day people and businesses drop off or send by bicycle delivery their outgoing packages to the truck, which then takes a late ferry back across to the mainland side, making it something like a mobile UPS shipping terminal.

Every building on the island – hotels, B&Bs, shops, and private homes – is an authentic, 100-plus year old gem of Victorian architecture, or else a very good modern replica.  There is an 18^th-century fort on the hill above the little town at the harbor, but the most famous building is the Grand Hotel, an expansive, 300-room, white Victorian hotel on the bluff looking out across the strait to the mainland.  This hotel was the setting for a movie made back in 1979 or so, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour called “Somewhere in Time.”  The plot was that Christopher Reeve, in modern time, visited the hotel where he saw a painting of a beautiful woman (Jane Seymour), and became obsessed with her.  He somehow managed to travel back in time to the turn of the 20^th century – taking some authentic Victorian clothing with him so he’d fit in.  He then contrived a chance meeting with this woman, and of course they fell in love, yada yada.  Unfortunately, he saw something shiny on the floor of his hotel room, and when he bent town to pick it up, it turned out to be a modern penny that he had forgotten was in his pocket.  He had inadvertently dropped it while changing clothes.  That broke the spell, and he suddenly found himself once again in 1979.  Boo-hoo, end of story.  There’s a little more to it, but that’s basically what it’s all about.

The island is, however, an interesting place to visit, especially if you have a few days to spend exploring the entire island.  Most of it is pristine woodland, although there are roads and trails throughout the island – all to be explored on foot or bicycle, of course.  It’s not very large; in fact the perimeter road that circles the island is only 8-1/2 miles long.  There is a small airstrip located near the center of the island which can handle private aircraft, and I saw somewhere that there is commercial air ferry service for the rich and famous who can afford such things. 

We saw many beautiful homes while walking around, and when I asked the shuttle driver on our way back to the state park if they were summer homes, he said most were the permanent homes of some of the 500 or so people who live on the island year-round.  He mentioned that most of the year-round residents lived in a residential area up the hill, away from the touristy main street around the ferry dock.  We didn’t get up that far in our walks around town, so I can’t say if that area is authentic Victorian or not, but apparently they don’t have cars either.

Main Street, Mackinac Island - Early Morning Before the Crowds

Fort Mackinac - Mackinac Island

The Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island

So now we’re back at the campground, and tomorrow it’s off to Ontario and beyond for the next three weeks or so.  We’ll get this posted when we find a campground or RV park with wifi, or else find a wifi hotspot somewhere along the way.