The first stop on our big camping trip was Straits State Park in St. Ignace, MI. It was a nice little campground and was about a mile away from the docks where the ferry's departed for Mackinac Island. Originally Ryan wanted to try and stay one night in the iconic Grand Hotel located right on the island. But, when I checked availability over a year before our trip I was only able to find THREE rooms available, all for over $900 per night. We quickly pivoted to camping nearby and taking the ferry over for the day to explore. It's a bummer, because the hotel was pretty cool, and after fighting the crowds during the day, I do see how staying overnight could have it's benefits. Maybe next time we'll figure out a way to stay on island for a night.
We knew enough to know that getting on the early ferry would be beneficial so a big group of us (Mom/Dad/Dan, Brackemyers and us) all left the campsite around 7:15 to bike to the ferry which left around 8am. Of all the choices we made that day, I think this was the best one...well...maybe the ice cream choice is the best. It's a close call! Leaving early meant that the island was pretty quiet when we disembarked. We opted to ferry our bikes over as well, which wasn't cheap, but it was cheaper than the $80 per bike per day to rent them. In all, it cost our family of 4, $140 to ferry ourselves and our bikes over for the day. I think, we'd do it again in a heartbeat. This was 100% the right choice and made getting around the majority of the island pretty easy.
The island itself is about 8 miles around and there are no cars allowed anywhere on island - even in the off season! Ryan had a contractor friend tell a story about during work on the island one winter and the guy said they used horse and carriage to haul all the garbage off site and to the ferries to be removed. That meant the only ways to get around were walk, bike or horse and carriage. The bike ride around the island was beautiful and because we started early it was not too crowded at all. We took maybe 2.5 hours to get all the way around....I think. That included stops, exploring, eating the lunches we packed (at 10am, just like I predicted) and even dipping our feet in the water. We were even able to convince the kids to not get ice cream at the little shop on the north side of the island, opting instead for ice cream at Sadie's Ice Cream Shoppe (she was a dog) located inside the Grand Hotel. I mean...how would we pass that up?! I only wish they had t-shirts. My name, on an ice cream shoppe shirt?! I mean...it's basically meant to be.
The island itself is beautiful - and we lucked out with the most amazing weather the day we visited. By the afternoon it was hot, but in the early morning while we were biking there was a cool breeze coming off the lake, and the partly shaded, partly sunny, totally flat path around the island was the perfect way for our group of kiddies to explore.
We stacked some rocks, touched a crawfish (which, I threw at Stella when it got to close to pinching my fingers (sorry Stella!) and got some cute pictures along the way. We skipped the big attraction - Arches Rock because by the time we got there is was PACKED with people and we always prefer to hike in more solitary areas. We sat in the Adirondack chairs on the green grass overlooking the lake and eventually made our way to the Grand Hotel.
Here's the thing about the Grand Hotel - its iconic. It's huge. How can you make it all the way to Mackinac and NOT go see the hotel? Well...they aren't dumb, they know everyone thinks that, so you know what they figured out? They can charge $10 a head to even just WALK around the hotel and people (dummies like us) will shell it out. And you know what, we sure did shell it out for the privilege of having one (expensive) drink on the big porch in a rocking chair. I mean - I'm not exaggerating. They had a drink on the menu called the 125 anniversary drink that included a gold leaf garnish. Want to guess how much it was for that drink? Guess...I'm not joking. Throw out a guess. Well, I'll just tell you, $240!! I'm not kidding. A bloody mary or Aperol Spritz was $24...so we all opted in for one beer each (at $8 for their signature beer - called to Porch Rocker, brewed and bottled by Bells, it seemed like a steal!).
We drank our Porch Rockers, explored around the hotel for as long as the kids would allow us - they REALLY NEEDED to get some souvenirs and eventually you just have to give in because they can be relentless :) We got to take in a little of the history of the hotel, saw some neat art, found an old movie projector (the kids had no idea movies came on huge reels) and as we were leaving, we even found some horses that the kids could pet (a request of Stella and Lucy's).
After leaving the hotel I think the entire group was pretty pooped but we decided to brave the crowds in town to see if there was anything worthwhile in some of the shops. The kids conned us into small trinkets, I think we tasted some free samples of fudge, Ryan found a brewery to grab some local 4 pks to take home, oh and we left Zach to stand guard over the bikes in the shade. During the day he started feeling worse and worse, into what eventually turned into a yucky cold that kept him playing solitaire at his campground alone (I felt so sad for him!) because he didn't want to get anyone else sick. Not an ideal start to vacation, but he was a trooper and made the most of the day. Heck, if I was him, I might have left the half a bike with one of us adults and ferried myself home for a nap! But he stuck with it for the entire day.
All in all - I'm glad we went. It was a bucket list item for Ryan on this trip and when someone says that, how can you NOT make it happen. I think we all enjoyed our time there and truly the only thing we'd do differently is maybe try to get an overnight stay there at some point. It could be fun to see the island with many less people. They say it's a totally different atmosphere in the evenings after the last ferry and I think we'd like to experience that at some point.
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