Wednesday August 23, 2017

CNC Mackinac Ferry

For breakfast, we have leftover sausage from our pancake breakfast on a croissant that we bought yesterday. We drive down to the ferry dock where there is free parking while you are on Mackinac Island. For those of you that do not know, Mackinac Island does not allow any motorize vehicles on it. That is part of the draw. The fast ferry is boarding when we get there and is pretty full. We have a short 25 minute wait for our ferry and the morning is much better than the windy day we had yesterday. There is a gentle breeze and some clouds but it is supposed to clear later.

The Grand Hotel

There are only 6 of us on the classic ferry. It seems counter intuitive that people will pay more to save 15 minutes on a ride to an island where you are supposed to slow down. The ride over is smooth and we get some great views of the Mackinac City Bridge, the famous Grand Hotel, Round Island Lighthouse and the town as we pull into Mackinac Harbor.

Another Era

We step off the boat and into another time. There are horse and carriages in the street, people walking and people biking. No cars, golf carts, or motorcycles. Fort Mackinac sits above the town protecting it from invasion. We walk down the streets about a mile to our BNB. It is only 1000 so we know the room isn’t ready but we get to leave our big packs there and just carry a small day pack.

Cannonneer

We then head back to town and up to the fort. We watch a movie on the fort and its history which ties in to our previous visit to Fort St Joseph. We also learn that Mackinac Island was the second national park in our country. The soldiers were assigned to protect and administer the park. The park was later given to the state of Michigan and remains a Michigan State Park today. We explore the fort buildings and see a few demonstrations from soldiers in uniform from the 1880’s. This fort was a prime post for the day as it never was attacked and had the resort and tourist town below it.

Mackinac Island Harbor

We also get a great view from the hill top fort. After our fort excursion we have lunch and then walk around and see a few other old buildings that were included in the fort ticket. We return to our room about 3:30 and our room is ready to check in. We lay down to rest and I end up napping for over 3 hours. We decide to stay in for the evening and read, something we have not done much of on our journey.

Expenses                                                                                                                                  Round Trip Ferry Tickets 38 USD                                                                                            Fort Mackinac Admission 24 USD                                                                                     Lunch 23 USD                                                                                                                         Haans 1830 Inn 155 USD