Our excitement rivaled that of Christmas morning…..we were finally on our way to Mackinaw Island! We started off singing songs and holding hands, very reminiscent of the Griswold family in National Lampoons Summer Vacation when they were headed to Wally World! The Sun was out and our Italian was flowing....
We had stopped at a B&N along the way and picked up this
great CD set! So we could all learn how to speak Italian together!
We passed an old Bob's Big Boy restaurant...blast from the past....didn't think they were around anymore.
One of Gabe's favorite authors is Johnathan Rand. He writes the series, "American Chillers". Just so happens that his headquarters for Chillermania was on our way!!! So we had to stop......
There were snakes and rats all over the floor and bats hanging from the ceiling......
Gabe loved it!!! Unfortunately the author
wasn't there, but he said it was really cool to of been able to stop:)
There were only a few campgrounds to chose from that were close to the ferries in Mackinaw City. Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping was one of the best rated on the campground review site and was one of the few still open at that time of year. Hard to believe that in September the campgrounds start to close! They were located along Lake Huron with campsites along the water. No ours was not one of those, they apparently were all sold out.
Bonus with this campground they offered a FREE Shuttle to the Mackinaw Island Ferry! So we wouldn’t have to figure out how to get the 3 bikes in the car PLUS the four of us! Tina and Joe were grateful since they would have had to of biked their way there while Gabe and I followed in the carJ
Our site was in a good spot, with only neighbors on one side and open field across from us. Half of the park was closed and the other half was almost full.
The park reminded us of a State Park, lots of woods and rustic amenities.
We had full hook ups, which was great, considering the closest bathrooms you could walk to were basically a building with 3 porto potties in them! And it was very very dark at night, you never know what or who you might run into on the way to the lou!
The Bath houses were a few miles away, so to shower we had to drive. They were clean and you had your own little shower room! Pretty neat set up.
The next morning was overcast and cool, 60 degrees! It was perfect weather to go exploring! Since we knew we would be spending money on two very important staples while we were on the island, Fudge and Ice Cream, we decided to save some money and make a picnic lunch!
I called for the shuttle pick up at 1000am.
We had 3 bikes with us and were going to rent the 4th one once we were on the island. Mackinaw Island is one of the few places that doesn’t allow vehicles on it. The only way to get around is by Bike, Walking or Horses. You can rent a horse or bike for the day, take a horse drawn buggy ride (aka Taxi) or rent your own horse drawn buggy. It sounded like a really cool place. Kinda reminded me of…..Little House on the Prairie!!! What a wonderful place to beJ
We wanted to make the next ferry at 1100am because they took a special route to Mackinaw Island.
The ferry turned around under the Mackinac Bridge which connects lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula and crosses the Mackinaw straits which is where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan come together! What a sight to see from below!!
The normal time across to the island is 16 minutes. With the slight excursion under the bridge it took 25 minutes. Still very close. The lakes are so big here that they are like oceans. Luckily the water was smooth and the boat was fast. Tina didn’t throw up once! A little green, but you couldn’t really tell unless you looked closely!
We even found a nice person to take our picture while on board. Apparently his girlfriend thought it was nice as well and decided to join in our family picture…..
(see her in the blue!)
The captain on the boat made an announcement, well it was actually a recording that the captain played, that you weren’t allowed to stand up while the boat was traveling……
You can see that Joe was a very good listener!
He was able to get some really cool shots off of the back of the boat. Loved the American Flag waving in the wind!
The Island reminded me of a New England Island, like Block Island or Nantucket. There where big houses, churches and hotels spotting the coastline
and we passed a Lighthouse on the way in.
Once docked............
We headed right to the bike rental shop. For a full day of rental (6 hours) the bike for Gabe cost $25.00, not bad! Plus it came with a basket to put our things inJ
Joe and I both had mountain bikes and Tina had a roadster with 3 gears. Joe’s and my bike we were given by my girlfriend Kathy.
They were fairly new and besides my bike having some brake issues, (to the point that you could hear me coming miles away when I put on the brake!), but it hadn’t been a big issue before, so I assumed it wouldn’t be here either. I would just take it easy and try not to use them so much. Tina’s bike came with the camper when we bought it. It looked fairly new so we didn’t think there would be any issues with hers for this trip either. We thought we were all good with renting just one bike and taking our 3 bikes. Boy were we wrong.
