Day 18 - May 28

Today was Mackinac Island day. We got the dogs situated and headed for the ferry for what we thought was the 11:00 AM ferry only to find out that when we passed into Michigan we changed to Eastern Time zone (0ne hour of our day down without even knowing it). We took the hike up to the Grand Hotel. I had been to the Hotel at least ten times before and I must admit that I preferred the opulent Victorian decor of my previous trips to the somewhat garish more contemporary decor of today. For you movie buffs you will appreciate that my previous trips have been courtesy of one of my favorite movies "Somewhere In Time". If you are not familiar with it you can think of it as a sort of twist on "The Lake House" but with Christopher Reeve and the lovely Jane Seymour rather than Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Interestingly Christopher Plummer played somewhat of a heavy in both movies. Enough about movies but I recommend both of them if you like time morphing love stories.

When we got to the Grand Hotel (Margaret this picture is for you) they charge $15 just to enter but it was credited against our $45 per person fee for the buffet lunch in the Grand Dining Room. Again it was far more elegant in its Victorian attire, alas that was then and this is now. $45 was pretty hefty even for me but I guess in terms of buffet line it worked out to less than a dollar a foot. 36 feet of salads and appetizers, 24 feet of entree and 12 feet of dessert. Donna and I both agreed, however, at that price we would have liked to have been served.

We took our horse drawn taxi and horse drawn tour rides. According to the brochure one of the best things that the founding fathers did was ban motorized vehicles which kept the island free of the traffic noise and exhaust fumes. I personally don't find horse exhaust fumes any more pleasant. According to our tour guide there are more than 500 horses on the island during the peak of the season...imagine that on an island where the town takes up only a minute portion of it 2 by 3 mile surface. Now add a couple of thousand bicycles manned by tourist and think of the chaos. I guess that I should decline one of our commenters offer to write for travel magazines.

We bought our obligatory pound and a half of Mackinac Fudge and were getting appropriately sick on the return boat ride. By 5:00 we were ready to head back to the boat.

As usual the girls were happy to see us and to have the opportunity to play ball and run free. Tonight's buffet line will be made up of Mac & Cheese with tuna and a bottle of 2 Buck Chuck on a wooden bench overlooking the lake and Mackinac Island.

PS: The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world "over fresh water" and it is quite pretty at sunset.