Mackinac Island Spring Update – Vol. 2

Yeah, SPRINGGGGGGG!  Thanks for all the “get well quick” wishes!  I think spending five hours out on the boat – on a very hot day, in full sun – was a little bit of “too much, too soon”.  I learned my lesson though, and from now on I’m going to try not to soak up all my sun in one day!

Horses, fresh off the ferry, making the turn off Main Street and heading for the horse barns.

The Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau posted a photo today of three teams of horses arriving on the Island.  A few hours later, Mackinac Island Carriage Tours was already receiving phone inquiries as to whether tours had started for the summer.   I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like we could have a very good season coming up!

I learned later that the horses arriving today were dray horses – not carriage horses – and they are replacing the teams that have worked all winter.  Yep – I think those guys deserve a little vacation time.  If you look closely, you can see the horses in the photo still have their heavy winter coats.  They’ve spent the winter even further north than Mackinac Island – outside – but that coat has kept them plenty warm.  Now that they’re back, they’ll shed that extra hair pretty fast.

A Few News Items

• For the 18th consecutive year, the Grand Hotel was selected for the prestigious AAA Diamond Award at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism this week.  Congratulations!
• Wanting to spend the season on the Island and pick up some money in the process?  Check out http://www.mackinacisland.org/employment for a listing of available Island jobs!
• Less than a month before Mackinac Island State Historic Parks will begin opening its sites to the public for the 2012 season.  For a look at the newly designed park brochures and to get info on admission dates and rates, go to http://bit.ly/Hfud50.

The 2014 “Seasons of Mackinac Calendar winners have been announced!  Winners are:

• January – Rich Lind (Mackinac Island) – Island ferry amidst ice flow in the Straits of Mackinac
• February – Sam Garrow (Marquette, MI) – Fort Mackinac Block House
• March –  Shay Poizin (Mackinac Island) – A snowy Cadotte Avenue
• April – Steven Moskwa (Mackinac Island) – 1000 ft. freighter makes passage through the narrow Straits
• May – Penny Wojahn (Tawas, MI) – Grand Hotel under the dark of night
• June – Sam Garrow (Marquette, MI) – Market Street lined with lilacs
• July – Susan Madden (Onaway, MI) – A bright and busy Mackinac Main Street
• August – J. Pearson (Chesterton, IN) – A summery Little Stone Church
• September – Penny Wojahn (Tawas, MI) – The Grand Hotel aglow in the setting sun
• October – Penny Wojahn (Tawas, MI) – Main Street Mackinac in the quiet of an early morn
• November – Sam Garrow (Marquette, MI) – A fall foliage East Bluff and lakefront
• December – Gaspare Calandrino (Ada, MI) – The Christmas ferry heading into the sunset
• Both cover photos – Sam Garrow (Marquette, MI) – Fort Mackinac facing the winter and Fort Mackinac dressed in summer colors

Please note:  These are the 2014 “Seasons of Mackinac” winners.  The 2013 “Seasons of Mackinac” Calendar will go on sale mid-May in the shops of Island retailers or may be purchased online at http://www.mackinac.com/mird.  Can’t wait to see all the photographs, and here’s a preview of the 2014 February calendar page by winner Sam Garrow:

Did you know you can go to http://www.islandbookstore.com and see what your favorite Island Bookstore employees are reading!  They’re all there – Cass, Jeremy, Jill, Joe, Mary Jane, Meghan, and Tamara.  Just go to the bookstore link, and scroll down till you see “Staff Favorites” on the right side.  Check it out for tons of great reading suggestions!

And, speaking of books, Cara C. Putman’s publisher just sent me a copy of Cara’s new book, “A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island”.  Can’t wait to read it.  The book is Christian fiction, and it’s set, of course, on the Island.  I plan to get my copy autographed when Cara has her book signing in July at the Island Bookstore.  The book will be on shelves in May.

I believe that’s all I have for tonight, except for a few outstanding photographs from fall on the Island by Steve Fridley.  I don’t think you’ve seen these before, but if you have, I promise you won’t mind looking through them again – they’re that good!  Thanks, Steve, for sharing!

Lamplight and moonbeams at the corner of Fort Street and Main.

The Bay View - by moonlight.

A sparkling Mackinac Bridge. Did you know - as of last night - that every light on the bridge will burn blue for the month of April? It's part of Michigan's "Light it Blue" program to bring attention to autism for World Autism Awareness Day. I'll try to have a photo next week of the bridge with its blue lights.

Mission Church - so simple, so beautiful.

Mission Point Resort - the trees were turning gold, but the flowers were still in full bloom.

I checked out the calendar a few minutes ago, and we have 5 1/2 weeks before we leave for the Island.  That seems hard to believe.  Winter (what little we had) is over, spring is here, and we’re racing toward summer at the speed of light.  Not ready to pack bags yet – a little too early – but it won’t be long before the suitcases will comes out of the closet.  I wonder what surprises the summer will bring!

Have a great week, and a blessed Easter.