Days 65 - 70, Aug 7th - 12th, Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City

We had a wonderful weekend with my sister and family from MN. Crazy Eights CAN accomodate nine with a some planning and flexibility! The two older girls slept on the flybridge and loved it. The love seat in the salon and the dinette seats provided sleeping accomodations for 3 more and Betty and Erik were comfortable in the the forward Stateroom. With numerous trips to and from their car, bringing on board only what was needed at that time of day, we managed just fine. St. Ignace Municipal Marina was really nice so we utulized their showers and facilities. We cooked on board but used the nearby picnic table for several meals. It was great fun.

Fri morning we boarded the ferry to Mackinac Island. We took the horse and carriage tour of the island and then like the hundreds of other visitors of the day, walked around town sampling fudge and cruising the many shops. We decided that it was 75% - 80% fudge and t-shirt shops with the rest being restaurants and trinkets shops.
It was good to visit - it's probably a "been there; done that" destination. Our fun was all the family being together making memories and enjoying the awesome weather.

The island has 500 horses, no motor vehicles, lots of bicycles and not many more than 500 year round residents. The Grand Hotel is the main attraction and gorgeous. We chose not to pay $12 to sit on the porch but did get as close as we could for photos. The grounds are exquisitely manicured with beautiful gardens throughout. I loved the horse and carriage covered in greenery! The horse drawn carriage is for Grand Hotel guests only.

The one photo is of "the Arch," a natural rock formation that looks like it's been carved. The seaside was indescribable - white sand beach, several shades of aqua colored water. Again, this all looks like the Caribbean or Mexico waters - SO pretty.

Sat we took everyone on a cruise to the Mackinaw Bridge and back to St Ignace and then anchored and the kids swam for awhile. The Mackinaw Bridge, "the Mighty Mac," is 50 years old this year. There are events and festivals in the area this summner celebrating the anniversary.

"The Mighty Mac" is one of the great engineering marvels of modern times. It is five miles long and 55 stores tall and is the hemisphere's longest suspension bridge between cable and anchorages. It took 2,500 men three years to build. Five of those men lost their lives on the job.

Four years ago when we were on a bike trip with Chuck and Nancy, my brother and wife from SC, we rode across "The Mighty Mac" with high winds. We all remember it was pretty scary between the bridge moving in the wind and riding on those grates with motorcycle tires. We hardly dared to look at the water below!!

After saying our goodbyes on Sun morning, Betty and family were on the road again for another 11-12 hours to MN. Such a long drive for a short visit; however, we are so
grateful that they could all come. What a treasure - thank you, all!

We motored on to Mackinaw City across the bay. They claim to be "The Gateway to Mackinaw Straits." Since it was a short trip we enjoyed the remainder of the day. Reggie loved it because of a wonderful park and lots of new areas to explore. There were many more shops (not ALL fudge and t-shirts) for Lee to peruse. There was Mackinaw Crossings, a unique shopping area of with dining and entertainment. It reminded me a bit of Myrtle Beach's Barefoot Landing. Rich doesn't understand the "therapy" of just looking in shops - ladies, help me out here!

We met eight other Looper boats there. We're meeting up with more and more new Loopers since we're all heading south to be off Lake Michigan by Labor Day or shortly after.