Michigan road trip continued....
We woke up Friday morning ready to get to Mackinac Island. This is a place that we've wanted to come to for a long time. We drove an hour to get to St. Ignace where we parked our car and got on the ferry to get to the island. On the ferry I sat next to a woman named Marsha who has a summer house on the island. She was very nice in giving ideas of what to see and do while visiting.
Getting off the ferry we found ourselves surrounded by hoards of people! Mackinac Island is a destination for many people because of it's uniqueness (no cars), history and beauty. There were bikes parked all along the road and horse and buggies passing us by and people everywhere. As we walked along to get our bearings there was a strong smell of horses and chocolate. Quite an interesting combination but alas, it is true. There are A LOT of fudge shops in town and A LOT of horses, as well. As we walked along the street side we stopped to watch one of the chocolatiers work on cooling down a whole batch of fudge. I was mesmerized just watching him scoop up the fudge and bring it in to the middle of the marble slab. Pretty fun!
Our first order of business was to get some lunch, of course. Rick likes to taste the local cuisine when we travel, so he ordered a pasty. A pasty is basically a meat pie served with gravy. We had seen pasties advertised all along the northern Michigan coast. This was the time to try it. He wasn't too impressed:( I had a simple sandwich.
After lunch we debated on taking a horse and buggy tour of the island or renting bikes. We chose the latter. We loved the feeling of riding along the coastline with the wind in our hair enjoying the beauties of the island.
This is Lake Huron. One thing that has surprised me of both Lake Michigan and then Lake Huron is how clear the water is. If I didn't know better I would think that I was looking at the Caribbean Sea. That's how clear and beautiful this water is, as you can see from this next picture. Just gorgeous!
Most of the beaches are rocky but that didn't keep some of the HUNDREDS of other bikers from stopping and playing by the water. There were even a few brave souls getting IN the water.
I never felt it but I'm sure it was pretty darn cold.
Just look how pretty that lake is!
The marina
On our bike ride we stopped at Arch Rock. Rick hiked up to see it while I chose to sit on a bench and watch the bikers ride past.
There were a number of cute old churches on the island. This one was over a hundred years old.
After riding around the island and perusing a few shops we walked up to the Mackinac Fort. It is a former British and American Fort used from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. It offered a magnificent view of the island and the lake.
We walked around the garrison looking at the different buildings and learning how the soldiers lived and worked in those days. Life was tough back in the 1800's. The medical procedures they used back then were so rudimentary to what we have now. I think of how simple ailments turned into death sentences back then not to mention the "operations" and removing of limbs in such a barbaric way. We are so blessed to have modern day medicine.
After our time up on the hill we rode our bikes back to town and returned them to the rental office.
We were on foot for the next hour before dinner. We enjoyed looking in the shops and watching some more fudge being made.
We walked down to the Iroquois Hotel and had dinner at the Carriage House Restaurant.
Rick had the seasoned fish and vegetables while I had the most delicious and tender steak with potatoes. We both enjoyed our meal on the patio looking over the gardens and lake.
After dinner we hired a horse and carriage taxi to take us to our hotel. It was a beautiful drive through the forested center of the island. We stayed in the Stonecliff Mansion. It was built in 1904 as a summer home for a wealthy industrialist. The grounds were beautiful and we were able to find a path through the woods that led us to a great view of the sunset.
After a good night's rest we had a nice breakfast in the dining room. We were lucky to get one of the last spots on a hired taxi to get back to the downtown area. To do this we had to leave by 8:30 so it was an early morning getting ready and getting our bags packed to transfer to the ferry.
Even though we were going to stay on the island for a few more hours our bags were traveling back to St. Ignace to wait for us there.
We had a few hours to kill before our "lunch experience" so we did some shopping. Rick bought a hat and I bought a bell and a new Mackinac Island shirt as well as some trinkets for the kiddos. Afterwards, we walked up the hill to the beautiful Grand Hotel and got to tour the hotel and grounds. It was very nice. The hotel was built in 1887 and has been a destination summer retreat since then. It is very recognizable because of it's 600 foot porch running across the front of the hotel facing the lake. There were many pictures of famous people who had visited the hotel through the years. Many Presidents and celebrities have enjoyed staying at this "grand" hotel
I first learned of the hotel when I was a teenager by watching the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour. For many years after watching that show I believed Jane Seymour to be the most beautiful woman in the world!