After leaving the bike rental place we headed to the Visitor Center to pick up the local map of the island. That way we could plan our route.
There were seven different trail options you could take to explore the island. Some as short as 1 hour going up to 3 ½ hours! So we started off easy taking the “Natural History Highlights” self guided tour. The start of the trail was across from Fort Mackinac. We were on a budget and decided against touring the Fort and instead to take our time and tour the island.
Our first stop at the bottom of the hill was the Trinity Episcopal Church. It was a beautiful old church, built in 1882. Wherever we travel we have always loved to stop in the older churches.
There was one MAJOR incline that we had to get off of our bikes and walk them up, explains the whole "Foot Traffic Only" sign!
The trail continued up past the Governors Summer residence,
Thank you Joe for the flattering picture!
Passing horse drawn wagons along the way......
biking through the woods.....
Joe was taking the pictures and didn't want to be left out from being in the pictures coming down the hill.....
ending up at Arch Rock. We parked our bikes across from where the Tour Buggies were.....
The Arch reminded us of being out west in Utah. This arch you weren’t able to climb though and was about 150 feet over the water and road below. And there were no red rocks. So really the only thing that resembled out west was the fact that it was in the shape of an arch.
There were a couple of steep hills we had to climb which was giving Tina’s bike a hard time, wouldn’t shift gears and was really hard to peddle! The rest of us didn’t know that at the time, we just thought Tina was out really out of shape!
Then there were other hills that knocked everyone off of their bikes....
walking and talking the whole time......
Taking in the surroundings....
When we came down the other side of the hill, brakes where needed, so then it was my bikes turn to squeal and scare every single person in front of me enough to jump out of the way! Luckily Joe was at the other end to take pictures of us as we rode wildly down the hillJ
I didn't want Joe to feel neglected so I took over the camera duties.....See he was actually with us!
Along the way we passed a really cool old cemetery ……
Sugar Loaf Rock, which Gabe and Joe climbed…….
And of course we shared some of our trails with the horses, who left all kinds of “presents” behind……
And more pictures of Joe biking.....next to the horse presents!!
Thankfully we were biking and not walking.....Hello Mr. Snake!
We ended up at Great Turtle Park for lunch. The park was at the other end of a wooded path. There was a big open field with picnic tables and a soccer field! There were rest rooms and a playground. They had shade so we sat there and cooled off. The sun was strong and we were all sweaty from riding up hill most of the day. Thankfully it was still cool out or we all would have passed out by now!
Love my boys:)
After lunch we finished that trail and headed back towards civilization on another trail. The back roads we took to head to town was where the residents lived. Beautiful carriage houses,
big mansions and farms were all mixed in together. Farms where actually small and consisted of a few barns which was were most of the island horses lived. There were garages on houses, but they held buggies for the horses!
We all wanted to go see the famous hotel on the island, The Grand Hotel. The movies, “This time for keeps” and “Somewhere in time”, were both filmed there. They charged a fee to explore the grounds of the hotel if you weren’t a guest, so we just did a drive byJ
The hill was steep and needed heavy brake usage. So yes, as we passed by this elegant hotel with the guest all dressed in their finest outfits sitting out on the patio, I ride by with my bike squealing like a stuck pig. Can I do anything about it? No, because as soon as I let off the brake my bike picked up even more speed! And my family members? They all tried to get as far away from me as possible! Ignoring my pleas of help and yells of abandonment!
There was a little stone Congregational Church we stopped at when we made it to the bottom of the hill. I figured it was a good sign that I made it down to the church without running someone over!
Across the street from the church in a big field were baseball re-enactors from the early 1900’s, fully outfitted in period uniforms with no gloves, just like how they played back then. There were crowds watching and cheering them on.
We headed into town, passing the small post office and the police department, with all their police mountain bikes lined up outside! Amazing. I’m sure in the winter they use snowmobiles instead. At least I would hope they would! We did see an actual ambulances, but no fire trucks?
Town was great. It reminded me of an old western town. All the stores where attached in groups and had a wide front side walk in front of them. There were post for horses in front and places to park your bike.
We visited the General Store, small and expensive! But really cute. And then we did what was expected of all visitors to the island. Fudge sampling. Mackinac Islands number one sweet souvenir.
