Mackinac Island

Today started with a ferry ride from St. Ignace over to Mackinac Island . . .


This is Round Island Lighthouse, which used to direct ships into the island's harbor. It is no longer active, but still serves as a welcome to Mackinac Island . . .



This is the island as you approach it from the ferry . . .



And this is the Grand Hotel, which is humongous . . . And very expensive . . . You can stay in a suite here for a mere $2,000 per night!

Cars are not allowed on the island (well, that's not totally true - if you live on the island, you can have a car - you just can't drive it!). So to get around the island, you can walk, ride bicycles, or take a horse and wagon. Here are a few examples of how things get done . . .

The Trash Collector

The UPS Truck

The Tour Bus

We took one of the tour buses . . . it was fun, and the trip was divided into two parts. The first part took us around the tourist areas of the island, past some beautiful residences, and up to The Surrey House, which had a collection of buggies including a hearse, a carriage, and of course . . .

The Fire Truck

There was also a Butterfly House, which had lots of pretty flowers and plants, and many different varieties of butterflies. This was the biggest I have ever seen - I had John put his hand next to it to give a comparison . . .

The second half of the tour took us into the more natural portion of the island . . . The first stop was Arch Rock . . .

Arch Rock

There is an Indian legend about how Arch Rock was formed. As the story goes, there was an Indian princess who was at the appropriate age to be married. All the braves in the tribe were trying to get her attention so they could win her favor, but she wasn't interested. She was in love with a Sky Prince, who lived on one of the stars. Her father was very angered by her disregard for tribal tradition and tied her to a huge rock and told her she had to remain there until she regained her senses and agreed to marry one of the braves in the tribe. She began to cry uncontrollably, and after a time, her tears wore through the rock and created the huge opening. The Sky Prince came through the hole, freed the Princess and took her up to his star, where they lived happily ever after. Awwww, isn't that sweet?

This is Fort Mackinac which played a huge role in the War of 1812. The very first battle of the war was fought here, and the British easily won the battle and took over the fort. The British may have won that battle, but they lost the war! After the war, the British gave the fort back to the United States. Mackinac Island was designated as our country's second national park. Can you name the first? . . . . . .

Right - Yellowstone. Anyway, the soldiers at Fort Mackinac maintained the island for the government. Once it was no longer necessary to keep the fort active as a means of defense, the government turned the island over to the state of Michigan and it became Michigan's first state park.

There was a rifle demonstration at the fort, using the type of rifles from back at the time the fort was active. They also have a cannon demonstration every hour on the hour, and you can hear the sound of the cannon being fired all over the island.

This is a bark chapel, built by the missionaries who came to the island to teach Christianity to the Indians. It is actually made from the bark of the trees.

And this is how the main street of Mackinac Island looks all day long - with bicycles traveling up and down the street or parked at the curb, and horse drawn wagons everywhere. It was really fun to see how easily life can go on and everything can get done without motor vehicles. Not that I would actually want to live that way everyday.

From these photos, you can probably see how overcast it was today - and it was so cold! The highest it got was about 50 degrees. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, and my heavy jacket and I was freezing most of the day. But a lot of the people on the island were running around in t-shirts and seemed perfectly comfortable. For the locals, 50 degrees is a warm, balmy summer day. They told us a scorching hot day gets to be about 70! My California blood just isn't made for that!!!