Journal entry – 13 June 2015, Sat

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Today’s a big day. Both bike riding and going to visit Mackinac Island. We’re going to do our 55 miles mostly on the island, plus some to and from the ferry.

Ate breakfast, put away ribs from overnight cooking, packed lunch and spare clothes and hopped on our bicycles to catch the ferry.

  
Pretty ride over to the island, got a good view of the bridge.

  
Since we are going for mileage, we start by doing a loop around the whole island – which gives us a quick overview of where the highlights are located. With an 8 mile circumference we’ll be around a few more times throughout the day. The map we picked up includes a self-guided bicycle tour so we follow that route as well, checking out the natural stone arch, lookout tower and stone column, cemeteries, and historic buildings. We are definitely neither architecture nor history buffs. The natural features catch and hold our attention far more than anything else. Knowing that it cost, we didn’t even slow down any of the times that we passed the ever-so-amazing Grand Hotel.

   
   After short hike and a few more miles on the bikes we stop for a picnic lunch at one of the picnic tables in the state park, along Shoreline Drive. We are definitely enjoying our picnic lunches. So glad we are getting to have them!

   
       Stopped and added some rocks to the cairns along the shore. Mom would have loved these! And I think it’s genius – a free, self-sustaining tourist feature that is also cool and visually interesting.

   
   Time for some “touristy” stuff. We head in to town  and parked our bikes. It’s amazing how much space is available and how many bikes you can fit in the small area when there are no vehicles allowed. Only bicycles and horses allowed definitely has merit to it!

   
Walked through downtown and sampled some fudge. Bought an ice cream, half a block of fudge and then went to a local coffee house (who roast their own beans) for a coffee and “London Fog” tea. Both good but not Pipers good. We’ve definitely become spoiled! Walked down past the Boardwalk and sat on the shore to enjoy our goodies, overlooking the “Mighty Mac” bridge. Finished and back to riding.

 
Time to wrap up our miles, after finding a geocache on the island. Gave us a chance to go on a different route anyway. Found the cache and hit some trails and then the road.

With practice and our own bikes we were able to zip past all of the other visitors on their rented beach cruisers and tandem bikes. Ashley pointed out that all of the tandems have the larger person on the front, so that the back seat couldn’t see without comically leaning over.

In total, I believe we circled the island at least 5 times, plus multiple routes along the interior. We did get to see a lot!

  

Finished up and had time to kill before the ferry. Locked our bikes on the dock and schecked out some shops we skipped the first time. Found some post cards. Ashley pondered why fudge and popcorn are always “the thing” in touristy places.

As we approached the ferry we spotted the staff puzzling over our locked bikes. “In all my years here on the island, I’ve had my bike stolen once, and it reappeared the next day with a box of cookies and a thank-you note in the basket.”

The ride home was much more subdued than the way out.

Got home and started a load of laundry (to wash the towels from the fridge’s attack the other night) and hopped in a hot shower to warm up. Then we heated the ribs and made some mashed taters. Delicious supper!

Rounded out the evening watching Friends with popcorn and tea before bed.