Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: If Disney Owned an Island

Mackinac Island

Sometimes you just hit a place that you have trouble finding any fault with. Well Mackinac Island, pronounced Mackinaw, is is just such a place. In fact to out a better perspective on it as the title of this blog states, if Walt Disney owned an island this would be it. On Saturday August 20th we had a 16 mile cruise to the the Island with one catch, no reservation for a slip.

As you can imagine the island is wildly popular with day trippers and boaters alike. The reservation system that the state of Michigan uses showed it completely booked. We had been checking for weeks hoping for a cancellation. Well we took a chance and just showed up. A stroke of luck and we were tied in island paradise up for a two night stay. The island is very unique in that there are no vehicles of any kind allowed with the exception of one ambulance, a fire truck and one police car. No golf carts, scooters, mopeds or motor cycles. Only horse drawn carriages and bicycles. And I mean bicycles by the thousands.

The island like many has a heart beat all driven by the ferries that serve it. They begin to show up at 7 with employees that come to work and at 8 am with the first load of passengers. Through out the morning the island swells with day trippers all seeking to experience one of the most unique islands we have ever been to. The whole island is impeccably manicured to a tee.

Flowers paint the landscape from top to bottom with the houses all designed to a fitting motif. The clop clop of the horses is enchanting with the smell of their droppings covered up by the aroma of fresh made fudge from multiple stores along the main street. Bicycling on the miles of paved roads and trails is a joy never having to worry about vehicular traffic other than the occasional horse drawn carriage. We did a bunch of it and loved every minute.

We visited the Fort Mackinac that looks down on water front. On Saturday afternoon we were invited over to the boat next to us for Docktails. They were local boaters and were so hospitable. We hope to meet up with them in their hometown near Leland. Woody is a DIY guy on steroids with his collection of tools including a sawmill, heavy equipment, a blacksmith furnace, well you get the idea.

After Sue and I boarded a carriage and went to dinner at a restaurant called the Woods. It is a Bavarian style Tudor that has a Swiss hunting lodge feel with the walls adorned with various animal mounts from all over the world.

On Sunday we went to the church service in town and then rode all over the island on the bikes.

It was a bright blue filled sky with temps in the lower 70’s. At the end of our tour around the island we stopped at the Grand Hotel. It does not come short from it’s implied name. It reportedly has the longest waterfront porch in the US. It is truly a AAA four Diamond property. It was built back in the 1800’s and has been extremely well maintained without loosing it’s old world charm.

When you walk up the stairs they lean to one side giving you that unmistakable feeling that this is an old place. After dinner aboard we joined a group of Loopers and walked into town to visit a few of the local watering holes. We were sad to pull out of the harbor on Monday as it was certainly one of our favorite marina stops to date. We could have stayed a week and never been bored

Sometimes things happen to us on the Loop that we just can’t explain. So on Sunday I was coming back to the boat and low and behold I ran into John, the owner of Queens Head Tavern whom we met in Cheboygan. Not only did I run into him he was in his boat in the slip right next to us! We enjoyed a drink with John and his lovely wife Marsella on their boat. How do you explain it?

For those reading this we can highly recommend Mackinac Island as a land vacation as there are many charming B&Bs on the island that would satisfy the most discriminating traveler.