Solo Vacation: Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island

---

Nerves and butterflies are fine - they're a physical sign that you're mentally ready and eager. You have to get the butterflies to fly in formation, that's the trick." ~Steve Bull

It's already July?!? Where is the time going? It's so crazy because the weeks seem to fly by, but some individual days seem to creep by. It's my day off and I have spent it sleeping in, watching Grey's Anatomy (season 6), and spent most of the afternoon here at Woodwinds browsing the net and attempting to teach myself about mixed models and multivariate analyses. Sounds fun, huh? Well the rest of my days off this week will be much more exciting, but I wanted to update my blog about my latest adventure.

In early June, after returning from Duluth, John looked at my ragged face and said, "Here's the calendar. What days do you want off?" I kind of stammered, saying something dumb like 'I just had a couple days off when I went to Duluth. I don't know.' I even had a couple early days and had gone fishing with Ryan at Tomahawk Lake one day so things were quite as busy. He's more of a realist and talked me into it given that I had spent my only days "off" driving and attending science lectures. So I decided on one weekend in June -- three days just for me. Given that my bank account was pretty low after Duluth and most of my MSU friends are either down-state or in Africa, I decided to go be a tourist for a couple days. I did some laundry, fixed my hair (yes! Three times in June I got to fix my hair), and headed north to Mackinaw City. Mackinaw is a gorgeous, touristy place right on the upper point of the Lower part of Michigan. The Upper Lower...the Northern Lower...I don't know the right lingo yet, but it's up there at the bridge to the Upper Penninsula and is bordered by Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. I snagged a camp-spot at a family-friendly place called the TeePee Campground and was instantly greeted by a large yellow lab wanting to be pet. This made my afternoon.

I tore myself away from the dog and pitched my little red and black tent on a grassy spot with a gorgeous view of the Mackinaw bridge. I also had awesome 3G cell phone service for the first time since April and made some much needed phone calls to family and friends. The people were all really nice around me, but when I'm on solo trips, I kind of keep to myself just as a precaution. So I packed my tent full of stuff including the recent book I devoured (The Lost City of Z) and my Nintendo DS which is not really fun to play anymore without my Mario Party partner. I drove back into town to a small restaurant and enjoyed some whitefish and a beer and got stared down by a sea-gull that wanted my fries. Then I headed back to my campsite. When the sun went down, I took a short walk along the waters edge and sat on a rock for awhile, thinking about how gorgeous it was. My mind kind of played tricks on me as I thought of the Shrine and just really wanted to see a whale or a sea-lion. None of those here though. The lakes look like oceans, but they don't have that brine and oyster smell that I LOVE. Call me crazy, but I miss the brine. I of course bummed myself out then called my friend Emily to cheer me up. And she did in about 2 minutes. Not sure how she does it, but I can call her feeling completely devastated and she instantly makes me laugh. I don't talk to her much since she's swamped with stuff too in Lansing, but she's fun. I went back to my tent and read for a few hours and sipped some Pinot Grigio that John and Ryan had picked up from town for me before I left the house. Sleep came very easily and before I knew it, it was morning.

I drove into town to grab some food since all I had was trail-mix and a banana and was in desperate need of some coffee. After getting back, I got all changed, packed my backpack, and called the free shuttle line which takes you to the Arnold Ferry. There, I boarded the ferry to Mackinac Island and people-watched on the 20-minute ride across the bay. Mackinac Island is pretty famous in Michigan not only because it's gorgeous, but because cars have been banned for quite awhile. The residents live in big ritzy houses and either bike or ride their horse and buggy around. It's quite a tourist trap and over-priced, but still quite a sight to see. We docked around 11:00a.m. and I headed out on foot. I picked up a free guide to the island, bought my Mom a smashed penny (a tradition with us), and purchased a couple postcards before heading out. It didn't take long before I felt the need to get away from the tourists. So I walked back downtown, rented a bike for 3 hours, and headed out on my blue one-spreed Cruiser, a bike I have never ridden before. I missed my road-bike and kind of kicked myself for not bringing it along, but enjoyed the Cruiser. My first stop...The Butterfly House.

The Butterfly House was started by a bunch of conservationists that wanted to save the dwindling butterfly populations from all over the world. So they brought a bunch to the island and now showcase them, running their schedule around when the butterflies wake and sleep. I showed up just in time, got a little guide, and spent almost an hour there. You walk into a giant greenhouse looking room and all around you are butterflies flying. Some land near you on plants, some are gorging on fruit, and others will even land on you for a moment. I got some great shots as I walked through and tried to identify all the butterflies. My favorite was the big Blue Morpho which is brown and kind of plain looking when closed, but a gorgeous blue when they open their wings. I had trouble finding one open and still enough for me to take a photo until near the end of my walk when there was one on a rock. Another lady stood with me, cameras drawn and right when we were about to give up, it opened it's wings. It was gorgeous!

