Mackinac Island Day One

What a day! I know that I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. My dad is probably the most interesting and exciting person that I know. The shenanigans he leads us into and the people that he interacts with just never cease to amaze me.

Our day started off early… 8am EST early. On a normal day, no big deal. It may even be a late start for most days. But, we went to bed at 2am EST that same morning after arriving on Mackinac Island. My dad was on a mission to get the boat tied up differently and with all the clanging around on deck I was forced to wake up.

We asked a few people on the dock where to grab breakfast and the consensus seemed to be the Chuck Wagon in town. But, as we walked up the docks to hit the main street we caught a glimpse of a little coffee shop right on the water named the J.L. Beanery. It’s a cute little place with great coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries. The owner and her staff are fantastic as well. They’ve been in business for 3 seasons now and have cultivated a strong local following. Plus, all the transient boaters enjoys the close proximity to the marina. If you’re ever on the island, I definitely suggest stopping in! You can find them at: http://www.jlbeanery.com. After fueling up, it was time to hit the showers; as we were headed into town shortly thereafter.

The central part of downtown was a complete zoo. And, it’s not even the busy season yet! There were tourists everywhere and more fudge and novelty t-shirt shops than you can shake a stick at. Not at all my type of place! The island does have a unique little twist though that can make it appealing to some people. There are no motorized vehicles of any kind allowed on the island; save for emergency vehicles. Everything is primarily accomplished via horseback. All shipments from the mainland are distributed this way as are all the taxi accommodations. Pedal bikes are the most popular method for a majority of the tourists; as they are low cost and the city is easily accessible by them.

Satisfied with our exploration of the main drag, we retired to the boat for a little lunch and a siesta (although I didn’t sleep). However, it did give me a chance to sit down and write about the prior nights adventure 🙂 My dad took an hour or so nap and suggested that we go check out the Grand Hotel. Sounded fine to me; as it was out of town a little ways and hopefully out of the reach for most of the tourists.

Back through town we went on a little 2 or so mile hike to the hotel. We got to see some beautiful scenery and parts of the island that most would miss if they just hung around the downtown area. The islands residents have some beautiful vistas right from their front porches.

Approaching the hotel was a beautiful sight. My mom and dad had visited this grand resort the last time that they were on the island. So, there definitely was a lot of hype around this visit. On top of that, my dad was also in the process of a hatching a scheme to get us into the hotel without paying the $10 per person entrance fee to view the hotel itself. While with my mom, he was able to slip them in through a gift shop while it was too busy for the staff to notice. However, with it not being the busy season yet, traffic was a little light and it appeared that they had changed the check-in point for collecting the $10 to somewhere closer to the road. Not where it used to be. So, we had to try something different this time.

As we made our way past the main entrance, we noticed a service area. It was wide enough to get a horse drawn carriage in; as it looked like the staging area for luggage coming from the ferries. There were quite a few hotel staff mulling around involved in various activities with the luggage. But, as my dad taught me from a very young age, as long as you don’t give anyone eye contact and you act like you belong, there won’t be any cause for suspicion. So, onward we marched blindly with no clue where we were headed in the bowels of the monstrous hotel. We passed through the laundry area, the servants quarters, and servants cafe, maintenance areas, through doors of all kinds; pretty much all over. Eventually we came to a set of stairs that looked promising. We sprang on up the stairs, through another door, and found ourselves on the main floor of the hotel with none of the staff any the wiser. Success!

We meandered through the halls for about an hour viewing some of the art that adorned the walls. It was tea time at the hotel and there were a good number of people in the common areas sipping on tea, eating finger sandwiches, and finishing it all off with a glass of champagne ($30 per person mind you for tea). Not interested in tea, we opted for a glass of something stronger. I had the Lagavulin 16 year old scotch and my dad had a glass of Woodforde Reserve bourbon. My dad pulled out a $50 confident that it would cover the drinks and the tip. NOT! I won’t say how much it was in total, but it was ludicrous!! We chatted with the bartender from Jamaica for a bit and looked for a cozy spot to sit and people watch as we drank our spirits.

A nice little couch facing the main entrance was calling our name as we walked. So, we plopped ourselves down and began to chat with the couple that occupied two of the arm chairs facing away from the doors. They were a very nice couple from Iowa on their motorcycles going around Lake Superior just taking a day to explore the island. It was a slight deviation from their route, but worthwhile. We finished our drinks, said good bye to the couple from Iowa, and headed down the stairs to the bell-boy station to arrange a horse drawn taxi to dinner.

The ride from the Grand Hotel outbound was fantastically beautiful. The houses and landscapes were just amazing! People may only live here for a few months a year, but they live very well when they’re here. Our original destination was the Inn at Stone Cliff for dinner. However, upon talking to our fellow taxi guests and the driver, we decided to hop off at The Woods restaurant to check it out. We arrived around 4:30-5pm. The place was dead and we began to question our decision. But, the people all sounded very certain that this was the place to be on the island. So, we cozied up to the bar and ordered another drink.

A few sips into our second round of drinks for the afternoon, my dad struck up a conversation with a table of five people seated at a bar table behind us. It mostly surrounded golf, but eventually evolved into a full on conversation with one of the gentleman at the table. His name was also Gary and he was a resident of the island. In fact, he lived only a few hundred yards from the restaurant. Incredibly social guy and very outgoing. He apparently has a place here, in Hawaii, and down in the Caribbean (or Florida…I can’t remember). He’s done well! We chatted with Gary and his wife, his friend/fraternity brother, Dave plus his wife and another gentleman for roughly 2 hours. Great people! And, very active on the island and with the golf course. We even were fortunate enough for Gary to extend to us an invite to his home the next day for dinner and drinks. How lucky for us! Both of the wives were interested in seeing the boat the next day too; so we invited them down. In the end, Gary said that he’d been there for too long and that is was time for he and his party to head back to his place. Which was fine for us, because it was dinner time!

As we transitioned from the bar to the dining room the place was packed! I noticed it getting busy around 6:30pm, but by 7pm, the dining room was full and the people just kept coming! The manager chatted with us a bit when we first arrived and he was concerned that we did not have reservations. Nevertheless, he was able to slide us in after a quick conversation with the maître d. We greatly appreciated it! The food was excellent. We both began with a cup of the lobster-shrimp bisque (which was incredible) and my dad ordered the crisp pork schnitzel with an apple-fennel slaw and I had the salted kobe beef brisket with an apple-horseradish compote. An amazing meal. However, after tasting a bit of my dad’s pork, I wished that I had ordered the same.

The evening wasn’t finished yet. My dad was determined to have a drink at the Pink Pony to cap off the night. So, we hopped into another horse drawn taxi and made our way back into town. We met another very nice couple in town with their niece during the cab ride. They were from southern Illinois and owned a pipeline maintenance company and just started what they hope to be a chain of high end barber shops in St. Louis. Business is good and they have their eyes on expanding into the Washington DC or Seattle market in the next 1-2 years. The business is called Dapper Gents Grooming and they’re bringing back the high end cut and straight razor shave experience for men. Awesome! You can check them out at: www.dappergentsgrooming.com.

Not much was happening at the Pink Pony, so we didn’t hang around very long. We were hoping to catch some of the single-handed Mack racers. But, their banquet hadn’t quite let out at that time. We did try their Pink Pony beer though. Which I thought was great (Belgian style wheat beer. YUM!). My dad wasn’t too wild about it. So, we packed it up and my dad made off with one of their Pink Pony pint glasses to remember the occasion. Good old dad 🙂

Hopefully there will be more excitement to come tomorrow during day two!