When I Went: October 20-24, 2011
Was That the Best Time of Year to Go? It was closing weekend for the island, to celebrate not only the closing of the Grand Hotel for the year, but also the early celebration for the Halloween Weekend “Ghost Hunting” experience at the Island House Hotel. A wonderful time to visit; all of the stores have “sales” which my wife enjoyed, and all of the restaurants, hotels, and bars are trying to use up all of their food and drink before the closing of the island at the end of the season. The fall also is colorful with the changing of the leaves and the Halloween costumes and parties.
Why I Went There: Celebrating my birthday.
Who Went With Me? My wife of the last 10 years (and a true lover of the movie Somewhere in Time, which was filmed on the island, and experiences of the weird.)
We Stayed Here: The Grand Hotel and the Island House Hotel
[mapimage url=”http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fmaps%2Fapi%2Fstaticmap%3Fsize%3D200x200%26sensor%3Dfalse%26markers%3DMackinac%2520Island%2C%2520Michigan%26zoom%3D9″]You Won’t Want to Miss: Do not miss the Grand Hotel, and all of the Somewhere in Time sights, including the “Is it You?” landmark. Also, the horseback trail rides in the state park and the self-driven horse-drawn carriages. There are no motor vehicles on the island. It is a wonderful step back in time. We loved playing bocci ball on the lawn at the Grand. Lots of great restaurants, lunch spots, “hometown local” bars, and lots and lots of homemade fudge shops. We tried them all.
Eat Here: 1852 Grill and the Grand Hotel.
Play Here: The Grand Hotel, and the state park, horseback and carriage rides.
If I Went Again: We loved it all. We would do our best to make the connections to meet the ferry schedule to the island.
How Did You Get There From Dallas? Perfect timing is required to make it to the island in a day. A flight from Dallas to Detroit, and changing planes and continuing to Pellston, and a van shuttle to make it on the last ferry to the island. We, as fates would have it, had a delayed flight in Detroit, and a late connection to Pellston, and thus missed the last ferry. Our airline paid for our overnight hotel so we could make the first ferry the next morning, so we were happy and arrived to the island just a few hours later than we originally planned. So all was well.
Other Tips For Fellow Travelers: Choose your time of the year. We have traveled here in the fall and in the summer. Both seasons are grand.