After the walk, you have to shake yourself and get any butterflies off before they let you in the next room, The Insect House. In here, there were some alive critters - turtles, frogs, and some goldfish, but most were pinned bugs in display boxes on the walls. Some were pretty cool! I came across a HUGE collection of spiders and decided I'm never going to Brazil. I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo. So instead, I took a sweet photo of the poisonous dart frog and then some fun facts on the wall before returning to my blue bike. I headed down the road and came across the Somewhere In Time gazebo. I didn't know it before going there, but Somewhere in Time, the movie from 1980 with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeves. It is probably the most depressing movie I have ever seen, but good (anything with Christopher Reeves was pretty awesome). It's mostly a story about a guy who is at a hotel and a strange old woman comes up to him, says "Come back to me...", he realizes he can time travel, buys an ugly brown suit, goes back to "her" time, and has a romantic affair with her against her companions wishes. I won't give away the rest, but it's depressing. Anyways, I got a shot of the gazebo and then continued on my ride.

About a mile down the road, I came across Arch Rock, an awesome geological formation. I climbed the steep stairs through the forest up to about 800 feet and went out onto the platform around the rock to get some nice views of it and the island. There were lots of people up there so I turned to a random man with his friends and said, "Would you mind taking a shot for me?" The older man said, "Oh you want a picture with me?" and smiled. So I said sure and his friends teased him as they took a shot of us. His wife said, "I hope your boyfriend doesn't see that and get jealous of this old man." I just smiled, thanked them, and headed on my way. The walk down was much easier as I returned to my bike. Around mile 2, I almost took out a little girl who walked right out in front of me. Luckily, I stopped and yelled just in time and barely missed her with my handlebar. Her Mom panicked, but then apologized and said "She's so used to this no car thing, she's been doing that all day." I apologized a lot more for almost whacking her daughter with the rented bike and continued my ride. I didn't stop much for the remainder of the ride...just to take some shots. It was about 8 miles around the island and pretty easy on the single speed with only a couple small inclines. I got back into the main strip around 2pm and decided to go get some food and some water. Around 3pm, I returned the bike and walked the whole strip back down to the park where two people in tie-dyed shirts were getting married beneath a tree and an orchestra was starting to play. I got a lemonade then laid down on the grass, using my backpack as a pillow. The conductor was fun and laughed a lot as they played some traditional songs, some marches, and then even threw in some songs from 'Enchanted' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' I took a short nap as the breeze blew a little making it really comfortable. It wasn't until later that I realized I should have taken off my sunglasses as my sunburn left me with Coon eyes for a day or two. It was worth it though.

A nice call to my mother and a stop in some of the tourist stores later for a present for my Alaskan mommy, Lisa, and I was back at the dock boarding the ferry for my return. The return trip was even better as it was later afternoon/early evening and just perfect. When I got back to Mackinaw, the shuttle gave me a ride back to the campsite and I showered, changed clothes, then headed back into town. I got a small piece of smoked whitefish from a smoked fish shop and then went over to a place called The Admiral's Table. I sat in the bar and watched a car-show and had an awesome dinner of whitefish (can you tell I really liked it?). The bartender was really nice as I ate and just relaxed after a nice day outside. Happy and full, I headed back to my tent and read a little before playing a movie on my mp3 player and passing out. The next morning, I packed everything up and headed out, grabbing a bagel sandwich and coffee from a local coffee place before heading towards Wilderness State Park. I was going to go trail riding with my bike, but the place was a little complicated and isolated. I didn't have a pump so after about a half a mile down one trail, I decided to be safe and go back to my car. So instead of trail riding, I was going to go fishing. On my way back towards Onaway, I called my step-dad and talked for awhile, wishing him Happy Father's Day. He's such a great man and definitely knows I'm his kid for life. I went fishing the rest of the afternoon and thought of him. I didn't catch anything, but it was nice being outside. I got back to our little farm-house that evening and had dinner with the guys before once again returning to my room and passing out after a nice weekend of relaxation and butterflies. 😊

And now it's July. Only one more month up here with the sturgeon and the next few days off are my last until I go back to Lansing. I'm going to go enjoy it with my friends. Will update on our adventures some time in the near future! Thanks for reading 😊

~kari

---