Meeting Mackinac

Last Friday I told you we headed out on a fall adventure…to the Mackinac Island area! We don’t normally take a fall vacation, but we did so this year so we could participate in the Mackinac Island Bridge Walk.

                As excited as I was about that, I was also really excited to visit Mackinac Island. It’s been on my list for years! And this was my year. 😊

                We actually went to the Island two different days, so today you’ll read about the first visit. Fun fact, in case you’re planning your own visit someday, it turns out that the day before Labor Day is the second busiest day of the year on Mackinac Island, right behind the 4^th of July. Tuck that away if people-filled islands are not your jam. It was packed. I still loved it and had a lot of fun, but I admit some parts of the experience were not as enjoyable on Sunday because of the sheer volume of people.

                But I’m jumping ahead…

                Can we just start by appreciating the view from the breakfast room at our hotel, and our breakfast? I miss my magic breakfast fairy that made all this deliciousness appear in front of us every day! (Food at this hotel was very good.)

                We got ready and headed to the ferry terminal. Here’s a little more info for you if you’re planning to visit. This day we used the Arnold Transit Company. They have different versions of ferries, and we chose to take the slow boat. It was cheaper to ride but took longer to get there. This did not matter to me at all, as I wanted to enjoy the view, and not have my hair blowing over my face until I couldn’t see! We purchased our tickets online, and when we arrived to wait, Ryan actually left to go across the road for coffee. While he was gone, the guy came through line to scan tickets, and I didn’t have ours! Ryan was able to forward the email to me, and I checked us in…and then I was terrified he would not get back in time to get on the boat! There was much sweating.

                Mark, Lynnette, Juliana and I all boarded and I kept texting Ryan to tell him to hurry! I was never more relieved to see him standing beside me, coffee in hand!

                (Two more ferry notes: we did have to pay to park in their lot for the day, and I believe it was $10 for the lot we used. Additionally, we were permitted to have food and drink on the ferry. This was not true of our adventure later in the week with a different company.)

                We sat up top and enjoyed our ride over to the Island. I had a little friend who wanted to help me take a lot of pictures! The water was calm, and we all enjoyed the ride.

                Arriving at Mackinac was one of those take-pause moments for me. I couldn’t believe I was really there! (With half the state of Michigan!)

                We walked around a little bit when we first arrived...

                Juliana wanted to go see the butterfly garden, so we went there. It was hotttttttttttttt in there, but the butterflies were quite active and so pretty!

                By that time, we were getting hungry, so we decided to find some lunch. We landed on Patrick Doud’s Irish Pub! Ryan had a burger and I had chicken, and it was all very tasty.

                Our afternoon adventure? Renting bikes to go around the perimeter of the Island! There are bike rental spots all over the downtown area, so we just picked one. Ryan and I reprised our honeymoon date of renting a tandem bike!

                It was crazy congested in the downtown area, and honestly, it wasn’t much better once we got on the outside of the Island, just because there were so many people. We hit a big traffic jam and saw a bunch of people staring up into the trees. We heard someone say something about a guy falling, and we read later on the news that a gentleman had fallen from a trail above and was hanging on for dear life. Though Mackinac is a vehicle-free island, they did bring out the fire truck and ambulance to rescue him. We had passed through by that time.

                We stopped a couple of times to take in the water views, and then we kept going.

                When we got back to town, we found some coffee (pronto!) at the Mackinac Island Cookie Company. (We didn’t try the cookies, but they were HUGE!!) We did a little more exploring on foot and then we all shared some ice cream. (They were having a BOGO sale, so we split an order with Mark and Lynnette. The servings were enormous.)

                Everyone was pretty tired by that point, and we had an EARLY morning waiting on us the following day, so we caught a return ferry back to St. Ignace. Our ticket was round-trip, and the ferry ran every hour.

We were so full from our day of eating, so we actually grabbed little protein bowls from the store and ate in our hotel room!

Despite the Island being so full, we had a great day there! 

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

Good morning and happy Sunday to you! I’ll spend the next few days sharing the rest of our virtual vacation with you, but in the meantime, here are some peeks at our week, including our fun vacation!

The week started with an absolute dream come true for me/us: our first steps onto Mackinac Island! It was such a memorable day, and I tried to bottle up every single second in a bottle. I have so many stories for you, but for now, enjoy this photo of our tandem bike ride around the island!

Labor Day brought the whole reason for our trip: the Mackinac Bridge Walk! I am so proud of myself for pushing through fears and double-crossing the bridge. We had perfect weather, and I’m so glad we did this!

We had a second day on Mackinac Island that provided all kinds of hilarious adventures. I would also like to say that spending a monthiversary on vacation on Mackinac Island is going to be very hard to beat in another month!

We only had one day of bad weather the entire time we were gone, but it pushed us to rest, which we really, really needed. We watched the movie Somewhere in Time, which was filmed on Mackinac Island. Unpopular opinion? I didn’t like it. (I’m so sorry if it’s your favorite!)

On our way home from vacation we stopped to shop at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan. I’ve wanted to take Ryan there forever. I think I loved it more than he did, but he was a good sport, and we had fun!

Our Lexi-girl came home once we were back from our trip, and our reunion was so sweet. We missed her more than words can say!! Ryan had one more day off work and was able to spend it with her. I had to go back and hit the ground running hard.

Yesterday was my day of rest, but it also ended up being a day of homework, grocery shopping (we were emptyyyyyyyyyy after vacation) and hospital visitations. Maybe I can rest in another week!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

We’re home from our little vacation, and I have some (mostly) vacation-inspired links for you on this fine Saturday. I feel behind on the blog, but here’s to catching up soon! Meanwhile…enjoy!

We had the BEST TIME being away on our little vacation this week. Fall(ish) vacations are a joy. We did a whole tour out east a few years ago in October and had a lot of fun. Haven’t been to most of the destinations on this list, but they look absolutely delightful. How about you? Any vacation plans for this fall?

Ryan and I always take a diffuser on vacation with us, just to make the hotel room smell a little more like home. Fall is one of my favorite times to diffuse, because I just love all the fall scents. If you need some ideas for all the fall smell-goods, here you go!

One of the things I miss the most when we travel? Our hand soap pumps. Hotels only ever provide bar soap, and I never remember to pack our own soap. Maybe by our next trip, I’ll remember. Anyway, I found Jami’s post about making your own foaming hand soap, if you’re in need of a good DIY project. I’ve never tried it from scratch like this!! (BONUS: The Branch Basics kit comes with a concentrate that we use to make foaming hand soap.)

One of my favorite things about traveling is creating and preserving memories. I am always itching to start my photo album the minute we get home! And if you know me well, you know that I am actually always striving to capture and preserve memories, and I don’t need a vacation to do it. This piece warmed my heart, because I love seeing people excited to talk about their memories and write the stories to accompany the pictures!

I’m moving away from vacation-inspired things for a moment here. 😊 I feel like cottage cheese has become the new cauliflower, because it’s in everything. I’m not upset about it, because I like cottage cheese! But this recipe roundup held a lot of new ideas for me. Would you try any of these? I don’t think I could do the salmon one, but the rest intrigue me!

While our trip may have inspired me to look for an island home (just kidding) I wanted to share this one with you today. It’s located about an hour from where we live, and while it’s not my style, I have tremendous appreciation for its architecture and all the work that has gone into restoring and preserving it! (BONUS: But this house is on an island and even looks like a lighthouse! Isn’t it so cute?)