• Monday-What'sUP April 5 - 09:03 am

These are shots from yesterday afternoon's exploration around Mackinac Island. After a day of hiking and snapping the landscape, we were delighted to find the Grand Hotel has in-room high-speed wireless Internet, just like Pasty.NET provides back home in the Keweenaw. So we bring this update of the birthday trip, a day ahead of schedule.

Here's a little slide show of some of the sights around the Island, with the snow still melting and the trees just starting to bud. By the way, special pricing at the Grand Hotel continues through early May, so you just might want to see the sights first hand, later this month.

Edie sends a thank-you for all the nice birthday greetings. It was a pleasant day, with temps in the 50's and a gentle breeze. We concluded the evening with dinner at the Jockey's Club next door. Afterwards we watched "Somewhere in Time", which was filmed right here at the Grand Hotel. It was fun to be tourists for a day, in our own back yard. The U.P. truly is a special place :)

Thanks Charlie for the pics. Really enjoyed them. Next to 'up home', Mackinaw is another favorite place. Have spent MANY weeks on the Island. Pleasant memories from there. Thanks for your time you spend doing this site. Looks like Edie had a great birthday.

Thanks for the pics and slide show of Mackinaw Island :) Last time we were at the island was when my daughter went away to college...hubby tried to lift my spirits.

Looks like Edie had a wonderful birthday...and Edie, I realized in posting this that I forgot to wish you a happy birthday...shame on me. HAPPY 29TH EDIE :)

Nice slide show Charlie. Good to see the island without all the tourists.

Looks like beautiful weather for the birthday girl....the air never gets that fresh and crisp (even crisp LOOKING) here in the sunny....translate humid hazy south!) Hope the rest of your trip is as spectacular and thanks for the virtual visit to Mackinac.

Thanks for the great slide show! Would love to go there this time of the year.

Happy Birthday Edie! hope you had a great birthday!

I wish I were that person in the third picture, viewing the bridge. I have bever seen a view that far away, and looking so beautiful... I can also easily imagine riding in that buggy with the horses... It's just so beautiful.

We visited the island a few years ago. It is a very pretty place. But when we walked up that drive towards the Grand Hotel in the second picture above, they had a person stopping you from proceeding unless you paid $5.00 - they charge just to walk up near/on the porch!

I understand that it is a historical place and people want to have their pictures taken there, but I think that is going too far, even for a tourist area.

Fabulous! I want to go. The pictures are great.

The Grand Hotel does not want to charge you for going on or near "the longest porch in the world". They want you to keep away. This method of achieving that is more pleasant than a "Keep Out!" sign or snarling pit bulls. If you have ever been on Mackinac Island at the height of fudgie season you will sympathize with the hotel's desire to maintain its splendid dignity and elegance. Yes, it's annoying. But, as a long-time resident of the nation's capital who has watched security paranoia uglify some of our national treasures, I can assure you: This is a minor matter.

Thanks for reminding me of this beautiful place. I do mean to visit there someday.

It's now $10 to get in the Grand Hotel (I was there in September). It's worth it to see everything, including the view of the Mighty Mac from the front porch. Someday I hope to go back there and stay for a couple of days - will have to start saving my pennies. We also took the carriage ride when the leaves were starting to turn - wonderful.

Great pictures...I have always loved the Island and it makes me miss it all over again. There is something about watching "Somewhere in Time" while staying at the hotel. I did that myself one rainy afternoon. I put on one of the hotel bathrobes, snuggled under the covers, turned down the lights and let my mind take me right...somewhere in time. Thanks for sharing some of your day on the Island.

seems like yesterday that state parks were free to go too--first charge was .50 cents a day

Just wanted to share my photos of Mackinaw Island taken June 11, 2000. It was lilac time on the island. Click to see the slide show.

Happy belated birthday Edie! And since you all are talking
about Mackinac Island, back in June 1979, my husband
Don worked for Northern Stationers in Marquette. He was on
Mackinac Island to sell the Grand Hotel a trash compacter and
saw Christopher Reeves leaning on his car. Of course you know
automobiles are not allowed on Mackinac Island. They had to
get a special permit to allow it during the filming of
"Somewhere in Time." Don happened to have his camera with
him, and got this shot. So I thought I'd share it with all
of you ...

I "had" to spend the summers on Mackinac Island in the 40's because my mother worked for her father at the Wandrie restaurant. Then I "had" to wash dishes there in 1949 & 50 to help pay my way through Michigan Tech($100 a month, 7 days a week). Then when I got married we "had" to go there for our honeymoon. I guess one could say I hve a soft spot in my heart for that beautiful island.

