Day 18: Mackinac Miles and Sweet Rewards
Today was a big day: up early in Sault Ste. Marie to do the one-hour drive to St. Ignace to catch the ferry to Mackinac Island. Fortunately, Shepler’s Ferry had parking at the ferry terminal for the RV and tow car, so we were able to ride our bikes from the parking lot right onto the ferry. Catching the 9:30 ferry also included the bonus of a quick detour under the Mackinac Bridge on the way to the island.
We also saw the same cruise ship from the locks the night before.
Before we arrived, we knew only a few things about Mackinac Island: lots of fudge, no cars, and everyone in the world seems to have a t-shirt from there. However we didn’t realize how serious they are about the “no cars” thing. Everything is on bikes or horse-drawn. Even the Amazon deliveries and garbage collection are done with horses.
We started our day with an 8.2-mile bike ride around the entire perimeter of the island, which is actually officially a Michigan state highway: M-185.
This is Arch Rock, just a short climb up some stairs from the perimeter road.
Nicholas was able to do a bit more climbing at Devil’s Kitchen.
The ride around the island was a leisurely one, including multiple beach stops and lunch at Cannonball Oasis (quick, simple, and cheap, which was perfect).
Once we got back “downtown”, it was time for some shopping and fudge sampling. We knew they were known for fudge, but apparently a staggering 10,000 lbs are produced on the island every day during peak tourist season.
We also stopped by what must be the cutest post office anywhere. Interestingly, once inside, it was as depressing as any other post office.
Rob looked up the best ice cream shop on the island but didn’t really look up how far the walk was. We started heading in the right direction, and it turned out we needed to climb up the hill to the super-fancy and expensive Grand Hotel. The ice cream ($13 for a single scoop in a waffle cone), is the most expensive we have ever had, but the view made up for it.
With a bit more time yet, we decided to explore beyond the island perimeter, biking uphill toward the island’s center, where there were some more caves and an airport.
Having done over 15 miles on bike, 13,000 steps, and the equivalent of 18 flights of stairs, we earned a fudge purchase, opting for lemon, chocolate caramel, and chocolate. Kelly grabbed a t-shirt while we paid for the fudge, then we hurried back to catch the 6:30 ferry.
Once back to the RV, with the tow car reattached, we had a quick 10-minute drive to our overnight spot, Straits State Park. We were surprised that our assigned site had huge ruts, so we moved to a slightly less muddy one. Even there, we opted to leave the jacks up and the slide in due to the wet ground. Without doing our usual leveling, we were also about three degrees nose-low, which necessitated flipping the kids around in their beds so their heads would be “uphill”.
We did take the opportunity to be grateful that we’ve had some really excellent sites up to now.