Mackinac Island!

Dan and I had a great time in Mackinac Island, Michigan. For those of you who don't know, Mackinac is a beautiful, small (only eight miles across) island in northern Michigan. It retains the quaint, turn of the century atmosphere in large part because all automobiles are banned on the island. Transportation is by bike, horse-drawn carriage or by foot. We loved it; it was very relaxing and peaceful, with just enough to do to keep it exciting.

Here's our room; we stayed in the Murray Hotel, which was a very cool Victorian hotel, right on Main Street.







Here's our hallway leading up to our room



The outside of our hotel...



Our pool area, where we spent quite a bit of time (and now I have a tan!)







Yes, that's Dan's bookbag; stupid summer school! :) He had to study a bit when we were on vacation, but nothing too stressful. I got to read while he was doing it, so it was all good!




Here's the street; you can see how "quaint" it is. This is the Lilac Tree Inn, where my family and I have stayed before:


Here's the Main Street Inn, which also looked nice:



Us on our bike ride (we rode around the island twice; once on Friday, once on Saturday):



Some views we saw on our bike ride:






Me standing in Lake Superior (I think?); it was really cold but felt REALLY good after 4 miles of biking (we were about halfway around at this point):








Me at the entrance to Fort Mackinac



I just thought this lamppost was cool


Here's a really cool stone church from the 1800s; if we had gotten married in the Midwest, this church would have been a top 10 consideration!



Here is the Grand Hotel, where the movie Somewhere in Time (with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve) was filmed. It is so gorgeous, constructed at the height of the Victorian era. Unfortunately, they instituted a $15 charge/person since I last came here, which you have to pay to even get into the hotel OR the grounds. Pssh; I'm not paying that! So this photo is as good as we got. Next time we come, though, Dan and I are going to save up to have a fancy, romantic, five-course dinner here at one of their restaurants. I'm hoping they don't make you pay if you're coming in to eat!



Here is the hotel as viewed from the ferry



And, finally, our view as we left the island on the ferry. (It's actually a great picture, and I've always said that if I have a boy, I want to do his room in a Cape Cod/nautical theme, so maybe I'll blow this picture up and frame it for when Kurt comes along!) All in all, it was a great trip!