Mackinac Island

Three nights and two full days on Mackinac gave us enough time to both explore the sights and sounds as well as relax before moving on. Below are my top 4 musts while on Mackinac Island as well as a quick review of the Grand Hotel.

Hike to Arch Rock about a mile outside of town. You can either walk the M-185 and then up 200+ stairs or walk up the hill taking you behind Fort Mackinac before following the street over towards the rock. Carriage tours also stop for a brief look at the arch. On the morning we hiked up, fog blocked our view out to the lake but the cooler temperature meant a more enjoyable walk out and back to town.
Swing by Moomers Ice Cream for a flight of four flavors. *Warning – it may be a better idea to split of flight rather than everyone getting their own!* The Traverse City Cherry and Mint Chocolate Chip flavors were outstanding. We ate inside and felt like an advertisement for the ice cream flight – everyone coming in said something about the array of ice cream in front of us.
Visit Fort Mackinac for an historic overview of the island and the views overlooking downtown. Upon entering Fort Mackinac, make your first stop the short video explaining the military and trading history of the island. From there, you can circle around to explore the military buildings and learn what life was like for soldiers in the 1700 and 1800s. Even if you’re not a history buff, the views from the top of the hill make the visit worthwhile and made a nice escape from the crowds downtown.
Relax on the world’s longest porch at the Grand Hotel. If you’re not staying at The Grand, visitors can pay $10 for access to the property including gardens, porch, on site bars and shops. The front porch offers views of the lighthouse and gardens as well as the place to be seen.

Speaking of the Grand Hotel, this 397 room resort was the highlight of our week long trip. Originally, a stay wasn’t in our budget but I just happened to look at their website the day of a flash sale offering significant discounts on rooms with a breakfast and dinner package included. The reduced price tag was still over budget but well worth the splurge when you calculate that dinner retails for about $90 per person. At check-in, the clerk tried to up-sell everyone to a lake view room for an extra $100 each night. Don’t take it! The interior rooms were large and just perfectly decorated. You aren’t at the grand to sit in your room and stare out the window anyway. To relax and enjoy the view, go down to the parlor, front porch, or up to the Cupola Bar.

By early summer, it became apparent our epic trip to Ireland was not to be this year. I wasn’t about to let COVID-19 get in the way of wanderlust and came up with Plan-B, a road trip up to Mackinac Island, Michigan and then across the Upper Peninsula over to Duluth, Minnesota before heading back to Nebraska, taking a total of 7 days.

Days 1 and 2 were travel days from Nebraska to St. Ignace, with a night in Hammond, Indiana and a lunch at Gobbler’s of Gaylord. The 14 hours was a bit too much to attempt in one day and taking 2 days allowed us to slow down a bit for some quick sightseeing.

If you ever pass the following, pull over and spend a few minutes. Both of these make a great place to stretch your legs.

West Branch, IA is home to Herbert Hoover’s Presidential Library and National Historic Site including his birthplace and home town. Currently, the library is closed until further notice but you can still wander around and see his boyhood home and places “Bert” would have passed every day growing up.
Gobbler’s of Gaylord in Gaylord, Michigan is right off I-75 on the way to Mackinac City. This small, diner type restaurant offers a full Thanksgiving style menu in four different serving sizes. Right across the street is Cops & Doughnuts, owned and operated by the area police officers all proceeds go towards funding the police department.

After lunch, we finished our day by crossing the Mackinac Bridge over to St. Ignace and hopping on Shepler’s Ferry. Two ferry companies service both Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, Shepler’s and Star Line. Both have similar pricing and parking options. We chose Shepler’s solely due to their schedule from the Island back to the mainland as they offered a 9:00 departure, 30 minutes before the second departure for Star Line. The ferry takes about 15 minutes in either direction for either ferry line.

The ferry was less than half full and everyone wore a mask.

We spent 3 nights on the Island and spent 1 night at the Pontiac Lodge located right off the main street and directly across from Shepler’s dock. Pontiac Lodge was one of the cheapest lodging options on the island, especially since we booked only a few weeks in advance and needed a room with 2 beds. Location was the best thing about Pontiac Lodge, offering us the ability to explore the shops without getting too far away. While the beds were comfortable and the room seemed clean enough, the staff were aloof and didn’t go out of the way to offer any customer service or information. While we are mostly self-sufficient and were okay with 1 night here, I was very happy to have booked the next 2 nights at The Grand Hotel. The experience was vastly different between the two.

We ended on our first night on the island with dinner and some shopping. After the last couple of ferries departed the island for the night, the shops became easier to browse without feeling crowded. While 90% of people had masks on, social distancing was impossible to enforce on the busy street and this first evening ended up being the best time to shop. By mid-morning the next day, the streets were elbow-to-elbow full. My hope when booking this trip was that crowds would be smaller since school is in session and we were visiting during the week. However, this didn’t appear to be the case at all.

Nice stroll along the lake front. Flowers were still in full bloom!

The sweet smell of fresh fudge! I don’t think we were ever more than 50 feet from a fudge shop!

Stay tuned for the next 2 days on Mackinac Island covering Fort Mackinac, the famous arch, and The Grand Hotel.

Tag: Mackinac Island

A Great Lakes Road Trip, During A Pandemic