August 30-31 Wednesday & Thursday
What a fun two days, if you do not count the sleepless nights while the boat was rocking and rolling and the lines were squeaking from the wakes of the ferries coming in and out of the harbor. It is by the ferries that most people arrive on Mackinac Island to enjoy the serenity of life without motor vehicles. On Mackinac Island cars have been banned since 1898 and, except for a few emergency vehicles, the only transportation on the island is by foot, bicycle, or horse, be it horseback riding or a horse drawn carriage, thus the tempo of the island is more comparable to the 19th century than today’s world. At least that is true in the summer, if you look closely you can see a few snowmobiles hidden away waiting for winter. In the winter the snowmobiles are used not only for travel around the island but also to cross the Straits of Mackinaw when it freezes. The trouble is the Straits have not frozen solid enough the last two winters.
Wednesday we put on our hiking boots and set out to explore the southern tip of the Island. The island is small enough that we could have easily walked the entire circumference, about eight miles, if there weren’t so many beautiful sites to explore along the way: the Grand Hotel which has the longest front porch in the world at 660 feet, Fort Mackinaw a former British and American military outpost, Arch Rock, a natural limestone arch which stands 146 feet over the Lake Huron coastline, and Mackinac State Park to mention a few. We were also enchanted by the beautiful homes and lovely gardens of the island.
Thursday we rented a two person horse drawn carriage from Jack’s Livery Stable to explore the northern portion of the island. We could have rented bicycles but I wanted to have the experience of driving a horse drawn carriage, I don’t think I had fully thought through just what my view would be (see pictures). We had a blast, riding around and exploring the rest of the island, including Harrisonville, nicknamed the “Village” where most of the year round residents live. Most of the 550+ islanders that live on Mackinaw Island year round call the Village home and many of their families have lived there for generations. The island school has about eighty students that either walk or ride their bicycles to school, except in the winter when the snowmobiles come out of hiding to transport students.
As we were going through village a lady run up to our carriage and convinced Rick to give her his camera she then ran ahead of us and took our picture about fifteen minutes later, as we were passing the Grand Hotel she again ran up, took our camera, and insisted we needed a picture of us in front of the Grand. She was such a hoot and I thanked her for going out of her way to get that picture for us.
As we were going through village a lady run up to our carriage and convinced Rick to give her his camera she then ran ahead of us and took our picture about fifteen minutes later, as we were passing the Grand Hotel she again ran up, took our camera, and insisted we needed a picture of us in front of the Grand. She was such a hoot and I thanked her for going out of her way to get that picture for us.
After we returned our beloved horse Barney and the carriage to Jake’s we retreated to Andiamo to get warm and have lunch. Riding around the Island was fun but the wind had chilled us to the bone and we wanted to have lunch where we could control the thermostat.
Our morning might have been a bone-chilling experience but the afternoon had us stripping off our jackets as we enjoyed the tropical heat of the Original Mackinac Island Butterfly House. The museum was the first of its kind in Michigan and is the third oldest live butterfly exhibit in the United States. The 1800 square foot tropical garden is full of tropical plants and hundreds of live butterflies. It was so peaceful to just enjoy watching the butterflies, the exception to that was the boy who was tearing the wings off a butterfly and a mother who couldn’t understand why her daughter could not use her butterfly net.
As we left the tropical butterfly garden we entered the insect world and I marveled, as always, at the way Rick has with kids as he helped them find out how the bees left their hive, where the tarantulas were hiding, and what branch the tree frog was on.
MACKINAC ISLAND’S ORIGINAL BUTTERFLY HOUSE AND INSECT MUSEUM
