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- Sunday, August 11th
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- On Sunday August 11th, after an excited period of last-minute
preparations and packing, Charlie and I left our home in southern
lower Michigan and drove north to Mackinac City. After having
lunch there, we took an early afternoon ferry over to Mackinac
Island. We took a lot of stuff with us - almost as if we were
going on an extended cruise. A porter from the Harbour View Inn
met us at our ferry and transported all our luggage to the Hotel
for us. We strolled from the ferry dock to the Inn and were soon
settled into our wonderful front upstairs room (Room #1207).
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- The Harbour View Inn
- That's Charlie on the balcony
porch, just outside our room with it's spectacular view of the
harbor.
- (click on photo for more detailed
view)
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- That afternoon we had a chance to relax on the balcony porch,
and then took a walk into town to explore some of the shops.
We stopped at the Mackinac
Island State Park Visitors' Center in the downtown to purchase
one-week "combo passes" that can be used for multiple
entries into Fort Mackinac and the many other Park exhibits on
the Island (and also the historic
State Park exhibits in and near Mackinac City). These tickets
are a bargain if you plan to stay in the area more than a few
days. It was a beautiful day, so we strolled up the hill to the
Fort for a visit there, stopping at the veranda Tea Room for
some refreshments.
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- On the walk back to the Inn, we stopped in at the Island
Books bookstore (in the little mall under the Lilac Tree Hotel)
for a newspaper and some souvenir books about the Island. This
is a neat bookstore with lots of stuff, including lots of books
and pamphlets about the Island. We also stopped in one of the
Island's many fudge shops to get some of the great fudge made
on site (you can watch them make it). Ryba's
and May's each have a
number of fudge shops on the Island, and Ryba's also has excellent
ice cream. This wasn't a time to worry about calories - it was
a time to have fun and really enjoy ourselves.
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- A quaint little shop on a side-street
in the downtown area
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- Carriages for hire, lots of
bicycle riders, and tourists checking out the local shops - a
typical downtown scene.
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- The weather was moderate in temperature today - and stayed
mostly in the high 70's and low 80's during the daytimes and
in the low 60's at night all during our trip. It was mostly fair
and sunny this week, with a few periods of brief showers and
one overnight thunderstorm. It was quite humid the first few
days, but then turned drier later in the week. All in all it
was really nice weather and rather typical for the Island in
summer, although we were a bit worried for a while that it might
rain on our wedding day, this coming Tuesday.
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- That evening we had a nice dinner at the Yankee
Rebel Tavern, and then continued on with an evening stroll
to get better reacquainted with the downtown area. Later on we
enjoyed drinks and live musical entertainment at the lounge in
the Chippewa Hotel.
We then went to bed early, looking forward to getting out and
around town tomorrow and also to confirming various arrangements
for our wedding.
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- Our wedding trip, August 11-16,
2002
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