Howdy folks! Today we've got a special guest blogger - the author of Poetry around the Cloud, a poetry blog where you can find inspiring poems of all shapes and sizes. She was inspired by her recent trip to Mackinac Island to write the following blog post and asked me to share it on my blog. Because it is awesome, and so is she, I happily agreed. Keep reading to learn a whole lot about Mackinac Island and the many things there are to do there. Please give a warm welcome in the comments section to Poetry by the Clouds.

A Day in Mackinac

An essay by the author of Poetry by the Cloud

Poetry Around the Cloud

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Mackinac

What a beautiful place! Full of sights and sounds and so many interesting things! There are tours on horse-powered carriages or do-it-yourself horseback tours, and guided (or unguided!) walking tours of the city - so much to do and see! Add to that the hiking grounds and pathways and stores and events and reenactments and stories and lore and you have at least a week-long trip.

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But how do you do all this in a two-day trip? Well, even though you can’t do everything, there is still a lot to do! We went on a two-day trip and had a lot of fun, even though we are now really tired from all the walking!

First you have to think of the trip up. There are three main ways to get there - by boat, by plane, and by ice. The most common way is by boat - you can drive up (or down) to either St.Ignace or Mackinaw City and take a ferry to the island. The second way is by plane, but you have to get lucky if you want to be on the island when you get off. The island only has one “3,500 foot, lighted, paved runway, capable of handling private and charter aircraft.” Mackinac.com

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Lastly, and most dangerous, is by the ice. While you can walk it, it would be almost pointless and dangerous and is NOT recommended. Some people take a snow plough from St.Ignace, but is, again, not recommended and extremely dangerous. If you would like to go to Mackinac in winter, go by an ice breaker instead.

We went by Ferry and we were amazed by the views and the way the boat was so smooth as to what you would expect on a sea as unpredictable as the Huron. Take the top deck when possible and you’ll see the Mackinac bridge and the lighthouses and the kites and the nearby island of Round Island. You’ll also get to see the lake Huron connect with the sky at the right point, and though the water is mostly a bit foggy, it is still a wonderful experience.

While on board, we took a few picture, bought a Visitor's guide book and got sprayed with a bit of the Huron.

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According to the Mackinac Island State Park map, you will either land on Star Line Ferry 1 or 2 or the Shepler’s Ferry port. We landed on the Shepler’s port, as we took the Shepler’s Ferry. After we got into the island, we headed right on Main street for a short walk to the Visitor's center. While there, we mostly looked around, but we did pick up some (all) of the brochures and looked at some of the other things there. There were so many things to see there and we all wanted some, but knew that we could get more things later.
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Next up was another important feature - the horse carriage ride. We got to tour around the streets of Mackinac and learned a lot. Like did you know that the horses were treated about as well as the people on the island? They get daily baths, they get groomed, and cared for when they get sick, and only work 5 hours a day and get a day off each week?

“It’s good to be a horse at Mackinac,” said my tour guide.

(An example of Mackinac horses, not Megan or Logan, as neither were white. Image from the Public Domain)

I believe my horses for the first part of the tour were Megan and Logan. Megan always did her job and she was good at it, but Logan wasn’t as good and would stray out a bit. But neither ran off, so that’s good!

Aside from learning about how the horses were treated (kindly) and hearing about Transylvania, (our tour guide was from there), we learned a lot about Mackinac history.

The first part of our tour took us through downtown Mackinac looking at old buildings and other features of town. We saw the Governor's residence - the tour guide's home when he gets money, a lost plastic giraffe in a bush, the oldest tree in Mackinac (140+ years old!), and more.

We finally stopped off right before the butterfly conservatory. While there, we quickly ate a late lunch and checked out the butterfly house.

Wow! The butterflies are so pretty!

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After that we hopped back into line for the second part of our tour. This time we got three horses - the Biscuits.

From there we got to see the more remote areas of the island while still being near the main city. We got to see the three main cemeteries - St. Anne's cemetery, Post cemetery, and the creatively named Mackinac Island Cemetery.

We also got to see skull cave and hear a spooky story about it - but when we saw it, it was a bit disappointing. However, the story does not lack and it is slightly chilling. It may or may not be true, but I will try to recount it here.

