Mackinac Island

Aug 8th

We had our first really bad experience at a campground last night. There was a group of about 30 teens that were all gathered outside of the restrooms, which we happened to be camped near. They all gather there after 10pm and were extremely loud, a couple of them had electric golf carts, and they were driving up and down the road really fast. When they drove by all of the dogs in the nearby campsites would start barking. One of our neighbors went out and yelled at them, but that didn’t stop it. Then Tim got out and started yelling at them until they disbanded. After Tim went back to bed they all came back and were creeping around his camper. By this time all of the neighbors were getting pretty mad. We were turning into an angry mob. The police showed up, and found the teens and told them to leave. So…we didn’t sleep well last night.

It took all of our effort today to pack up and move to our new site at Carp River Campground, near St. Ignace, MI. This site is a welcome change from the last one. It’s a National Forest campground, with sites that are spread out pretty far. It’s quiet and peaceful. We are going to bed early tonight and heading to Mackinac Island in the morning.

Aug 9th

For those who don’t know Mackinac Island has banned cars. You can bring your bicycles or rent bikes or horse and carriage on the island. Tim and Melinda piled into our truck this morning, and we drove the 10 miles to St. Ignace, to catch the ferry to the island. We chose the 10:15 ferry, which happens to the go under the Mackinaw Bridge. It’s a suspension bridge from the upper peninsula to the lower peninsula of Michigan, and it looks similar to the Golden Gate Bridge except its green. The island is also very dog friendly, so Oreo joined us too. The ferry dropped us off in downtown Mackinac Island. It is a lot like being on Main St. in Disneyland. Souvenir shops, pubs, restaurants, booths selling activities, bike rentals and fudge shops, lots of fudge shops. Fudge is a big deal on the island apparently. The streets are packed with bicycles and horse drawn carriages. They use the horse carriages for everything here, carrying people, supplies, lumber, and Amazon package delivery. Once we got out of the downtown area, it was much nicer. Even without cars, you still have to look carefully before crossing the street. We walked to the end of town and ate lunch at an outdoor grill. From there we hiked to the cemetery, Fort Holmes (the highest point on the island) and then Arch Rock. The scenery and houses are all beautiful. We ended up walking about 5 miles, including two staircases with over 400 steps. Oreo did great. After all that walking, we stopped at a brew pub and had a drink. Next up was fudge. We all chose a different kind for after dinner. We were all pretty tired, so we got in line for the next ferry back. There is so much to do and see on the island, we will have to come back another time. As we were boarding the ferry, we noticed a massive storm heading our way. The crew saw it too, and did their best to outrun it. By the time we got to the dock in St. Ignace we were in a deluge. Just walking to our truck, we were all soaking wet. Back at camp we had a warm dinner and then fudge tasting. That’s when we realized we had too much fudge. We are going to be eating it for days.