Turtles all the way down

Saturday, June 13

Mackinac Island






Coming into the harbor of Mackinac Island, one is greeted by the commanding view of the Grand Hotel, and the beautiful Round Island light and the less beautiful Round Island Passage Light, all accented by the roostertails of the ferries coming across from St Ignace and Mackinaw City.   

 


For those following the blog (all three of you) who don’t know about Mackinac Island, the natives named it the Great Turtle (Mitchimakinak), because of its shape rising out of the water as they approached by canoe.  

The Island is the home of Michigan‘s first State Park. It also was the premier resort for many of Michigan’s industrial giants. There are no powered vehicles allowed on the island…wait,  I guess that’s not true...these days you can rent an electric bike on the island, and of course, you can fly in if you have a small plane...let’s just say no cars on the island and leave it at that.  The only ways to get to the island are by boat or by plane.  Once you arrive on the Island, you must walk, bike, or you can take a horse drawn carriage.






While we had a decent amount of time to explore the touristy part of the Island (think Gatlinburg TN on steroids) on Saturday evening, I had never been to the Island and Chuck hadn’t been in twenty years. We were hungry and the crossing had not been amenable to cooking underway so I googled dog friendly restaurants and one of the top hits was a brewery (always a hit with us beer snobs) named the Great Turtle.  Chuck and I agreed that it was fate. So we walked from our Sailboat Twoflower, me in my Unseen University sweatshirt,  to have a pint at the Great Turtle Brewing Company. feather was a very good doggo. 

  
After dinner, we walked some more to see the Grand Hotel and some of the “cottages” along the shoreline. We had mostly decided to stay another day but word that friends were flying in to the island  Sunday sealed the deal. so we pointed our tired tootsies back toward the harbor where we sat and watched the light fade.  



Oh, yes, and also... we found Waldo.



                                                  
































































































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