A Parade, Some Photographs, a Little Personal Stuff . . . and a Mystery Spot! 6.20.2010

We have a Mystery Spot winner!  For some reason I thought this would be a tough one, but when I turned on the laptop this morning, my email was full of correct answers.  Bob from Wausau, Wisconsin was the first to send his email in at 9:34 p.m., beating the second correct answer by only 21 minutes.  Congratulations, Bob!  Please see the end of this post for the answer.

Settle in folks, cause this one might require a couple of cups of coffee, or a soft drink, or maybe even a cocktail – lots of ground to cover – and lots of personal news too.

A S    P R O M I S E D!   The Mackinac Island Lilac Parade – I’ll caption as many as I can!

Patty, Buz, Ted and I arrived a good hour before the start of the parade and still almost didn’t get a good seat where I could get good photo angles. But, with a little slipping and sliding from very agreeable folks along the curb, we settled in with the huge crowd which lined the street from Mission Point Resort to Windermere Point.

The parade honored the contributions of Native Americans to Mackinac Island and Michigan, and Chief Donald “Duck” Andress and Indian wisdom keepers served collectively as parade Grand Marshals.

We are so proud to call Chief Duck our friend and neighbor. We see and talk with him over the fence every single day. Oh, the stories he can tell!

Wishing I had grabbed a copy of the parade script, so I could caption everything, but some of the photos will have to speak on their own.

Two of Mackinac Island’s Finest. We passed one of our Island policemen a few days ago as he trained on the “ride around the Island”. Believe me, these guys can hit some serious speed!

This group is in the parade every year.

The Royal Canadian Sear Cadet Corps is a Canadian National youth program. Boys and girls aged 12 to 18 may join the RCSC. There is no enrollment fee, and uniforms are loaned at no charge. The organization and rank system is similar to that of the Canadian Navy. Cadets are appointed to non-commissioned member ranks.

Our beautiful Lilac Festival Queen, Zhane’ Nash. Also in the carriage is Dana Roguska, Lilac Princess and the Queen’s Court – Hailey Armstrong, Kyra Kolatski, and Diana Dupre.

Beautiful ladies, beautiful horses.

Riding on the back of this “two-seater” is Andrew Doud, our favorite grocery owner. Andrew was delighting the children by throwing handfuls of candy into the crowd.

A group of our Island Fort Mackinac interpreters . . . .

. . . . and our lovely lady Fort Mackinac interpreters.  These two groups are at the fort every day and are always in character.  When you question them, they answer just as if they are really living in the 1800’s at the very – at that time – remote outpost on Mackinac Island.  So interesting to chat with them!

A couple of interpreters played this period game as they walked the parade route.

Loving all the costumes!  Mackinac Island is SO full of history!

Murdick’s Fudge entry.  You see that little piece of fudge just behind the sign?  That’s how much is usually left by the time I reach the condo, after buying a pound of the sweet stuff when I’m heading home.

Three of many, many beauty queens.

Candi Dunnigan on her gorgeous Arabian and Trish Martin on her beautiful Thoroughbred.

The Horn’s Bar and Yankee Rebel Tavern entry, showing a stockade “back in the day”.  Have I shared how much I love Horn’s Super Nachos?  Yum-my!

Dan Wallen (of Dan Wallen’s Wild West Show)  brought this beautiful horse . . . .

. . . . and pony to the parade.  They also performed at Windermere Point after the Pet Parade.

Ladies from Cindy’s Riding Stable – in Native American costumes.

A beautiful addition to the parade from the Butterfly House!

Another beauty queen – this one riding in a surrey with the fringe on top.

A great entry from the Mackinac Island Yacht Club!

I believe this was the National Cherry Queen.

Don’t you just love bagpipe music!

A cute entry from the Wings of Mackinac Butterfly House.

The entry from Mission Point Resort.  Very cool!

Love this group – Therapy Dogs International from Rochester, Michigan.  I talked with them at the Dog & Pony Parade, and they invited Bear and I to walk with them, since he is a registered Pet Therapy Dog with Pet Partners (formerly Delta Society).  We declined so I could take photographs, but maybe next year – or maybe I could persuade our group from Georgia to come up and enter next year!

This group is always a huge hit – from the front . . . .

. . . and from the rear :).

Geez! I wish you could hear all the music while you’re looking at all these photos.

Little Luxuries of Mackinac Island’s pretty, flower-covered bike.

The Cannonball featured their world-famous deep fried pickles.  Oh my gosh!  Have you had one of those yet?  So good!

