Livin' Outside the Box!: Mackinaw City and Macinac Island

We drove from Traverse City to Mackinaw City on Monday, August 3 to stay three nights at Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground. This is a huge place with over 600 camp sites. It sits on Lake Michigan with 1 mile of shore line and can accommodate any size rig. Roads are mostly paved and sites are gravel. Some have full hook ups. We lucked up and got one of the larger sites but saw others that were packed in pretty close. Its a nice place to stay, just be aware when you pick your spot.
They offer discount tickets to the Star Line Jet Boat Ferries to Mackinac Island and there is a free shuttle that picks up and drops off in the camp ground. They pull a small trailer for those that want to take their bikes over. Here is a link Star Line Ferry
The morning we went to the island, we caught the 10:30 am shuttle in the campground. we arrived at the dock just before 11:00 but for some reason the 11:00 am ferry did not show up. Ferries run every 30 minutes and long story short, we had to wait for the THIRD ferry to pickup before we could board, finally arriving at the island a little after 1pm.

Part of the line waiting to catch a ferry - about 500 people.

#1 order of business when we got there was food! No breakfast and it was after lunch so we did a quick search on Trip Advisor and settled on The Chuckwagon. This place is small and we had to wait a bit but the tables turn pretty quickly. They have a small menu featuring burgers. They do just a few things and do them well. I had a Rattlesnake burger and Diane had the Blue Cheese Burger. Hand partied and cooked to perfection on a flat top. For a quick bite, you won't go wrong here.

The Island is your typical mix of gift stores, fudge shops, ice cream, tee shirts, shoes, jewelry, restaurants, bars, etc. etc. The thing that makes the island unique is that no motor vehicles are allowed. Everything is bicycles, foot, and horses in the summer. The residents do use snow mobiles in the winter and kids ride them to school!

Bicycles are EVERYWHERE!

Supplies for local businesses are delivered by horse and wagon.

We took a tour of the island using Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

This is a large outfit operating several carriages at any given time. It cost $28 per adult for a "2 hour" tour. While it was interesting, I was somewhat underwhelmed. There was a ride through one street of town, a pull up the hill to see the Grand Hotel, a stop at a gift shop where you change carriages, a ride through the woods to the rock arch where you get 5 whole minutes to get off and take pictures, then 5 minutes more ride where you are encouraged to get off and walk 5 minutes back to town or endure another 45 minute carriage ride to get back to the same place. After listening to the cranky driver Gene tell BS stories for 30 minutes, I was ready to walk most anywhere. I wouldn't do this again. In fact the entire Mackinac Island thing is just a big tourist trap. Glad I did it once, but don't plan to go back.

The ride to the island and back was on a jet boat and the 6:30pm ferry we caught makes a slight detour and actually goes under the Mackinac Bridge. This was the highlight of the day for me! The boat shoots up a huge rooster tail while under way.

One last thing. Our Campground was in Mackinaw (with a "w") City. We took a ferry to Mackinac (with a "c") Island and went under the Mackinac Bridge. They are pronounced the same, (as in Mackinaw) so what's up with the spelling? It seems that the French across the river in Canada got the name from the native Indians and spelled it with a "c". The English on the southern shore spelled it with a "w" as its pronounced. So in the US its "w" and across the water its "c". That was really driving me crazy until I found out the reason!

Following is some pics I took. Hope you enjoy!