Having never seen (let alone crossed) the Mackinac Bridge (pronounced Mackinaw) or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (The UP), we decided to take a short one hour car ride up to Mackinac City to accomplish both tasks. In fact, we drove over the bridge twice (which for $3 each way puts you directly into the UP) and took a ferry over to Mackinac Island. I loved the ferry ride and got to sit with Daddy, Mommy and Remi up top on the boat...we had a great view of everything. After a short 16 minute ferry ride, the real fun began. Daddy described Mackinac Island as a sort of strange cross between Plymouth Plantation (history, trades), Rockport (tourist haven, fudge and ice cream) and Nantucket (more well to do, cobblestone streets, $$). It is a very neat place where there are essentially no cars (an ambulance and firetruck) and only horses instead. The taxis, buses, delivery trucks, etc. are all horse drawn or cycle-based. The mail is not even delivered -- you have to go to the post office to pick it up! You should see all the hotel baggage guys picking up the luggage from the ferry boats and driving it up MAJOR hills to the hotels while on bicycles! Crazy. We had lunch (picnic sandwiches we brought) ice cream (Mackinac Island Peanut Butter Fudge and Traverse City Black Cherry), salt water taffy (no milk products, wahoooo!), freshly fried donuts (chocolate and colored sprinkles) and slush (lemon) to eat, took a tour of the island by horse-drawn carriage, strolled around, visited a butterfly house (so neat, they have 600+ butterflys in a room the size of our living room) and got to hear a live cannon fired at the Fort.
The famous Mackinac Bridge. They say over a 100 men died building this bridge, currently the 6th longest suspension bridge in the world.
The crew with a faint view of the bridge in the background.
The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Cheapest rate is $450/night, with NO view. The hotel as the world's longest wrap around porch at 615 + feet. It costs $10/person just to "check out" the balcony or inside if you are not a guest. Daddy almost sent me up there with the camera to sneak a few photos!
A random shot of a few private homes on the island.
Remi "docked" the ferry for us...
There were bikes for rent EVERYWHERE!
The ol' Fort Mackinac.
Our fearless leaders "Doc" and "Abel" - how is that for irony!
We didn't see a single bicycle lock all day! Amazing.
Here is the post office. Not the smallest in the US, but one of them.
Still a working blacksmith.
One of the carriages for the Grand Hotel. Very fancy.
Freshly made donuts with chocolate sprinkles...mmmmmm.
The butterfly house was so cool. They have butterflies from 23 different countries. They will fly up to you and land right one you!
At the end of a long day, Daddy and Remi and I got to take a shower together. This was Remi's first ever shower...she loved it!
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