Bike rental places are everywhere.
By Elliott Brack | Visiting Mackinac Island, Mich., had always intrigued both my wife and me. After years of pondering the area, a time in August presented itself, and we visited. It’s on the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. We flew to Detroit, rented a car, drove north, and crossed on the every-30-minute ferry.
Mackinac Island has been a popular tourist attraction in Michigan for years. It even has a place in history, as the British in 1812 surprised a U.S. garrison and captured the island for a while. Later on, a spectacular hotel was built there, the Grand Hotel, opening in 1887, and remains a grand ole dame of the hotel industry today.
Perhaps the one singular aspect of the island is that no automobiles are allowed. The 18.84 square mile island’s transportation gives you choices: horse-drawn carriages, bicycle or on foot. Bicycles are everywhere, as is the constant odor from the horses. (A key job on the island focuses on workers constantly scooping up the manure off the streets.)
Today there are 27 accommodations vying for the tourist dollar, from $100 a night, to a limited number of hotels charging up to $1,000 a night for lodging, everything from economy to exorbitant.
Yes, we bit the bullet and stayed at the Grand. We suspect it’s not what it used to be. It certainly charges enough, but the other hotels it compares itself to, the Broadmoor, the Greenbrier and Boca Raton, are much more elegant and more up-to-date.
Because of the harsh weather, Mackinac is virtually closed during the winter. The island blossoms to sometimes 15,000 people a day during the short summer season (May to October), but has only about 500 permanent residents during the winter.
Renting a bicycle for an eight-mile circular tour of the island is a pleasure. You travel on a State of Michigan paved road, which is virtually flat. There’s a certain serenity about such biking, as you don’t have to worry about cars, or hills, and see only an occasional horse-drawn wagon with passengers.
You’re on Lake Huron, and the fresh water laps the shores. The area is rocky, and many people, especially children, stack up rocks along the shore, some as much as three feet, neatly balanced.
Should you go:
- Consider either staying at a small hotel or bed-and-breakfast, or lodge on the mainland and visit the island for a day. Many take their bikes on the ferry.
- There are plenty of restaurants to enjoy. Most are local, though some familiar brands. There are no drive-in or truly fast-food chains.
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Three ways to get around: By horse, by bike or by foot
Visit the Grand Hotel, perhaps to partake of the lunch buffet ($$$). If you only want to walk into the hotel and check it out, it’ll cost you $10.
- Watch out. You may gain weight just walking by the many, many fudge shops on the island. Most fudgeries have at least two locations, sometimes just blocks apart.
While you are that far north in Michigan, be sure to visit Traverse City, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. And consider a visit to Sault Sainte Marie, and its locks. The Upper Peninsula is only a five-mile long suspension bridge away from Mackinac City.
After you travel 100 miles north of Detroit, northern Michigan is virtually undeveloped, with operating farms, but much more tree coverage. Because of its rural nature, and flatness of land, it really reminds us of South Georgia.
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