Fourth Stop: Mackinac Island
Our next stop was in beautiful upper Michigan at the
Mackinaw Mill Creek RV park in Mackinaw City. This campground is huge and sits at the edge of Lake Huron. Another Great Lake? Check! Again, my visions of a Great Lake were dispelled when I waded into the clear, calm waters off the campground shore. The lake was beautiful and shallow making it easy to explore with inflatable, two-seater boats I found on Amazon
here.
We spent our first full-day in Mackinaw City relaxing and roaming around the campground. The drive the day before was exhausting - two hours to the sand dunes, three hours at the sand dunes, and another three hours to Mackinaw City which brings us to the first tip of the trip.
Tip #1: MAKE SURE CAMPGROUND STAYS ARE LONG ENOUGH SO ALL FAMILY MEMBERS CAN RELAX. CONSIDER THE FIRST FULL DAY AT EACH SITE AS TIME TO DECOMPRESS.Once we set up our site, we immediately knew we wanted to add another night to our three-night reservation. Best decision!
We spent the second full day visiting
Mackinac Island. Cars aren’t allowed on the island so we ferried over with our bikes on the
Star Line Ferry.
Stepping onto the beautiful, charming island with not a car in sight was my version of utopia, minus the horse poo and horse poo smell.
There was a lot of horse poo. People get around by bike or horse carriage which explained the poo. Lots of poo.
But this adorable oasis had their very own pooper scoopers who traveled by bike with a cart in tow to shovel and dispose of the piles...in case you were wondering.
I’d read online to take a
horse and carriage tour right when you get to Mackinac to learn about the area. They don’t take reservations for those tours but we were able to easily climb on a carriage once tickets were bought. Our first tour guide was interesting and it was nice to see the island that way. But halfway through the tour, we were deposited at the tour company’s museum to switch carriages. We had no idea. The museum “conveniently” has a gift shop and snack bar which must be traversed to continue on the tour. We boarded a bigger carriage for the second half.
The second carriage took us to Arch Rock which was beautiful but the tour wasn’t as entertaining. As we left Arch Rock, my husband and I were in hysteric giggles as the carriage slowly rolled along while the tour guide pointed out the unusual wildlife like….squirrels….and...pine trees….and “oh, there’s a white pine tree,” and a bird. The significantly older population on our tour seemed to enjoy these lessons but we were ready to hurl our bodies off the snail-paced carriage to escape…. When we learned there was yet another carriage stop and carriage change at the same museum/snack bar/gift shop to return where the tour started, we bailed. The walk back was better.
Tip #2: Keep an open mind and don't be afraid to change the plans last minute. That early departure from the carriage tour showed us another beautiful spot on the island for walking.
So would I do the horse and carriage tour again? That’s debatable. What I would consider is renting a horse and carriage which includes a lesson on driving one. Apparently the horses are so accustomed to the area that drivers simply hold the reins and ride.
After lunch at a pizza spot, we grabbed our bikes and headed to the Grand Hotel. This stunning hotel was built in 1887 and features the world’s largest porch. We were hoping to walk along the porch for photos but it was off limits unless you were staying at the hotel. In fact, tourists weren’t allowed to even walk in front of the hotel for photos. Not even on the street. I somehow evaded the hotel guards stationed out front and strolled right up for photos. My family moved too slowly and got caught.
We spent the rest of our time shopping for souvenirs and fudge. Mackinac Island is known for their fudge with numerous stores selling the sweet stuff in cute boxes to tourists.
By late afternoon, the island had cleared of tourists and we made our way to the ferry.
While the others waited, I rode my bike about a mile around the shore. My only regret is not riding bikes on the 8-mile stretch that goes around the entire island. Next time!
We spent one more day at the campground before starting our 3 days of driving.
Next stop…
some campground somewhere in Wisconsin and then corny Mitchell, South Dakota.