Thursday, August 9, 2012

This morning we caught the 9:00 AM ferry to Mackinac Island.  We picked up a visitor's guide and walked down Main Street.  Mackinac Island is a beautiful preservation of days gone by.  There are no vehicles on the island, horse and carriage, bicycles or walking are the modes of transportation.  Today was blustery and chilly with possible showers but we were fortunate that it didn't rain at all.  

We found Marc's Double Oven Bakery on Main Street and as we walked in,the baker (who we assume is Marc) was taking cinnamon rolls as big as your head out of the oven.  He poured icing on top and served Ralph and I the first ones off the pan.  Need I say they were delicious?  ...as was the coffee.  Ralph and the baker had a conversation about Atlantic City bakeries, such as Rando's and Formica's famous for their Italian bread and we hoped to stop back on our way home for a loaf of Marc's homemade Italian bread. 

We decided to walk to The Grand Hotel.  I took a gazillion photos of the quaint houses and gardens and we took the self-tour of the hotel.  The Grand Hotel is, indeed, grand, as you will see from the pictures.  We spent a couple hours there touring the hotel and grounds.  It is stunning,  Of course we had our picture taken sitting on the veranda, which is the largest veranda in the world.   

 Since I have so many photos to share, I'm going to post The Grand Hotel Photos on a separate post.

The high speed ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island

Near the entrance to Mackinac from the water

Main Street,Mackinac

Cinnamon bun at Marc's Double Oven Bakery

Continuing down Main Street, Mackinac

We walked back downtown and had lunch at the Yankee Rebel Tavern.  While we were eating, we saw that the Olympics was on a television  over the bar, and in particular, the 10K marathon swim in the Serpentine River in Hyde Park.  Angela Mauer from Germany was participating and we were excited that we were able to watch the finish.  We were Angie's host family for two years when she competed in the Atlantic City Around the Island Swim, a 23 mile international open water competition around Absecon Island (Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate and Longport)  several years  ago.  Both times Angie came in first in the women's division and the last time she was here, she broke the speed record.  She came in 5th today, out of the medals, but a great showing. We're proud of you, Angie!!!

Watching the 10K Marathon Olympic Swim -- Ralph lower right