Mackinac Island!

 

June 9,  2021

We cruised the short distance from Cheboygan, Michigan, to Mackinac Island.  I’ve always wanted to visit the island during their Lilac Festival.  I’m not disappointed!  There are literally lilacs everywhere – you can smell them on the street – they almost drown out the horse manure!  So lovely to be here.  The marina is right across the road from a huge house (I think now a hotel) that had a fire recently.  I took a picture – they are already doing major work to restore the beautiful building.  The weather is just perfect – cool at night, in the 70’s and possibly 80 during the day.  Sun is shining  - we couldn’t ask for better weather. 

We had a delicious sandwich in the Watercolor Café right next to the marina.  We strolled all over the downtown area, just browsing.  We will load up on some famous fudge before we leave.  We also thought it would be fun to buy a little t-shirt for our soon-to-be-born grandson in California.  Can’t wait to see him and cuddle him.  David and Tori (parents) are planning to have a wedding in the early Fall.  Baby boy will be born in July.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

We had a bit of an adventure today!  My favorite thing to do is ride my bike around the island.  These shots are from various spots on that ride.  

The road washed out on the back side of the island, and extensive repairs are underway.  The detour was rumored to be 1 mile (think Gilligan’s Island "a 3 hour tour!").  The turn that should have ended the detour and taken us back down to the main road was blocked.  So, the detour turned out to be more like 4 miles on a road with good surface, but a bit up and down.  So, we ended up at Arch Rock, almost back to town.  In order to get back down to the road as soon as possible, we took the shortest route, which involved over 200 wooden steps...yikes.  Both of us did ok, so pat on the back for both of us oldsters!

 

We stopped at Mission Pointe on the way back for a refreshing libation…The bar was not in the sun, and was in the wind.  Yikes!  We were chatting with the friendly, charming bar tender from Jamaica, and I jokingly asked if he had blankets for his guests.  Turns out he did!  He brought out two very warm blankets that we enjoyed while we finished our drink.  Amazing what you get when you ask!

 

We got back to the boat, looking forward to warming up out of the wind.  Our boat was rocking and rolling in the slip like we haven’t seen in a while.  We tightened up some lines, repositioned some fenders and settled down to rock and roll!