Mackinac Island: Time Travel, Bikes & Movie Sets

Hello from one of my favourite places in North America: Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan. Warning: this post is pretty long (no surprise there I’m sure) but it’s a lot of pics and recommendations if you’re heading there. If not, I hope this post inspires you to go.

It’s time to pack the car, hop over the border (if you’re a fellow Canadian) at the Sault St Marie crossing and head to beautiful Mackinac Island… so we can go back in time a hundred years, or so. 

While I’m not a big fan of Fall,  I’m happy to start off the season on the right foot….with a ROAD TRIP! (well more car than foot, really). I actually haven’t gone anywhere in nearly a year (big reason this blog is becoming less travel-focused) so this trip was long overdue.

 I’ve been to Mackinac Island before but it was nearly 15 years ago and that trip was a brief half-day visit so I’ve been wanting to go back here for a long time now. The Island is close to the border (near Sault. St Marie) and lies between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.

This island is also where one of my favourite time-travel movies ‘Somewhere in Time’ (with Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour) was filmed in 1979. The movie became a huge cult classic and the famous Grand Hotel, where most of the movie was filmed, still holds the popular ‘Somewhere in Time’ convention every October (that’s how big of a fan base it still has, even this many years later).

This photo (below) was taken during my first visit on the island in 2003 just behind the Grand Hotel along the shore of Lake Huron. It’s also where some of the movie was filmed.

Hmmm….I think I’d like to do some time-travel myself and maybe go back to this time (early 2000s) when I was just a Spring Chicken (*sigh*). Time travel is possible, right? Man, that’s heavy.

Here’s my good friend Al hanging out with the horses on Mackinac. He looks like a spring chicken, too!

The best, and possibly the biggest, draw to this lovely Island (aside from the Grand Hotel) is that there are NO Cars allowed on the island at all. Except for emergency & construction vehicles (and maybe the odd DeLorean).

Which means you’ll have to leave your car in St Ignace or Mackinaw City if you want to go to the island. The ferry goes back and forth quite regularly and it’s a super short trip– only about 15 minutes to the island.

You get a great view of the island as you approach it.  It’s pretty magnificent…

This is the humongous bridge that connects Lower & Upper Michigan. You’d take it if you’re driving between Detroit and the Can/US border. 

I missed this bridge on my first visit to this area because after leaving the island I headed back up to the border. On this trip, however, Billy and I were going to Ann Arbor (near Detroit) next so I got to drive over this time around. It’s not as long as Confederation Bridge (which connects Nova Scotia to PEI) but it’s still pretty impressive.

Hello Mackinac Island! We’re heeeeere. Within minutes of getting off the ferry, Billy made an instant friend. Not too surprised…he’s such a charmer that boy. Look closely at his arm to see his new pal/stalker.

Since there aren’t any cars allowed on the island, it forces you to get active. You gotta walk or bike everywhere if you venture further from Main Street. Or you can ‘cheat’ and take a carriage ride around the island if you’d like. We rented bikes so we could see more of the island.

Fortunately they even allow kooks like this one to rent bikes here (explains the extra ‘fee’ ha ha).

Most of the hotels, Inns & B&B’s are on the main drag, or at least fairly close by. We didn’t actually book anything before coming (ya, we’re wild and crazy) but it was near the end of the season so we figured we’d find something. A lot of  people do travel in September as the kids are back in school so it’s quieter everywhere…meaning less crowds and cheaper for travel as well. Luckily we did find something–fortunately–but the pickings were surprisingly slim. The locals told us it was because the weather was very summer-like that weekend (about 25C, or 75F) which was pretty hot for late September. So there were tons of ‘spontaneous tourists’ like us arriving on the island the day we got here.

We choose The Harbour View Inn which is a beautiful hotel. I highly recommend it.

It’s a short 5-minute walk to the main drag, so it was a perfect location as well. A wee bit further than some of the places we’d looked at (the closer ones were filling up fast and were crazy expensive) but not right in the thick of things, either. The Harbour View is definitely more of an Inn than a hotel since it’s relatively small… but not ‘B&B small’, either.

How ’bout sitting out here in the morning with your coffee while listening to the sound of horses galloping nearby? Pure bliss.

We’re thinking of looking into this hotel next time.. The Chippewa Hotel. It’s right on main street (very close to the ferries etc) so it’s much busier, but super close to everything which is always convenient. Plus it’s got lots of history too, which I really love. If you’ve stayed here, please let me know if you liked this hotel. I’d love to get feedback besides the reviews I’ve read online (thanks!)

The famous Pink Pony bar is in this hotel too, which might be dangerously convenient 😀 The food here is delicious!

You can’t come to Mackinac Island without going to the famous Grand Hotel– especially if you’re a fan of the movie ‘Somewhere in Time’. Since I didn’t get to see the inside of the hotel the first time I was here (which I always regretted), I wasn’t missing out this time. No way.

It was just as lovely as I’d imagined!

Built in 1887, the Grand Hotel is commonly touted as ‘America’s Summer Place’. In 1972 it offically became a National Historic Landmark. It also boasts the world’s largest front porch–at 660 feet!

The front of the hotel from the lovely huge park close to the entrance.

At the back of the hotel you can walk along the shoreline of Lake Huron and see the famous rock where part of the movie was filmed.

