Year 2 Day 134

Today is Wednesday, August 8th and we've been on Mackinac Island since Monday afternoon.  We left DeTour early on Monday morning and unfortunately we had the worst water crossing we've had since we began cruising.  We had considered turning around and going back but it would have been difficult even to turn around in those waves.

Waves hitting the bow

 We finally made it safely here at Mackinac and have been enjoying it so much the last couple of days.  We traveled with our friends Carl and Ricky on their boat Quest and when we arrived we ran into Joe and Ede on their boat Seaquel who had been here for two days.

On Mackinac there are no motorized vehicles except for emergency fire and ambulance so everybody either rides a bike or takes a horse drawn carriage.  Monday night the six of us took a carriage to the top of the island through the woods and as Mike said, "it was magical".  The setting and the restaurant were beautiful.

One of the carriages

 

Dressed and ready to go to the

Grand Hotel for dinner

Front of the Grand Hotel

On the porch

View of the 5 mile long

Mackinac Bridge from the porch

(We'll be cruising under this bridge

when we leave Mackinac)

Ede had found a hair salon on the island and I called immediately and was able to get an appointment Tuesday afternoon for me and Mike since we hadn't had a haircut for a couple of months.  We went to the Grand Hotel for dinner and celebrated an early anniversary.  In order to eat dinner in their restaurant, women are required to wear dresses so I had to shop.

 The experience was wonderful and it was so neat to walk through the hotel and see photos of Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour as they looked in 1979 when they filmed "Somewhere in Time".  Just to walk on that long front porch was a thrill.

Today we took a horse and carriage ride around the island stopping at Fort Mackinac and taking a tour - very interesting.  We had lunch on the patio overlooking the harbor.  Mike went back to the boat and I walked the town checking out all the shops.

View of the harbor from

Fort Mackinac

I love Mackinac Island and hope to return again someday.  There are about 450 permanant residents on the island and the rest are seasonal workers and tourists but it's an incredible place to visit.  Due to the northern climate, the season is very short.

Our plan was to stay one more day and leave Friday morning heading to Beaver Island but due to weather again, we may have to change our plans.  We'll update the situation later.