A Winter Saturday on Mackinac Island 1/15/2013

Having logged almost 5500 miles in the first two weeks of January, I’m already feeling pretty darn well-traveled in 2013!  The trip north to see Chris Ann was more special than I could have ever imagined, and the trip to see Blake was just pure fun. I do believe though, dear friends, I’m going to stay put now for a little while!

As promised, below are some of the photos from our trip over to Mackinac Island a couple of weekends ago.  It was a fast visit!  We caught the 11:30 a.m. ferry over and the 4 p.m. ferry back.  If we’d missed the 4 o’clock ferry, we would have been stranded until Monday (no Sunday ferry service), unless we’d caught the little plane back to St. Ignace.  But hey, stranded on Mackinac Island . . . how horrible could that have been!

The Island looked pretty frozen from the ferry. The white color of the majority of the buildings downtown blended into the white of several inches of snow. It looked cold, but it sure looked beautiful!

Our little group – Orietta Barquero and Joan Barch (year-round Islanders) and Sue, Terry and Patrick Conlon.  Jill was the photographer.

George was waiting in his taxi for some riders to the Village. I just had to climb up and get a hug!

Main Street.  Still quite a bit of snow left over from the right-before-Christmas snow storm . . .

. . . . and this bike looked like it was left on the street the night before the snow hit!

Lunch at Cawthorne’s Village Inn, where we were joined by friend Jeff Peterson, a summer resident who happened to be visiting that weekend. Jody Chambers, an Island friend, was our server.

I loved seeing our village neighbors, Kaylee, Matthew and Gabe, at the Village Inn.  Kaylee and Matthew’s first question . “Where’s Bear and Maddie?”

The plan was for Orietta and Joan to drive their snowmobiles, with Jill and I riding behind. Patrick was going to ride with Jeff, and Sue and Terry wanted to just explore on foot.

Off we go – up Cadotte toward the Grand. You can sure cover a lot of ground quickly on a snowmobile!

Behind those  tarps is the ice cream parlor that is replacing Martha’s Garden at the Grand. Mmmmm . . . Ted is sure looking forward to those Jersey Muds this summer!

Construction is going on in the spot once occupied by the Grand Hotel stable. Right now more employee housing for Grand staff is being built, but later on another Masco Cottage-type accommodation will probably fill this space.

Approaching the airport, we arrived just in time . . .

. . . to watch the little shuttle plane from St. Ignace land.

Orietta, who is from Costa Rica, is relatively new to snowmobiling. Here she is making a tight turn out of Joan’s front yard.

British Landing, with ice along the shore, the Mackinac Bridge in the background, and me layered up to barely-able-to-move status.

Loved Joan’s boots!  When they were half-covered with snow, it looked as though Joan’s feet had melted !

One of many St. Anne’s Cemetery gates . . .

. . . and the Fort Cemetery, covered in white.

No activity on the parade grounds during January!  We kinda trespassed into the fort, although there weren’t any “no trepassing” signs.  The gate had a chain across it though, with a sign stating “closed”. We’ll settle up with the State Park this summer for our winter visit .

It’s so different looking down into town during the winter. Very little color is visible (especially on gray days). If the sun had been shining, the water would have been a brilliant blue.

The Jewel Golf Course was snow-covered, and golf balls would have bounced off the water-hazards, which were frozen solid.

It’s a little eerie walking through the fort when there are no crowds . . .

and from this vantage point, the Mission District also looked deserted.

Checking out the photos.

We stopped at the Grand to check our time and chat a few minutes . . .

. . . then headed down Cadotte into town.

Main Street was lined with snowmobiles. Many islanders had gone off on the ferry that morning and would be returning at 4 p.m. – the same boat we would take back to the mainland. The Saturday ferry is always busy because of the “no Sunday ferry” regulation.

Too soon it was time to get on board and begin out trip back to St. Ignace.

Many thanks, Joan and Orietta, for making our afternoon on the Island so much fun!

I’m planning to get back on schedule every Sunday with the Mackinac Island Winter Update – now that my travels are over for a while.  See you back here on Sunday, January 20 with the latest Island news! 

God bless.

Chris Ann Update

Chris Ann and Burton’s two sons, two daughters and several grandchildren (from Michigan, Florida and Oregon) are with them now at their cottage in Mackinaw City.  Chris Ann went to see the movie Lincoln a couple of days ago and has gone out to eat a couple of nights.  She continues to amaze and inspire us all.

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