It was nice to know that our next stop was less than a couple of hours away. We arrived mid day and quickly checked in to our KOA camp site. It was raining, so we decided to head out and drive around town. Much to my surprise, was a casino right across the street. We pulled in, I gambled and Guy did some work, while Oliver caught up on his summer reading and math. The rain only lasted a few hours and by early afternoon we headed to downtown Mackinaw and hopped on our bikes. First stop visitor center to discover what we could do since we are only here for a day. We rode our bikes to Mama Mia pizza, had lunch and then went to the free museum upstairs dedicated solely to the building of the Mackinaw Bridge. The artifacts and pictures were educational and we even ran into a woman whose father helped to build the bridge in the 1950's.
Pictures from the museum of the bridge construction. The bridge is 5 miles long and was essentially built using slide rules as computer programming wasn't available. The bridge stands strong to this day.
Downtown is filled with little shops and tourist attractions. The rainy morning actually gave way to a bluebird sky afternoon so we decided to hop on board the Shepler Ferry with our bikes in tow to Mackinaw Island. The high speed ferry with 1460 HP made the trip in 15 minutes.
view from the ferry approaching the island
No motorized vehicles are permitted on the island and mode of transportation is bicycle or horse and carriage. Upon entering the island the smell of fudge and horse fill ones senses. There is a 10 mile bike loop that circumvents the island with a cut through to the middle with a gain in elevation. We quickly hopped on our bikes and started peddling to get in as much of the island before the last ferry back.
We took a comped a squat to enjoy the view and Oliver jumped in for a swim. The water is crystal clear blue/green and the sandy bottom is easily seen.
This island has much historical significance from Father Claude Dablon establishing the Mission of St. Ignace to French Soldiers constructing Fort Michilimackinac to British soldiers taking over the fort to U.S. soldiers taking control of Fort Mackinac as a result of Jay's Treaty. Today there are only 500 permanent full-time residents but in season I am sure that number must triple.
Skull Cave: On June 2, 1763, Ojibwa warriors captured Fort Michilimackinac. One of the few British survivors merchant Alexander Henry was protected by a local Ojibwa chief who intervened and hid him while tensions eased between the British and local tribes. The small cave was where to local tribes buried their dead. Henry slept on a bed of skulls, thus the name Skull cave.
With evening approaching and the last ferry arriving, we quickly stopped at Joann's Fudge and bought a variety of flavors! The ferry ride home was more enjoyable as the views were more abundant with the clearing of the skies.
Views of the Mackinaw Bridge from the ferry
View of the Grand Hotel as we are leaving the Island
Since the sun doesn't set until close to 10, we still had plenty of time to explore Mackinaw City and walked the shores edge with the dogs as we waited to watch the sun leave the sky
Beautiful sunset behind the Mackinaw bridge
We had an amazing full day and returned to the campsite in the dark. We quickly discovered that one of our stabilizing jacks on the RV failed due to Guy driving off a curb accidentally earlier in the day. We were stranded. The next morning we attempted to fix it to no avail. On the phone with RV repair companies and mobile RV techs, we finally got someone to our camp sight mid afternoon. The bolt had been sheared so the entire jack was removed. Thankfully it was a fairly quick fix and we were on our way to the Upper Peninsula by 4:00.
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