Mackinac island and Mini Heaven

7/31/19 - 8/1/19 - Monroe, MI to West Branch, MI (190 miles) 2 hours 48 min, stay one night
8/1/19 - 8/6/19 - West Branch, MI to St. Ignace, MI (132 miles) 1 hour 56 min, stayed 5 nights at Tiki RV Park - nice view of Lake Huron!



Yooper! (The nickname for a person who lives in the Upper Peninsula.)

Just across the Mackinac bridge, on the shores of Lake Huron, lies a summer village called St. Ignace.  Their tourist season is only 6 months long.  The rest of the year is too cold!  But what a beautiful town!  This is what I had hoped to find in Harbortown.  There was always a cool breeze off the water and there were so many varieties of gorgeous flowers planted in every tiny flower bed and median.  They have a picturesque harbor and light house.  They make good use of their time in the sun with farmers markets, live music and fireworks every week.  AND we accidentally stumbled on the weekend when they were trying to break the world record for largest Mini rally in the world, called “Mini on the Mack”.  They estimated there were over 1300 minis in town.  Unfortunately, we heard in a local shop, that they didn’t make it.  “If only everyone who showed up had registered!”  Maybe next year.  I’m a HUGE fan (I had one in England).  Here are a few stand outs...

 

Knowing that the weekend was going to be packed, we took a ferry to Mackinac island on Friday.  There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island, only horse-drawn wagons and bicycles. We dared not step off the sidewalk in fear of getting run over or stepping in manure.  Again, beautiful flowers, ones that don’t grow in Texas, and I’m not familiar with.  This place is like Disneyland for adults.  The island is only eight miles around, so it’s easy to bike, but we didn’t.  We strolled along the streets, looking at the houses and stopping in to taste samples at every fudge shop.  We sat outside, by the bay and had a lovely lunch, then found a spot on the beach to collect stones.

One thing we didn’t do is go to the Grand Hotel.  Last time we were here, we walked up and sat on the porch in rocking chairs and enjoyed the view.  Now, they charge $10 to get on the grounds, even if you want to have a meal at the hotel.  This is a disheartening, recurring theme that we’re finding wherever we go - many more tourist, and EVERYTHING costs money.  It’s kind of sad really.  But it reminds me of how we used to avoid weekend crowds, especially in summer, because things were just too crowded.  We’ll have to get used to doing things mid week in the off seasons.