If you love the movie as much as I do, you can’t stand against the beautiful tree and take a selfie like Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, right? (google Somewhere in Time tree for the official photo). I did eventually get Billy to see the movie years ago and he actually enjoyed it 🙂 You can never go wrong with time-travel, right? This is a beautiful spot to walk along the lake, too.

Even if you’re not a fan of the movie, this hotel is outstanding and definitely worth a tour. Though you might have to put on your invisible cloak to get inside the hotel if you’re not a guest (I wouldn’t know this from experience, of course…*cough cough*).

 

Even though it was the middle of July, it was pretty chilly that day (as you can tell by my fleece sweater. BRR!).

Annnnnd, this was taken on my recent visit this past September. Much nicer weather this time around!

Blly wanted a fun photo for his upcoming rap album and thought the Grand Hotel would make the perfect backdrop for his album cover.

Main Street is where all the action is (aside from the Grand Hotel, of course) on the island. Since this is where all the ferries come in, you can’t avoid it even if you tried (you wouldn’t want to, anyway). It’s absolutely gorgeous and so vibrant with all the flowers lining the street. 

I’d really like to come here during the Spring when the Lilac Festival is on. I’ve heard it’s just incredible. Hard to believe that this place could get any prettier, though.

Since it was early Fall, a good part of the street was decked out in gorgeous fall decor. As it was really close to our Thanksgiving (early Oct.) as well, this was a really nice festive touch.

There are quite a few restaurants, cute shops (most of them are very touristy, not too surprisingly) bike rental kiosks and about 783 fudge stores lining main street. Okay, I’m exaggerating about that last one, but not by much. I think Mackinac Island has the highest per capita of fudge shops in the world.

Needless to say there was a LOT of free sampling to be had.

Yep, fudge isn’t paleo-friendly so I was a bit of a bad-ass while I was here (please don’t tell the Paleo Police). I must have tried every variety of chocolate fudge I came across. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t read the ingredient lists before imbibing though as I generally avoid foods with nasty vegetable oils (Yikes!). But SO tasty…mnnn.

We wandered up main street munching on our fudge samples and soaking in the beautiful scenery with all the hustle and bustle of folks arriving from the ferries. With all the pretty horses trotting along beside us, it really felt like we’d gone back in time a century (did they have fudge back in 1916? If so, I bet it was probably much better then).

Now, where did I park my DeLorean again? (ha ha).

After we checked into our hotel, toured the Grand Hotel and wandered around main street (eating way too much fudge), it was time to do a bike ride so we could see more of the island and work off all the food/fudge. There are several bike rental kiosks to choose from here on Mackinac Island, so it wasn’t an impossible feat in the least.

Just a few minutes away from main street there are tons of trails (many of them are uphill though..just a warning!) so we got to explore a few quieter areas of the island which was really nice.

It also reminded me that I need to get in better shape…

Someone was lagging behind because he was busy taking photos (silly photo nuts).

Oh look a painting! In the middle of the forest?

We biked and hiked to a couple of really cool spots like this one: Arch Rock.

This is a rare limestone arch which was formed during the Nipissing (post-glacial) period when the water levels of both Lakes Huron & Michigan were much higher than they are today. This hunk o’ rock rises 146 feet above Lake Huron and is pretty spectacular to see up close and personal.

It’s absolutely stunning and the views of the lake aren’t too bad at all, either.

Selfie time!

The hike to Arch Rock wasn’t too hard at all. It was just a handful of stairs to get to the top (don’t worry,the view is so worth the work)

We also biked to this spectacular spot…. Sugar Loaf (sweet!)

This is an enormous 75 feet-high landlocked rock that stands almost smack-dab in the middle of the island. Pretty impressive geological action going on here….

On the way back from Arch Rock and Sugar Loaf, we checked out Fort Holmes as well.  This is the highest point on the island and was a strategic location for the military during the War of 1812.

After a couple of hours of biking & hiking it was time to head back into town for a bite to eat and a refreshing drink to quench our thirst. But first…. coffee time!  

No Starbucks here, fortunately. This is the town’s favourite coffee shop, apparently. The Lucky Bean.

A few of the locals and friendly tourists told us it’s the best spot in town. When it comes to coffee, always trust the locals, right?

Coffee sure was great, but I was disappointed they didn’t have any treats that I could eat (evil gluten)…darn!

We chatted with some other tourists while sipping a cuppa out front on their little patio area. One of them graciously offered to take our photo, although they  accidentally drop the camera right after snapping the pic (Oops! All was good– it didn’t break..until Billy dropped it a few days later in Indianapolis)

It was time to hit the patio to soak up the late summer sun. We choose the Pink Pony as they had a big patio overlooking the lake. Billy ordered a local lager and I went with a blood-orange cider. Yum!

The food here is fabulous and after spending a few days on the island, we both agreed this is one of the best restaurants here. SO if you come to Mackinac, make sure you have one meal (or a drink) at the Pink Pony. Tell them we sent you (ha ha).

Well, this is probably long enough already so I think we should wrap it up. What a long but fun first day on the Island.

We’re off to Indianapolis next! I haven’t been there in a few years–since my visit to Gen Con in 2010. Can’t wait to get back to Indy.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Love, Dana xo