Barb thanks for sharing that great picture of Christopher Reeves and his car. I absolutely love "Somewhere in Time". I think it is at the top of my favorite movies.

think tech was like 300.00 a yr then

Wow, Barb in Jacobsville: considering what has since happened, what a treasure that picture is! All of us who have been to the Island cannot help but love the movie. When you see the picture of Jane Seymour in one of the lounges, it makes it SOOO real. But we all live with our fantasies, don't we?

Barb...how about a Jacobsville update!! We can assume that on the way out, one will lose their car in the potholes but is the Bay and the canal open? Still lots of snow? Can't wait to get back up there, when it warms up a bit! I did an art show in Phoenix this past weekend and met a lady whose son use to service the Jacobsville lighthouse!! Small world. Have a great day.

I was at the hotel a couple of years to stop in for a nice lunch. If I remember correctly, they did not charge the $5.00 fee ($10.00 now) as long as you were a paying customer. Does that still hold true?

Thanks for the great pictures Charlie and Edie. My husband and I visited here for our honeymoon 10/83. It is soo nice to see that things haven't changed much since then. Also, it was in 1989 that we were introduced to the keweenaw - especially Eagle Harbor and have made this our early vacation instead. Now -- if we could figure out how to do both ---

There's a website for the big bridge, right? What is it?

Google is everyone's friend:
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/

Charlie,

Is there a link from the Grand Hotel page featuring the special pricing? I couldn't seem to find it. Thanks.

On the Grand Hotel home page, check the lower left corner where it says: Grand Hotel Announces Early Opening for its 119th Season! You'll find some info there.

neat show Daryl. I always wanted to see the lilacs in bloom.

If you like "Somewhere In Time", you will also like a current
movie titled "Notebook". It came out on video recently.

A wonderful movie. Guaranteed to touch your heart if you have
ever been in love.

I am a Yoop native but have never been to the island.

Daryl: Thank you for your slide show of Mackinac Island during the season when the lilacs are blooming. I received a bouquet of lilacs and yellow tulips (my favorite flowers) the other day as they are blooming here in San Jose, and it just happened to remind me of a Happy Time I spent at the Grand Hotel.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel two years ago during the blackout. It was so hot there and the Grand does not have air conditiong. The breeze at night was a relief. It is a lovely old place.
The horse smell I could do without.

Daryl:
What a wonderful camera eye you have. Now I really want to visit the Island. Have never been. Guess it is about time, huh.

Daryl
Thanks for the gorgeous slide show of lilac
time. Lilacs are my favorite cultivated flowers
and it's always been one of my dreams to be
on Mackinac Island at Lilac Time.

Barb
I've never seen "Somewhere in Time." I'll want
to see that sometime very soon. Thanks for
the tip.

Thank you for your kind comments. If you liked the slide show of Mackinaw Island, you should take a look at my slide show of the Pictured Rocks too. Click here

Thank you for the beautiful slides of the island. I haven't been there since 1975. I remember biking around the island and stopping to watch President Ford play tennis. After 5 minutes the Secret Service came and asked me to move along. I was about 12 at the time.

I'm planning another trip there after the Finnfest in August. Can nonguests eat lunch at the Grand Hotel?

Beautiful pictures, Daryl, thanks. Hope to see the island someday.

Daryl,

Thanks for the slide shows of the island and of Pictured Rocks...I thouroughly enjoyed them, and it made me feel as if I was back home. ;) Thank ya, kindly. :)

Now they have the right idea as far as transportation goes horses, as gas is $2.45 a gallon here. I loved the pasty fest clip and soon hope to be there for good, noticed that no one had gravy on them as that is the troll way.
Regards

Hey everyone, Yooper down below the bridge here, I put some new photos up on my page, https://pasty.com/pcam/ptorms, hope you like em' take it easy

Yeah thats probably what most people will be driving pretty soon as the gas prices are sky rocketing quickly. I heard suppose to go up to 4 dollars about.

I have sat where Charlie has behind the horses. The first time, my wife wanted to sit right up front in the first row. After a few minutes, she figured out why I always sit as far back as possible.......7 bucks to fly in to Mackinaw...such a deal..........

Daryl:

Thanks for the slide show of Pictured Rocks.
Shamefully, I must confess that I've never
seen them in person--my family and now I
have always been in too great a rush to get to
Marquette, Ishpeming and then on to the
Copper Country.

Maybe this summer...

Hei, Charlie and Daryl, Kiitos for the pix of Mackinaw. Been a while since I've been there. Maybe this summer, 'eh?

My husband and I were married on Mackinac Island last June. Your photos brought back some very recent, but wonderful memories of our wedding and the days that followed. I spent many happy summers visiting the island as a child and into adulthood. It will always remain a very special place to me and to us, even though we now live far away in the desert southwest. Thanks for the great pictures. We can't wait to get back!!

For yet another collection of sights around this wonderful island , check out my site at: https://pasty.com/pcam/albuq74 . This is one of my favorite places to visit, next to the Keweenaw!