Michigan, Part 4 - The Land of Fudge (aka Mackinac Island) [240612]

To Tom, the words "Mackinac Island" were always followed by the word "Fudge", since his only exposure to the name was from the perennial fudge stand at the Sonoma County Fair in his younger days; he never realized that Mackinac Island was even an actual place, figuring it was akin to "the valley of the Jolly Green Giant" .  (He also has always pronounced it "Mack-i-nack" too.)  Christine, on the other hand, had a father who was from Michigan so knew that Mackinac Island not only existed, but that it was pronounced "Mack-i-naw" and was famous for fudge.  Of course, we had to visit there on our way through Michigan!

(Editor's note:  don't forget to check out our latest trailer Trailer 7 - "Wild Horses Couldn't Keep Us Away From Assateague Island National Seashore", if you haven't already!)

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We were up at 7:45 Wednesday morning so that we could get ready and be across the street by 8:45 to stand in line for the 9:30 ferry to Mackinac Island.  Star Line Ferry tickets are unreserved / untimed so you get on the "next available ferry", but they only have one ferry in the morning that swings wide and goes under the Mackinac Bridge on the way to the island, and we wanted to be on that ferry specifically.  We were within the first dozen or so people in the general boarding line when we arrived, so we figured we were going to be fine.  As 9:30 drew closer, the general boarding line grew longer and longer as expected.  And then just before 9:30 a tour bus pulled up and dropped a ton of people off into the tour bus boarding line - which apparently gets priority boarding.  We were one of the last people from the general boarding line to make it on to the 9:30 ferry in the end!  (As we boarded, we heard one of the Star Line employees telling another that the tour company was supposed to have split their tour across two sailings - but that apparently didn't matter since they let them all on at once anyway.)  We found a pair of empty seats on the top deck (behind the ferry's bridge/pilot house), and we were on our way!

Here's some speed-accelerated (to get under the 100MB Blogger upload limit) video of the Mackinac Island Bridge sail-under.  (You'll have to excuse the chipmunk-sounding tour guide. 😉)

Once ashore, we made a beeline to to the Flagship store to pick up our "free Lilac Festival souvenir flags".  Finding room to fit them into our backpacks was not an issue. 🤣

Then we made our way back to Main St. for a more leisurely exploration of all the little shops there, including the oh-so-numerous fudge shops (many of which had free samples we had to partake of), as we made our way to the Visitor Center.

Tom was a bit skeptical about the "No Mosquitos" claim on this olde tyme tourist advertisement.

Since the Visitor Center was kitty-corner to Marquette Park, we popped over there for a look-see.

Trinity Church was across the street and open, so peeked in there as well.

Then we returned to Main St. and walked to the far end, browsing the shops along the way.

Fudge was actively being made in several of the shops.  Tom had spent many of his breaks while working at the Sonoma County Fair watching the folks at the Mackinac Island Fudge stand making fudge; while he found the process itself fascinating, he never was a big fan of the actual texture of fudge (finding it "often gritty / grainy").  Christine has no such qualms, and thoroughly enjoyed the samples when available.

From Windermere / Biddle's Point, we had good views of the old Round Island Lighthouse and the newer automated beacon that replaced it (both of which we had sailed by earlier in the day), as well as the Mackinac Bridge.

We turned around and headed back the way we came, with the next planned destination being Arch Rock about 1.5 miles up Main St. and then Lakeshore Blvd. - stopping at interesting sights along the way.

The "shortcut" to Arch Rock from Lakeshore Blvd. involved climbing up 207 steps.

But the view was worth it.

The "lazy way" to get up to Arch Rock.

We walked the roads inland to get to Sugar Loaf Rock.

Sugar Loaf was a little more impressive looking when seen rising out of the forest from Point Lookout.

Our next stop was Fort Holmes, built on the highest point on the island.

Skull Cave was something of a disappointment.  We had been expecting - well - a cave shaped like a skull.  But the name actually comes from the fact that a fur trader named Alexander Henry hid out in it during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, and later claimed that the floor of the cave was covered in human bones (presumably Native American).

The view from Anne's Tablet, however, did not disappoint.

A little piece of Hollywood history.

The Boy (and Girl) Scouts have a role and presence on Mackinac Island, and we passed by the Scout Barracks.

Then we rounded the front of Fort Mackinac as we headed back down into town.

Back on Main St. Christine selected a Father's Day postcard, wrote, and sent it from the island's post office.

Meanwhile, Tom confirmed that you really can't trust those olde tyme tourist advertisements!

It started sprinkling just as we were boarding the ferry for our return trip to St. Ignace, so we sat inside for the trip back.

Once back on the mainland, we returned to the T42 for our second overnight in the Mackinac Island Ferry parking lot.  Tomorrow we'd be heading out again, to continue our Michigan adventures...