We visited every single fudge shop along both sides of the street to sample their fudge. The best one was actually run not by the locals but by Jamaicans! They were also the only fudge shop that didn’t “show” you how they made their fudge! Hmmmm, I don’t know what they put in it and don’t really care as it was the creamiest fudge we have ever had. So we bought some and then continued on sampling the rest of the streetJ
Then there was the ice cream. Joe, Tina and Gabe decided to try the local ice cream and I went for a homemade donut. It was a no calorie kind of day! Everything we ate was burned off by all the biking we didJ
It was still early and Joe suggested we take the outer loop around the island. It was 8.2 miles around, flat and paved. It was supposed to be one of the most scenic rides with places to pull off and sight see along the way. So off we went.
There were mile markers along the way so we knew where we were and how much longer we had to go.
Joe and I took the lead with our bikes. They could really get up and go on a flat surface, no need for any brakes! Tina and Gabe kind of fell behind. We would slow down to wait for them so we could all stay close together. We stopped along the way at a natural spring.....
And to feel the COLD water......
And to take pictures of funny signs........................Really???
Gabe said he would move to this island if he could. The fact that there were no cars was really cool and that you could bike all over the island during the nicer weather and in the winter ride snowmobiles on the road was awesome! I agree. It would be really neat to live there for a year. The winter would be horrible, being snowed in for 5 months out of the year and not be able to get off the island unless you took the "Ice Bridge".
The "Ice Bridge" connected the island to the Upper Peninsula. It wasn’t really a road, but was a path across the lake when it became frozen solid. The residents would take their snow mobiles to go across for essentials. If you could swing it or if you worked from home, able to stay bundled up in front of the fire place when the weather dropped to 20 below, than it would be great.
The town drops to about 500 residents in the winter. Most of the town, except for a few restaurants and hotels, close. There were pictures of locals riding their snow mobiles up and down the main road in town with high snow banks around them. It was their way of life.
Tina was still struggling with her bike so Gabe switched with her to try to fix the gears and make it easier to ride.
The four of us went off again! There were beautiful homes lining the road with an unobstructed view of the lake.
No driveways which we still found weird. But what would you need them for? The paved road also had a double yellow line down the middle. So it made us think we were on an actual road and we caught ourselves looking over our shoulders for cars. There were quite a few people coming and going around us. It was a really cool experience. We all still stayed with in a short distance of each other with Joe out in the lead and Tina trailing in the back with Gabe.
Gabe preferred his bike and ended up switching back to his bike. I gave Tina my bike, to give her a break and maybe see if I could get her gears right. I gave her a big boost to get her up on to my seat as it was a mountain bike and was much higher off the ground than her roadster! Her little legs could barely reach the ground so we decided she wouldn’t stop unless she had to! And I hopped on her bike.
The torture started shortly after we started off. It was like peddling through cement! The harder I peddled made no difference. Something was wrong with this bike! I looked at Tina and said, Really??? Why didn’t you tell us your bike was this difficult to peddle!! We just assumed you were really out of shape and didn’t want to complain! I know she wanted to knock me off my bike at that point, but how were we to know? We were about 3 miles from returning back to the beginning. Joe had disappeared from sight and it was just Tina, Gabe and myself, trudging down the road.
By the time we caught up to Joe, about a mile down the road, he was sitting on a bench, smiling and waiting for us. I was soaked in sweat, my hair was stuck to my forehead and I was beyond cranky. And what does my ever concerned thoughtful husband say when he sees us? What took you so long?
Tina tried to stop and get off my bike, caught her foot in the frame of the bike and swore like a sailor under her breath as she fell to the ground. I took Tina’s bike and gave it to Joe, in a kind and mature manor of course. His look of confusion I answered by hopping on his bike and telling him he was on his own and after boosting Tina back onto my bike, we proceeded on our way.
We lost sight of Joe fairly quickly and ended up pulling over along the water a short ways down to build stone towers in the sand. Gabe didn’t want to leave his dad to far behind us, feeling bad as the three of us were together and he was by himself. What a good boy. I had no such qualms. But we waited and built towers.
These towers were the exact towers we would see while visiting the Arches National Park. Remember? Well those towers were built by the Rangers so hikers wouldn’t get lost along the paths. Not sure why these were built, but there were many of them along the side of the road, on the sand and even in the water! Amazing.
By the look of Joe when he finally caught up to us, he was having a hard time of it. Apparently Tina’s bike issue wasn’t just the gears, but also she had a flat tire. So he was struggling as well. We had a little under 2 miles to go, he said he could do it no problem, so we left him to find his way while we went ahead.