Leader Dogs for the Blind are always in the parade.  What a great group!

Yeah Girl Scouts!  I was once one of those – a gazillion years ago.

The beautiful Clysdesdale from our yard the other night – all dressed up for the parade!

Magnificent!

Orr Kids Bike Rentals!

Our favorite bike shop – Mackinac Wheels. That’s owner Jimmy Fisher on the blue bike.

Trickster One.

Trickster Two.

The last entry is always the Clown Band, and they are outrageously funny and spectacular musicians!

Whew!  Are you tired and ready to go pop some popcorn or grab a sandwich?  We sure were after watching that afternoon!

Reader Photographs

Jim Foucher – St. Clair, MI. Jim captured the true essence of a Mackinac Island dock porter with this photo he snapped on May 26.

Traci Rackley – Pulaski, Tennessee. A “fish-eye” look at the Grand Hotel porch, snapped Labor Day weekend, 2010.

Tom Wachowski – Arizona.  Tom has traveled to the Island throughout his life, and he and his wife married on the Island in 2005.  He flies corporate jets as his “day job”.  This shot is from the Waco Biplane from Carolina Barnstormers in St. Ignace.  This shot is from 2010.

Stephen Gill – Mt. Pleasant, MI – Flowers at Iroquois Hotel

Please keep sending in your favorite photos to brendasumnerhorton@hotmail.com.

A Few Favorite Photos From This Week

This week my volunteer partner at the Stuart House Museum wanted to swap days, so I worked on Tuesday. Around noon, the sky began to darken, and I shot this photo out of a front room window in the museum.

A few minutes later, the storm hit.

Tuesday evening (as you can see, the storm is over) we went out to dinner at Mary’s Bistro with friends Bonnie, Don, Patty and Buz.

It was an awesome evening to take the boardwalk on the west end of town home.

We walked by the Windermere Hotel gardens – which have never been lovelier.

The sun’s rays through the clouds gave me chill-bumps they were so beautiful.  You can just make out the bluff houses on the right.

Personal Stuff

• My blogging friend from the U.P., Kathy Drue, published her post about her visit to Mackinac Island last week.  It is so cute and very well written – told as though “she” was a Carriage Tour driver.  Please check it out at:  http://upwoods.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/please-hop-up-in-the-horse-drawn-carriage-lets-tour-mackinac-island/.
• I haven’t even had time to mention our daughter and two grandchildren are arriving on the Island on Friday!  They’ll be with us for 10 days, and we are so excited!  They began their journey up from Florida this afternoon – driving.  Our son-in-law Matt will fly up in a week to join them, and then they’ll drive home together.  Safe travel prayers will be appreciated.
• Next week I’ve been asked to speak about Bree’s Blog at the Men’s Breakfast at the Mackinac Island Yacht Club.  Please have me in your prayers as I prepare.

With all this going on, I’m going to take myself a little blogging vacation for a few days.  I want to be able to enjoy every second the kids are here, without anything else on my mind.  I know you moms and grandmoms out there understand!

So, this will be my last post until NEXT Wednesday, when I’ll be back with the Mystery Spot, more Reader Photos, and some stories about what we’ve been doing with the grandkids.  I’ll miss ya’ll for the next few days, but I can’t wait to spend some quality time with Julie, Jordan, Matt and Matthew!

Mystery Spot Contest

The object of the Mystery Spot is to be the first to identify where the object is located. When you think you have the answer, email me at brendasumnerhorton@hotmail.com. I’ll check my email several times a day, and as soon as we have a winner, I’ll post the winner’s name at the top of this blog so you can stop guessing (you may have to refresh your page for this to show up). Is there a prize for the winner?  Yes there is; but the prize is secret, and the only ones who will know what it is are the winners. To be fair, I’m asking residents of Mackinac Island to please NOT guess. This is just for readers who don’t live here . . . but would like to! And the Mystery Spot is   . . . .

Where is it?

Again, please email your answers to me at brendasumnerhorton@hotmail.com.  PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER IN THE “COMMENTS” SECTION OF THE BLOG.  Remember, I’ll post the winner at the top of this blog as soon as someone gives the correct answer.

See you next Wednesday with lots of news and photos!  God bless.

Mystery Spot Answer

The anchor in the Mystery Spot is located in the front gate of Silver Birches, a property that is currently listed for sale.  Silver Birches is about 3 1/2 miles from downtown on the road around the Island.  A new roof was put on in autumn of 2011, and everyone hopes to see Silver Birches thriving again very soon.  (I apologize for first stating that the property was abandoned – it was not – it is for sale.)