Southern Style: Back in The USA

Friday August 31st we spent in Meldrum Bay. This was our last day in Canada. Meldrum is a very tiny spot with essentially 3 buildings. The marina, a small general store and an inn that also has a restaurant. We had dinner at the inn's restaurant and it was exceptionally good. On Saturday we headed to Drummond Island, Michigan and Drummond Island Yacht Haven, back in the good old USA. They let us back in with no problems; and after a quiet day at Drummond we cruised to Mackinac Island, Michigan on Sunday, September 2nd. Our first day on Mackinac Island was spent relaxing and just getting settled. We had a nice dinner at the Hotel Iroquois Sunday evening. Monday was our day to really explore the island.

Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw, don't ask me to explain) is quite a place. The island was first inhabited by native Americans and later by the British and fur traders. Eventually military interests and fur trade gave way to tourism. Here are some of the highlights of our visit.

A cruise ship came in early Monday morning (Labor Day)

Horse drawn carriage to load supplies on/off the cruise ship (there are no cars allowed on the island)

Second cruise ship arriving just after the first

On Monday, Labor Day Captain Keith and I got up and did a bike ride around the island. There are no cars allowed on the island except for emergency vehicles. This makes for great bike riding. The road that circles the island is 8.2 miles, so off we went.

Captain Keith on his bike (Mackinac Bridge in the back round)

The Mackinac Bridge across the Straits of Mackinac

The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan. The bridge spans the Straits of Mackinac which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere at 5 miles in length. Every Labor Day there is a bridge walk with upwards of 65,000 people participating. We were to far away to see the people walking from our bike route.

Mackinac Island is also known for its architecture. Many of the houses here are beautiful Victorian style homes.

And their flowers are beautiful

After completing our biking, we changed into nice clothes and went to the Grand Hotel for their lunch buffet.

The Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is a historic hotel built in 1887. It was built by the Michigan Central Railroad, Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and the Detroit and Cleveland Steamship Navigation Company. It boasts the longest porch in the world at 660 feet. Originally 100 rooms, it has been expanded over the years and now has over 400 rooms. There have been 5 US Presidents that have stayed at the hotel as well as inventor Thomas Edison and author Mark Twain. The Grand Hotel has 7 of their suites which are named for and designed by 7 former First Ladies of the US.

Grand Hotel Front Porch

The views from the porch are gorgeous

This was the Main Dinning Room

This was the parlor

After lunch we walked back through the hotel gardens and into town. We window shopped through downtown on our way back to Southern Style. We decided going into the shops might be a good activity for Tuesday as rain is predicted. We took an hour break on the boat and then went back out to do a horse drawn carriage tour. As I mentioned before there are no cars on the island. All transportation is walking, bikes or horses. There are several carriage companies on the island but the one we took has about 400 horses just for their company. There are 3 veterinarians on the island and one human doctor, that should tell you something.

Our carriage trio (Rupert, Jumbo, and Clevis)

The carriage ride was nice as it took us up through the state park on the top of the island. This was the area we did not see on our bike ride which was on the level road that goes around the perimeter of the island. We stopped at Arch Rock for pictures.

Arch Rock

The Arch Rock is a natural limestone formation that was formed when Lake Huron had a much higher water level just following the glaciation period. As water levels in Lake Huron decreased this formation was left high and dry. It now stands 146 feet above water level. The native Americans felt this was a spiritual place and told of a Chief's daughter named "She who walks like the mist". This maiden fell in love with a handsome young man who was the son of a sky spirit. She was forbidden to wed a non-mortal by her cruel father, who beat her and tied her on a rock high on the island's bluff. She wept for her lover, her tears washing down the bluff and forming the arch. In time the young man she loved found her and untied her and they returned together to the home of his sky people.

Another formation we passed on our carriage ride is the Skull Cave.

This cave is also a limestone formation. The cave was washed out by the ancient higher Lake Huron and then left as a cave well up the bluffs as the water receded. In 1763 Indian War broke out in the region. One battle resulted in the massacre of dozens of men at Fort Michilimackinac along the Straits of Mackinac. A single survivor the fur trader Alexander Henry was taken prisoner and brought with his Indian captors to Mackinac Island. He was to be tortured and killed but the medicine man of the tribe took pity on Henry and set him free telling him to run and hide until the rest of the tribe stopped looking for him. Henry ran into the dark woods and found a cave into which he crawled as far back as he could, covering himself with a blanket. Although he heard the Indians at the cave entrance, they did not come in looking for him. In the light of day he understood why as he found himself surrounded by bones and skulls of their dead. The cave was their burial place and they would not enter. He eventually escaped from the island in a canoe, but the cave was hence called Skull Cave. The entrance has been dynamited many years ago to keep people from entering and getting injured as it has been collapsing over time.

View of the harbor as we were coming down from our carriage ride

Horse and carriages line the streets

On Tuesday the weather was not very nice. I did however go to see the butterfly exhibit that is near the marina. It was interesting to find out that they have to order about 200-400 chrysalis' (that is the encapsulated caterpillar that hatch into butterflies) every other day from their suppliers. This way they can continually replace butterflies as they die. Most butterfly live about 2-4 weeks.

Butterfly pictures (I found out taking pictures of butterflies is a bit like working with kids- they do not like to stay still long)