By the time we made it back to town we were all hungry again and the ferry was set to leave very shortly. We returned Gabe’s bike and then waited for Joe, while he went for a soft pretzel, at the ferry dock. It was a long day. Needless to say it was a quiet ride back on the ferry. Lesson from this excursion? Learn to laugh at the unexpected and let go of the expected. Or something like that:)
Tina and I ran out to the grocery store after we got back to camp. Mackinac City was small and only had 1 grocery store. A very very small IGA. And very pricey. But there was nothing else so you really had no choice unless you came fully prepared. Lesson learned. Next time Tina will have to make sure she has her alcohol before we get parked!
That night we sat around the fire, got bit up by the million mosquitoes in the area, and ate dinner. We were all tired and ready for an early night.
Tomorrow we were back on the road, headed south, to our next stop in Montrose Michigan. We were staying at another Harvest Host. Montrose Orchards. They were known for their Apples and Blueberries!
The owners were very sweet and welcoming. On sight was their own bakery and produce stand. We decided to sample some of their jelly and Apple cider. All fresh and made right there on the farm. We were told we could park anywhere on their property. So we chose to park back in the open field next to the blueberry bushes. We had the place to ourselves.
After setting up we headed out with our blueberry picking bucket from Debbie the owner and went picking! It was the end of Blueberry season, so we didn’t end up picking a lot, but it was enough for Tina and I, the only ones who ate them. Gabe just loved picking them off of the trees, even trying one to see if maybe he changed his mind and like them, nope! Joe also not a blueberry fan, helped pick also. We were like the Cleavers for a few minutes. Or the Ingals’sJ It was really nice that Tina could join in with our picking since there weren’t as many bees, like we had at the Raspberry fieldJ
It was peaceful and the weather was really nice. It was one of those moments that we all looked at each other and said this is what it is all about.
For those of you that know Joe, than you also know that Christmas is his favorite time of year. He dresses up in his very own Santa suit each year for Christmas morning, he hangs mistletoe all over the house and he knows the words to all the Christmas Songs on the radio. How could we not take him to the biggest Christmas store in the country? Frankenmuth Michigan was home to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland and it was where we were headed when we left the Blueberry Orchards!
Bronners had a big parking lot, space for Buses and Rv’s. Everywhere you turned where Christmas decorations throughout the parking lot! At night they even lit up!!!
The town of Frankenmuth, considered Michigan’s Little Bavaria, is well known for their Bavarian heritage, hospitality and charm. When you think of a Bavarian Village you would picture this town. There were various restaurants offering famous chicken dinners, brew pubs with specialty homemade beers and of course cheese. All kinds of cheese.
PERFECT PLACE!
We found a few outfits for Joe at a local shop.....
Black suited him better:)
It was just a tease walking around town, we all knew where we really wanted to be was at Bonner’s Christmas Wonderland! When we pulled back into the parking lot at Bonner’s the out door Christmas Lights were on!
All through out the massive parking lot and in front of the store where various creatures and signs all lit up for Christmas. It was only September! How exciting!!! You could tell Joe was trying to contain his excitement, but the bright red tops of his ears and huge smile was giving it awayJ
A little history on Bronner’s. It was founded in 1945 by Wally Bronner. He loved Christmas and wanted to celebrate the joy it brings throughout the year. His motto was, “Enjoy CHRISTmas, It’s HIS Birthday; Enjoy Life, It’s HIS way”. He also built on the property the Silent Night Memorial Chapel. It is a replica of the original Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf Austria.
It was absolutely beautiful. You could imagine snow covering the ground while you walked around the church while listening to Silent Night being streamed through the speakers.
We spent about 2 hours in the store wandering around. It was divided into various sections from Religion, Angels, USA made, animals, hobbies, employment, characters, food and nationality to name a few. Plus they had Christmas Trees and blow up lawn animals to!
AND various Christmas animated displays through out. It made you feel as if Christmas was only a few days away.
There was also a Season’s Eating's snack area in case you wanted hot coco or a Christmas cookie (which they make ALL YEAR ROUND!!)
It was very hard, but we tore ourselves away and left.
We had another place we wanted to visit before they closed. On the way into Frankenmuth we had passed a small antique store that looked really cool. We all hopped in the car and headed out of town. By the time we got there we had 1 hour before closing. It was a mad dash through the building and its various rooms. It was a good thing we only had an hour, there was so many things we wanted, but we ran out of time and we all knew we didn’t have much room in the camper. Walking away we had some really cool antiques to add to the collection we started back in Indiana.
