Mackinac Island--Part 1

We pulled into Mackinac Island at noon on Wednesday with reservations until mid-day Sunday—and we needed every minute of the 5 days.  Mackinac Island is a state park with no motorized vehicles of any sort allowed. The summer homes of the wealthy Michigan-ers are magnificent and the quaint village rich in fudge, shops, B &B’s and restaurants offers a lot to do.  To get around you either walk, bike or ride in a horse-drawn carriage.  Sue and Vivian—first company and delightful-- arrived by ferry 2 hours after we docked; bearing gifts of  designer beer,  mail, camera battery, snacks, the best food yet—a Tennessee home grown tomato but most importantly, an adventuresome attitude and good walking shoes. Captain’s Choice had come in day earlier and joined us for docktails on the boat as we discussed our plan of attack.  Mark and Karen had done a little recon work for us—cherry, walnut choc fudge, hiking paths, the Western bluffs, The Grand Hotel etc. we leave these running buddies here as Thursday morning they are leaving heading the rest of the way down Lake Huron to Lake Erie and then home to Buffalo, NY--will miss them!  Sue, Vivian, Terry and I hit the ground running—we got into a routine of breakfast and coffee on the boat, site-seeing, big lunch, site-seeing and then happy hour with some appetizers, fall into bed—non-stop for 5 days.    

Sisters arrive by ferry

Weddings seemed to be every half hour on the weekend



Cairngorm was my favorite home on the Western Bluff



The Michigan Governor was in residence the entire time we were there

The gardens were unbelievable

The team had a game plan