Everyone was pretty much exhausted at this point of the trip, so we did not end up leaving as early as I would have liked. That is okay though because it gave us time to eat one last breakfast at the Bayshore Resort, pack up the car, and hit the road without feeling too rushed. We ended up leaving about 10:30am and headed north to Mackinac Island via the beautiful US Route 31. About 45 minutes into our ride, we saw a roadside place that had some treats. We figured it was a good time to let the kids out of the car, go to the bathroom and get a snack. Little did we realize how amazing a place we were going to.
The location we stopped at was the Friske Farm Market. Although the kids saw and wanted to run immediately to the playground, we told them we needed to get a snack first. So we entered the building. Upon walking into the market, we were greeted by a huge case of beautiful pies. Mmmmm more cherry pie!!!
We shopped around the place. I bought myself a slice of rhubarb pie and the girls got donuts. I know I should have gotten the amazing looking cherry pie, but I love rhubarb so much and no one cooks with it, so I had to go for it. We headed out to the playground are to eat while the kids ran around.
The highlight of the playground for the girls was the zipline they had. It was perfect sized for the kids and a lot of fun. So much fun they didn't really want to leave there. But this was only a quick stop and we had to keep pushing on as we couldn't miss the ferry to Mackinac Island later in the afternoon.
Once back on the road, we continued up US Route 31 thought Charlevoix and Petoskey. I was driving, so I didn't have time to stop and take pictures, but these towns were absolutely beautiful. They had some great views of Lake Michigan, vibrant small town main streets, and amazing homes. I would give anything to live in towns like these.
While eating breakfast at the Bayshore Resort one morning, I was told to take this road north in Michigan by a guy I was talking with. He said this was the Tunnel of Trees and it's a beautiful ride. So once we got on the other side of Petoskey, we veered off US Route 31 and onto Michigan State Highway 119 to continue north.
Highway 119 is a very narrow road that heads north along the coast of Lake Michigan. In many places, this road is very narrow and single lane, but along the way there are some amazing views of Lake Michigan, as well as the overhanging tree canopy for which this is called the Tunnel of Trees. Again, I was driving so I didn't get many pictures, but this one should give you an idea of the type of road this was. I loved driving it as it was a nice slow road to drive with very little traffic.
Once through the Tunnel of Trees, we drove back east to connect up with US Route 31 before heading north on that and driving into Mackinaw City where we needed to pickup the ferry to Mackinac Island. As we were driving back there, I asked my wife to look at the ferry schedule and tell me when the times were. She told me if we bought our tickets online and got there quickly, we might be able to take the Starline Ferry departure at 2:30pm to Mackinac Island. So the girls and I rushed up there, parked the car, got our bags checked and made it onto the ferry with only about 3 minutes to spare.
The process of getting on the ferry is pretty easy. You pull into the lot, back up to an area where they take your luggage and let them know what hotel you are staying at. Once you are drop off your luggage, you can pick one of several parking lots to park in. I went with the one that was closest as the price wasn't too bad and it was right next to the boat. Once on the boat, we were off to Mackinac Island.
The ferry ride to Mackinac Island is relatively quick. It runs about an hour on the classic ferry and about 45 minutes on the regular ferry. We were on the classic ferry and I didn't mind the extra 15 minutes out on the water. We saw great views of the Mackinac Bridge and Round Island Lighthouse.
Once at Mackinac Island, it's like taking a step back in time. There are no cars. People only travel around by foot, on bicycles or on horse drawn carriages. The main street is quaint, colorful, beautiful, vibrant and crowded.
Trash is even collected and UPS packages are delivered by horse drawn wagons on this island!!!
We were told by the ferry line that they would deliver our bags to the hotel and place them in our room. So when we got there we checked into the Lake View Hotel so the bags had a place to go when they arrived.
It was late in the afternoon and we were starving. So we went in search of food. This meal was going to serve as a lunch/dinner combo as it was well past lunch, but too early for dinner. We went to eat at Mary's Bistro Draught House which was right across from our hotel and we were able to be seated on the water. The food and beer there was great!
When we were done with our lunch/dinner, we went back to the hotel. Sure enough, our bags were there. So we dropped some stuff off and picked some stuff up and went out to walk around the island. We went to a bunch of shops selling souvenirs and even stopped at the Mackinac Island Rum Company, where my wife proceeded to do a sampler of distilled beverages. The girls had fun in there as they left dollars with their names on it in the bar.
Mackinac Island is known for their fudges and all the places we visited would give samples. With none of us being huge fudge fans, we had fun going around, watching fudge get made and sampling things.
We also went on this cheesy, 3D Maze of Mirrors. The kids had fun, but it was a short lived activity. I'm pretty sure it wasn't worth the price of admission, but the kids had fun for a little bit.
After doing some shopping, I grabbed a beer from the Great Turtle Brewery and Distillery which was on the first floor of our hotel and went to the pool to watch the girls swim for a bit. The reason we picked the Lake View Hotel is because my daughters love to swim and that was one of the only hotels on the island with a pool.
The wife and kids were pretty tired after swimming, but it was still relatively early (as far as I'm concerned). So I got them all ready for bed and I headed out to check out the town and bar scene. I stopped at the park at Windermire Point to watch the sunset and see all the amazing houses down there.
While walking around, looking for a bar to drink at, I did find one of the only vehicles on the island, an ambulance.
My first bar I went to was the Pink Pony. I walked by and saw a guy playing music here. I grabbed a beer and stood behind the bar for a bit while he played. As soon as a spot opened up at the bar, I grabbed that chair and took a seat. I sat there for a couple hours, listening to the music and watching baseball on the TV. My highlight was of him playing War Pigs acoustically.
I wanted to check out another bar in town before it was time to go to bed, so I went over to the Horn's Gaslight Bar and Restaurant, as they had music as well, and closed out the night there. No pictures were taken at this bar, but I did grab one when it was time to head back to the hotel. I couldn't believe how quiet it was on the island at 2am.
All in all, this was an amazing, but long day. I started early, went late and had so much fun. I was super excited for the next day as I was going to be able to do some biking around the island and also take a horse drawn carriage tour.
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