Also after watching the movie I had a secret desire to visit there. So finally after all of those years
...here we are!
The grounds were beautiful. We walked down on the lawns where outdoor games were set up. There were families playing croquet and bocce. The corn hole was available so we played a game where I was soundly losing UNTIL I pulled ahead and brought home the gold:)
We then wandered over to the fountain and made a wish and then tossed in a quarter.
Here are a few pictures of our time at the hotel.
After touring the gardens we came in and waited for lunch. There was already a line forming thirty minutes before lunch was to be served so we were happy to have gotten there early. Earlier when I saw that The Grand Hotel had a "lunch experience" I thought that we should give it a try. I am here to say that it definitely was an EXPERIENCE. The dining room was pleasantly situated with lots of color and our table was by the window overlooking the grounds with a view to the lake. The buffet was filled to the brim with delicious foods from appetizers, cold salads and seafood to hot dishes and a plethora of desserts.
We sure enjoyed our lunch experience!
After lunch we hurried on down to the marina to catch the ferry back to St. Ignace.
In St Ignace we retrieved our luggage and headed on for the next adventure of our road trip. We traveled for 3 hours to get down to Mt. Pleasant where we were meeting Adam and Havelah's family. We found an Applebee's and had a wonderful visit and dinner with Adam and Havelah and the kids. Well, the kids sat at the booth next to us (except the littlest ones) but we had a nice time catching up on the happenings with Adam and Havelah and their family.
After dinner we drove to Lakeside where their new property and home is located. They are very pleasantly situated on 35 acres of wooded land. They are so happy to be there. They have been working on fixing up the house and clearing some of the brush off of their land. They have
BIG dreams for that piece of ground and it is so fun to see their enthusiasm for it all. They gave us a tour of their home and shared all that they had done to improve it to fit their large family.
It started getting late so we had scripture study with the family and then settled down for the night. It was so sweet of Adam and Hav to give up their room for us. We had a restful sleep on their very nice bed!
The next morning was Sunday and so we hustled to get ready for church and made the 30 minute drive to the chapel. Church was nice. The ward was very friendly and spent time welcoming and befriending us at the linger longer held just after the meetings.
After returning back to the Allen home we enjoyed a wonderful roast dinner. It was so fun just hanging out with the family talking and laughing over good food! The Allen kids are so loving and well behaved.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them!
Here are the few pictures we got of them:
We woke up early Monday morning and drove over to Dearborn just outside of Detroit. This is where The Henry Ford Museum is. The museum felt like a little Smithsonian. It wasn't little at all, though. It had a bunch of stuff to see. A lot of historical farm equipment and tractors, a walk thru time history area, a math and science area, an aviation area and of course, lots of vintage cars. It even had a special display of Jim Henson's Muppets. We did not have time to see the whole museum. We easily could have been there a few more hours but we made the best of our time.
I was interested to see the presidential limousines clear back from Abraham Lincoln's time. The actual limo that Pres. Kennedy was assassinated in was on display as well. There was also a Civil Rights area that housed the actual bus that Rosa Parks rode in that started the Montgomery bus boycott. I love learning about this time period and could have stayed longer looking at the exhibits but the security guard came and let us know the museum was closing. We were some of the last ones out of the museum trying to take it all in. It was a nice experience!
After the museum we wanted to grab some dinner. I had earlier read something about "Detroit Pizza" which I didn't even know was a thing, so Rick looked up a place that served it and happily it was just down the street from the museum. We ate at Buddy's Pizza Parlor who proudly claim that they were the inventors of the Detroit style pizza back in the 50's.
Detroit style pizza is a takeoff of Chicago's deep dish. It is a deep dish pizza filled with toppings, cheese to the edge of the crust, sauce on top and shaped in a square. It. Was. So. Good!!
Our Detroit pizza night was a good ending to our Michigan road trip. We traveled back to Lansing for the night and got a late check out the next morning just enjoying some down time in our room. We flew out of Grand Rapids that evening. Our trip throughout the state of Michigan was so wonderful! I love all of the different areas that we got to see, the different foods we got to try, the Allen family that we got to visit and the person I got to do it all with. I love this July road trip tradition and hope it continues on for years!
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