gma2rjc

These are some pictures of Mackinac (pronounced and sometimes spelled Mackinaw) City and Mackinac Island.

Mackinac City is located at the foot of the Mackinac bridge, which connects the lower and upper peninsula's of Michigan. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet under the bridge. If I remember right, the bridge is 5 miles long.

Mackinac Island can be reached by taking your own boat or getting a ferry from Mac City or St. Ignace, which is at the north end of the bridge.

When you are there, the locals call you a 'fudgie', but not to your face. It's because there are some shops there that make delicious fudge, which tourists buy and in turn become fudgies. Some shops even let you watch it being made. It's neat to see.

Anyhoo, I was fortunate enough to be there during the Chicago - Mackinac Island sailboat race. When I was near the lighthouse taking pictures, I noticed there were quite a few sail boats, but didn't know why at the time.

On the ferry over to the island, I overheard a few people talking about the race and that's how I found out about it.

Oh also, there are no cars on the island. People get around by foot, bike or horse. When you're there, it feels like you went back in time.

There is an airport there, but I believe they have a horse and buggy taxi waiting to take people to their hotel.

This is the lighthouse in Mackinac City








Here, I'm standing under the bridge with my left foot in Lake Michigan and my right foot in Lake Huron.






More pics to follow...

Barb

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May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
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gma2rjc

The shot below is taken from the ferry. The long white building is The Grand Hotel. One of it's claims to fame is that it has the longest front porch of any hotel in the world. My daughter and son-in-law were invited to go there next week for a night. They don't have to pay, but they found out that the room they're sharing with another couple is $248 PER PERSON. That's not one of the expensive rooms though. But it includes breakfast, so....

If you ever saw the movie "Somewhere In Time" starring Christopher Reeve's(sp?) and Jane Seymour, this is where that movie was filmed.

Pay no attention to the bottom right corner of the picture. A big porcupine jumped out of the water and... It was a kids head and I couldn't figure out how to crop it out of the photo.




This is Round Island Lighthouse


Above the marina you can see Fort Mackinac. I didn't get to go there this time as I could only spend about 3 hours or so on the island.






Barb

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May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

gma2rjc

I'm not sure of the name of the lighthouse on the left, if it even has a name. To me, it looks like the roof of a building sticking up out of the water. lol




There are quite a few bikes on the island. I think there are 2 or 3 bike rental businesses. A lot of people rent them and ride the 8 miles around the island and to do some exploring. Some people bring their own bikes.






More pics tomorrow.

Barb

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May your troubles be less.
May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

downrightart

"Somewhere in Time" Only recently did I try to find out where that location was! How uncanny! And you post it and you LIVE near there! Wow! How I got on the topic or search, I don't know. I'm sure it was victorian related though.

Beautiful pics Barb! I love the Marine ones and the pics of the bicycles!

kenbo

Those are some really beautiful pictures. Looks like a very nice place.

pinokeeo

Lovely photos of the island, Barb.

That story with the bicycles reminds me of Santa Catalina Island. No cars there, either.

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gma2rjc

Yea, it's a neat place to go. The ferry lets you off in the middle of Main St., and that's where all the t-shirt, fudge and souvenir shops are. If you walk right past those, the rest of the island is neat and not very crowded. Not that there's anything wrong with t-shirts & souvenir's.

There are also some very nice shops on Main Street and a few hotels and restaurants.

Barb

__________________
May your troubles be less.
May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

gma2rjc

When I was re-sizing these pictures, I tried to zoom in on some of the detailed trim on this house, but my program won't let me do that. Or I just couldn't figure it out. If I had known, I would have taken more close-up pictures of the trim (I believe there's another word for 'trim')












Most of the homes have pretty landscaping, but this is my favorite out of the ones I saw that day.


Barb

__________________
May your troubles be less.
May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

gma2rjc

The kites you see above this house are flying from the elementary school a little way down the street from this house. I didn't see anybody holding on to them, so they were probably tied to something.

I assume they were put there by the Mackinaw Kite Company. I know they have good quality kites and a nice variety to choose from. Hopefully they're made in America, but there's no information about that on their website.




I couldn't find information on the names of the boats by the number on their sales, but here's a website that tells all the details about the Chicago-Mackinac race if anybody is interested:
http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/raceupdates.cfm


Barb

__________________
May your troubles be less.
May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.

gma2rjc

A pretty little flower peeking out to say 'Hello'.


Barb

__________________
May your troubles be less.
May your blessings be more.
And may nothing but happiness
Come through your door.