One day a man needed to be hidden from the soldiers and his friend, a Native American, hid him away in a small cave. For three days he tossed and turned, unable to sleep upon the rocks and sticks. Finally three days had passed and the Native American came to bring him out. When he came out, he was safe but horrified at where he had been, as the cave was full of bones. This cave was a place for Native Americans to lay the bones of their dead and was a sacred site, so the Soldiers would never look for him there.

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Among the creepy places, we also visited Fort Holmes, the Rifle Range, and a path leading to Arch Rock. From my tour guide, “I’m going to tell you three stories of how arch rock got the hole in it. The first is a very scientific story, and a very long one. It’s called ‘erosion’.” There are many other stories as to how the arch came to be, but there are two good ones. The first is that all the woodpeckers on the island came and bore a hole through the center. The last one is longer, and would be too long for me to tell, but you can go to https://www.mackinacparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tales_of_the_Straits.pdf Public Domain Image


Finally we stopped at Fort Mackinac. We got off here (but didn’t have to). If you go to Mackinac and don’t stop off at Fort Mackinac, then you wasted a trip as Fort Mackinac, behind the fudge, is the best thing to do.

While there, we explored all the buildings and learned about the history of Mackinac in the main building. We learned that soldiers at first thought that baths were unhealthy and didn’t take them until people started to get sick. When that happened, they built a bath house and sickness decreased.

Soon it began to rain (being Mackinac that wasn’t surprising) and we rushed inside. While inside we caught the last parts of a short film and then we got to watch a soldier drill where people shot real rifles (at the ground)!

A painting of Fort Mackinac

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When we finally parted with the fort, we went out front - but just missed the next ride. We waited for the next one, but there wasn’t room and it was late, so we went back to town. While there, we saw the Biddle house and decided to check it out. Inside, we learned a bit about the Biddles and how they lived. In the back was also a blacksmith's shop and we checked it out and learned about why blacksmiths were at most farms and how the government needed them for the War.

After that we were hungry, so we went down to the Pink Pony. Inside was what you’d expect from a restaurant - music (though this time it was live), food, drink, and a place to sit. We needed to sit - we had been walking for most of the day - or just standing around waiting.

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After that we finally got dessert - fudge! We went to the oldest fudge shop, originally named the Candy Kitchen, but now named Murdick’s Fudge, to see what it was. There they made the fudge right before you! Right then and there, they made the fudge and sold it fresh - fresher than most stores!

After that, we got ice cream (thought I didn’t get anything) and went to check into our hotel.
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When in our room - which was actually really small for the “family suit,” we relaxed for an hour before going on the haunted walking tour. Because the tour is copyrighted, I can’t say any stories from it, but I can say what I thought of it. It was amazing! It was really interesting to see what all the spooking stories about Mackinac were and how they came to be. I really do recommend it!

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Finally we went to bed, only to have another great day the next day.

When we had finally woken up at around 10, we went to breakfast at the hotel and then walked around a bit at the lake shore. Ah, that is beautiful! You can see so far and it is so lovely, though pictures are worth a thousand words, even they cannot describe the lake shore. You just have to be there to experience it!

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Image owned by The Quilted Turtle
http://quiltedturtle.blogspot.com/2013/08/maze-of-mirrors-special-treat.html

We then did got some souvenirs and went to the haunted theater. While it’s a jumpscare place - not what I was expecting - it was scary and very fun. Then we managed to also get coffee (I didn’t have any) and do the maze of mirrors - which was awesome! It was so hard to do because it felt like an infinity room with no exit! I got lost pretty quick, but we did manage to get out on time and catch the boat back to the mainland, which concluded our awesome trip to Mackinac!

Fort Mackinac by night Author's own image

A bit about Mackinac Author's own image

There were some really pretty flowers! Author's own image

Lots of historic buildings in Mackinac! We didn’t go in this one though. Author's own image

Thanks again for reading our post by special guest blogger Poetry by the Clouds. Remember to check out her blog at Poetry Around the Cloud for fresh poems and give her a warm welcome to steemit in the comments section.

To get started on your very own adventure, find me at http://travellifeservicesllc.com/

Happy Travels!

Jennifer