{"id":1267,"date":"2012-07-09T00:38:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2012-07-09T00:38:08","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:38:08","slug":"2012-summer-vacation-day-8-mackinac-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2012\/07\/09\/2012-summer-vacation-day-8-mackinac-island\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 Summer Vacation, Day 8: Mackinac Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mackinac<\/a>
Mackinac Bridge from St. Ignace (UP) to Mackinaw City (LP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Day eight began with a short drive to the Mackinac bridge. \u00a0At one time this was the longest suspension bridge in the world. \u00a0The island, straights, and bridge are named “Mackinac,” with the French spelling. \u00a0The fort and the city in the lower peninsula are named “Mackinaw,” with the English spelling. \u00a0The bridge marks the dividing line between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.<\/p>\n

\"Ft.<\/a>
Ft. Mackinac from the harbor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A 20-minute boat ride brought us from Mackinaw City to the port on Mackinac Island. \u00a0Coming into port you can see the fort above the town. \u00a0There are very few motorized vehicles allowed on the island. \u00a0Most transportation, including the hauling of trash and cargo is pulled by horses.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A portion of Main Street on Mackinac Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can see main street here. \u00a0There is a booming business in bicycle rentals. \u00a0Walking, biking, and horse-drawn carriages are the only modes of transportation on the island. \u00a0There are more fudge shops than people, I think.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A carriage ride through Main Street begins our tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We began our day on the island with an informative, horse-drawn tour.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The butterfly center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of our first stops on the tour was the butterfly center. \u00a0It was small but nice.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>
What a handsome family! (In front of Arch Rock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our next stop was at Arch Rock, which was picturesque, but had no historical significance. \u00a0Along we way we passed the old post cemetery and the old fort’s rifle range.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view of the harbor and "down town" from the fort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We exited the tour at Ft. Mackinac, which is the main thing I wanted to see. \u00a0During the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the British dismantled the fort in what is now Mackinaw City and moved it to a more defensible position on the cliffs overlooking the harbor on the island. \u00a0The fort was handed over to the US after the American Revolution. \u00a0After the War of 1812 began, the British landed on the north side of the island with 40 soldiers and 500 or more French Voyageurs and Indians. \u00a0They took the fort from the garrison of about 50 soldiers without firing a shot. \u00a0After the War of 1812, the upper Great Lakes was returned to the US. \u00a0The fort saw no action during the Civil War. \u00a0In the 1880s, the fort was used by the Army as the headquarters for the national park on the island, garrisoned by two companies. \u00a0The fort was abandoned by the Army when the national park was turned over to the State of Michigan to become a state park.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of many excellent displays within Ft. Mackinac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were a number of excellent displays throughout the fort, like the one shown above. \u00a0This was probably the nicest presentation of a fort I’ve ever seen, with the exception of perhaps Ticonderoga. \u00a0There were numerous displays like this one in just about every building.<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/a>
Soldiers (and an officer's wife) representing two distinct periods of the fort's history serenade the audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The presentations at the fort tend to focus on the 1860s and 1880’s period, rather than the French and Indian Wars or War of 1812 periods. \u00a0Note the docents in period uniforms from two distinctly different eras.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two babes in front of The Grand Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The thing Sam wanted to see that day was the opulence of The Grand Hotel. \u00a0This hotel was originally built by a consortium of steamship tour operators and train operators. \u00a0They wanted to create a destination that would encourage people to take the train and boat to visit. \u00a0The entire hotel was built in 93 days. \u00a0It was featured in the Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour movie Somewhere in Time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/a>
Sam posing in The Grand Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam enjoyed looking around the hotel. \u00a0She said that she could tolerate having to live there for a couple of months.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The view of Marquette Park from the porch of The Grand Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The view from the porch, reputedly the longest in the world, was quite nice. \u00a0The stature on the left is that of Father Marquette the explorer and missionary.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A replica of Father Marquette's first mission church in the area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the fort, there were a number of other historical buildings on the island to explore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Part<\/a>
Part of the lumberjack competition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Tom wanted to see was the Jack Pines Lumberjack show in Mackinaw City. \u00a0It was fun. \u00a0The events were largely the same as the Timber Tina show we saw last year in Maine, but there were a few new ones.<\/p>\n

\"Log<\/a>
Log rolling competition at the lumberjack show<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The audience was divided into two groups, each cheering for a lumberjack. \u00a0Ours won.<\/p>\n

\"Relaxing<\/a>
Relaxing at our cabin on Houghton Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the lumberjack show we drove two hours to Houghton Lake and checked into our cabin for the week. \u00a0We were keyed up from the day and the drive, so we relaxed for a little while with the end of the third Indiana Jones movie before bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day eight began with a short drive to the Mackinac bridge. \u00a0At one time this was the longest suspension bridge in the world. \u00a0The island, straights, and bridge are named “Mackinac,” with the French spelling. \u00a0The fort and the city in the lower peninsula are named “Mackinaw,” with the English spelling. \u00a0The bridge marks the … Continue reading 2012 Summer Vacation, Day 8: Mackinac Island<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}