We headed into town for dinner and still had to figure out where we were going to stay for the night. Tomorrow we were planning on going to the Henry Ford museum, but didn’t want to stay in that town for the night. It wasn’t located in a safe area. So after dinner we headed for a close walmart to lay our heads down.
We were told by various people we had met along the way that if we were to visit the Henry Ford Museum, to at least spend 2 days there, as 1 day wouldn’t give you enough time to get through both parks. Did we listen? No. We wish we had afterwards.
We arrived in Dearborn the following morning at 930am. There was the Henry Ford Museum. Henry Ford Village (Greenfield Village), Ford Rouge Factory Tour and the Henry Ford IMAX Theatre. We had decided to do the Museum and the Village. We had 7 hours before they closed, so we split the time between the two.
The Greenfield Village was Henry Fords vision of American Life. It brought you back 300 years with sights and sounds of yesterday, there was hands on experiences and historians as well. As soon as you walked onto the grounds you run into farms, actually working in the field, they invited you to talk to them about what they were doing. They were in period clothing and carried on a period conversation. It was as if you stepped back into time.
We toured the Firestone original family farm house. There were 2 ladies working in the kitchen, making preserves and the days dinner (lunch) for the men working on the farm. They were dressed in period outfits as well. It was very hot, we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. They were dressed in layered dresses and aprons. Back in those days there was no air conditioning and the kitchen stove was kicking out a lot of heat!
Why did Henry Ford have the Firestone's homestead in his make believe village? Did you know that the Firestone and Ford children were friends? And then they ended up marrying into each others families??? Henry Ford was a very sentimental person, not only did he buy that home and move it piece by piece to his village, but he as purchased the Wright Brothers home and Bicycle shop as well as a General Store, The Heinz family house (Heinz 57 ketchup!),
A Train Turn Table (including the train house and 3 full size steam trains!),
his childhood house, a courthouse that Lincoln practiced Law in, Saw Mills, Glass Works, Machine shops and an original General Store! With a wood counter and filled with period pieces! There was a historian in a few of these buildings that told you about their building and the history behind them.
Imagine this reading this in today's world? Makes you wonder when did things change?
Millers everywhere!
We also visited a Print Press and Gabe was able to be an apprentice!
There were more homes and stores to visit, but we had reached our time limit and had to head over to the Museum. It was hard to leave with so much more to explore. But we had made that decision to split our time and visit both places in one day. We will just have to go back.
Our visit left Joe, Tina and myself remembering the old days and how simple it was to live back then. What a different world we would live in now if it had stayed that way. It was a little sad. This was the life we wanted to seek out on our journey to find our new home. But did it really exist anywhere?
The Henry Ford Museum was all for the boys. There were sections called, “Driving America”, “Railroads”, “Heros of the Sky", “Made in America Power” and “Made in America Manufacturing” to name a few. Tools, Automobiles, Airplanes and Machinery!
Boys and their toys......
There was an area you walked through, “With Liberty and Justice For All”, that was split into smaller rooms with exhibits in them all about the rights and freedoms of the American people. One of the exhibits was the Rosa Parks Bus. You sat on a replica of the same bus she was on December 1st 1955 in Montgomery and listened to her tell her story of what happened. Gabe had read about it, but to hear it directly from the person it happened to left more of an impact. Another was about the KKK and Segregation, Woman’s Rights...
and finally Lincoln’s Chair that he was assassinated in at Ford’s Theatre in 1865.
Plus they had the Dymaxion House, an all aluminum house that was conceived as the home of the future in the 1920’s for their affordability and environmentally conscious design. They made 2 of them. We toured 1 of them and completely understand why it wasn’t popular!
And of course they had the Wiener mobile Café. Everyone knows what the Wiener mobile is!
We pushed it right to closing time. There was more the boys wanted to spend time visiting, but we had to go. Next time we will listen to the advice we were given and spend an extra day.
We headed out of Michigan, stopping at our good friend “Cabela’s” on the way out for a quick “visit” and then drove straight to Selina Ohio to Kevin “Mr. Fix It” place. We arrived late about 1100 pm and hoped that he would be able to take care of what needed to be down in a short amount of time. Fingers crossed:)
