Integrity Cruise

Day 130: DeTour Village to Macinac Island, Michigan

Home

The Adventure

The Boat

About Us

Contact Us

Day 130: Tuesday, August 23rd: EARLY WARNING! There are lots of pictures for this day so be patient if you don't have a high-speed connection.

Today dawned partly cloudy, breezy and cool with mild seas, so we took off for Macinac Island (pronounced "Macinaw"). It was about 40 miles away and the seas were kind at two feet. At the mouth of the Saint Mary River we passed this restored lighthouse marking Saint Mary Reef. It has been restored by a local historic society and they just started giving tours on a trial basis:

The lighthouse at Martin Reef was less impressive:

We pulled in to the Macinac Island Municipal Marina - the only game in town. There were about eight other Loopers here and we had fun catching up on happenings and mis-happenings.

There were what seemed like dozens of ferries scurrying in and out of the harbor. This being an island, it is the easiest way for the tourists to get on and off. Some of the ferries were water-jet powered and threw out a huge rooster tail:

This statue adorned the pretty waterfront park; we didn't read why it was here. Those are summer "cottages" belonging to the highborn in the background:

Macinac Island has an ordinance against motor-driven vehicles so everyone rides a bicycle or horse, walks, or drives/rides in a carriage. The main shopping street in town was abuzz with all modes of transport:

Tourism is the mainstay of this resort island. This is one of the larger tour carriages:

Macinac Island was the second National Park in the U.S. In 1908 it was converted to a State Park and over 80% of the land is Park property:

Of course the town has its "sanitation engineers":

And grocery wagons for the 550 horses on the island. They process lots of hay:

This is the view from town toward the marina. That's the Straits of Macinac in the distance:

This is one of the smaller tour carriages; it carries six people plus driver. We toured the area in this one:

This is what one really sees from a tour carriage:

This is the Grand Hotel, a very, very impressive building with guest rooms starting at about $450 per night and going to over two thousand. We have many more pictures of the hotel and grounds coming:

At one of the higher points on our tour we had a panoramic view of the Macinac Bridge. That's one of the rooster-tail ferries coming to the island:

This is looking the opposite direction. These are more of the rather plentiful summer cottages of the wealthy. These homes sell in the millions ($3-6 million is common). That wasn't our tour carriage:

Here is a different view of the Straits of Macinac and the ferry. The day was perfect for sightseeing:

These are the passengers from our carriage. Left to right: Bill, Ruth, Bob (standing), sisters Cayce and Connie, and Phil:

The larger tour carriages stop at a terminal and load people onto "747 carriages"; these monsters are drawn by three very strong steeds:

At another point on the tour we got this great view of the harbor and Straits:

This is Jerry and Jim, our power for the tour:

Some of the cottages were remarkable. This one was perfectly landscaped; the house is complete with a ballroom:

Back down at the waterfront park we spotted this statue of Marquette who explored much of this area. That's Fort Macinac in the background. About once an hour they fire a cannon to wake up the tourists:

Remember the fancy Grand Hotel a few pictures back? This is one of their shuttle carriages. The driver looks like a mannequin and the carriage is perfectly shiny and clean. The team is a perfectly matched pair of silver-gray draft horses:

The tourists can rent bicycles, carriages and/or horses. Here is a kluge of horses. This all seemed so unique and we were fascinated:

This is "Little Stone Church". It is quite charming and a popular wedding chapel for folks who will be honeymooning at the Grand Hotel - or elsewhere:

The stained-glass windows are just that, made by Tiffany. Sorry the picture quality isn't better:

Here is a sign explaining the history of the Grand Hotel; makes for interesting reading:

Here are more pictures of the Grand Hotel and surrounds. Here is one of dozens of gardens:

And here is the longest porch; the hotel charges non-guests to walk on the porch. They also serve high tea at 3:00pm daily:

Another flower garden; the island is full of beautiful gardens. Remember those 550 horses and all that hay?

The enormity of the hotel is unbelievable. We couldn't find a vantage point to get a picture of all of it at once:

Like so many towns nowadays, including Atlanta, these people had a raffle of uniquely decorated sculpted turtles. Here are two on the grounds of the Grand:

One garden had a fountain that was pretty and yet rustic:

While we have all seen interesting topiaries, this one stands out:

A closer view of the carriage with its own flower garden:

The Grand is not the only hotel in town; the Wendermere was rather charming by comparison:

Thus ended our tours, carriage and walking, of the island. We went back to the boat and enjoyed a quiet evening aboard as tomorrow is planned to be a long day.

Position tonight: N45 50.992 W084 36.892

To return to our Main Page simply

close this window.