Blogs from Mackinaw City, Michigan, United States, North America

We've had fun camping at our KOA, and the kids got to do fun activities like pan for gems & gold, ride a "train," play oversized chess, and watch family movies. Still, we're looking forward to a real bed tonight at our inn at Mackinac Island. We set out early and opted to take the more scenic route through the state. We drove through forest and along lake shores. We were charmed by the little town of Charlevoix. We giggled at the next town, Bay Harbor, that seemed very elite and had a country club, equestrian club, yacht club, and golf club all in a row. There were a number of Victorian homes along our drive, and homes overflowing with flowers. We passed countless numbers of cherry orchards. In all, we were enchanted by this stretch ... read more

Biking Michigan's North Western Trail This trail will eventually run 53 km (32 miles) from Petoskey to Mackinaw City. I last biked this trail in 2015. Only the southern most portion is complete. A good place to start is at highways M31 and M119 (Spring Lake Park) near Petoskeey. It is at this point that the trail also connects to the Little Traverse Wheelway Rail Trail. The first 11 km is fresh asphalt and travels along the edges if Mud and round Lakes. It passes through the villages of Conway and Oden. The first 9 km travels through an umbrella of trees and wetlands. The paved section ends at the village of Alanson. The rest of the trail is not developed but is open in the winter to snow mobilers.... read more

Day on the Lake I got up early after a wonderful sleep in the quiet campground, packed up and headed out by 8:30 so I could be on time for my light house cruise in Lake Huron. I got to the campground in Mackinaw City by 11:15, took Oscar for a long walk, set up camp and was ready to head to the docks by 12:45. Mackinaw City is a bustling little town especially in tourist season when everybody wants a ride to Mackinaw Island. I'll see that tomorrow. Today it was find a place to park and get to the boat by 1:30. It's a hurry up and wait life in the visiting business so I hurried and waited. The scenery was beautiful so it wasn't a hardship. I took some pictures of the Mackinaw ... read more

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 ... read more