Mackinac Island | The Grand Hotel
St. Ignace, Michigan
- Some of you may be wondering - why have we driven 500 miles to the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan? From 1966-1970 (approximately), DT lived here! His
Colonel Dad was stationed at
Kincheloe Air Force Base in Kinross, Michigan. They lived on a big base,
in base housing, and went to school in the near-by town of Rudyard. Well,
the base has long-closed, but he wanted to see his old stompin' ground, so
this morning, the "three of us" drove north, toward Sault Saint Marie on
I-75.
Our
first stop was in Rudyard, where DT found the school
greatly changed! Right off, the playground monitors
were actually monitoring. I have no idea the
security risks around Rudyard, but a teacher came
right over and wanted to know what we were doing
filming and taking photos of the school and playing
fields. When DT told her, she became his best friend
and was a fountain of knowledge about the changes we
would find in Rudyard and at the base in the past 30
years. She even allowed me to film her telling us
about the four PRISONS now on the base, and said she
now lives in one of the homes! Even I could see the
original part of the school had been expanded and
was now the Middle School and High school. When DT
attended, it was K-12 in the one building. They now
have a track - when hubby was here, an oval was
mowed in the field if there was a track meet!
(Personally, I think he should write a book!) Also,
according to the sign in the parking lot, it is now
a Drug-Free Zone.
Now, I must tell you all - I was busy all day
video-taping every moment. I did not take many
photos of the boyhood revisitation (new word, not in
my spell-checker). I have a lot of video though,
which I can't wait to show his Brothers, Mother and
Lisa.
We continued north to what was the
base and is now a myriad of razor wire. Four prisons
are now on the base - some actually making use of
barracks. Barracks + Razor wire = Prison! DT was
unsure of his bearings at first - especially since
many buildings were gone and other built in their
place. Old and new, mixed in. The landing strip was
now an "International" Airport (Canada is 15 miles
north) and the Commissary is now an IGA Supermarket.
We found the
golf course, which is now 18 holes. (When DT
lived here Kincheloe Golf Course had only 9-holes.)
The course is $10.50 for 18 holes, winter rate! We
found his old house. The little twig in the front
garden was now a huge tree. The bus stop was gone,
and a garage was in its place. He showed me where
his parent's friends had lived - many are still
close friends with his family.
Kincheloe Golf Course... is now
The Oaks at Kincheloe Golf
Course
As we drove around, I could just
imagine DT running from house to house,
trick-or-treating, then running home to quickly
change his costume to trick-or-treat the same route
again! (DT finally ran-out of candy in 1972.) I was
so happy to finally see Duke's Lake, where the boys
had skied in the winter and played in the summer;
the dock where the bus driver would pick up a
student IF the fish were not biting, and where he
would camp with his brothers. Actually, DT's
storytelling skills are so spot-on, it looked just
as I had imagined from his descriptions.
Duke's Lake
So after the trip down Memory Lane,
we continued up I-75 to the end of the road - Sault
Saint Marie, Michigan. This was the closest "town"
to the base and where his Mom would go for errands
and to shop. They also went over the border here to
Canada for more shopping! We toured the famous
Soo Locks. The Soo Locks consist of two canals
and four locks that allow vessels, from small boats
to 1000-foot freighters, to safely traverse the
21-foot drop in elevation of the St. Marys River
between Lake Superior and Lakes Michigan and Huron.
The system has a Hydropower plant, which generates
more than 150 million kilowatt hours each year to
operate the locks. The Corp of Engineers
administrates the locks now and there is no fee to
cross the Soo Locks. More than 11,000 vessels pass
through the system every year. In 1968, one of the
locks was rebuilt to accommodate 1,000-foot-long
vessels. A 1,000 foot vessel can carry the cargo of
(you won't believe it) 2,308 semi trucks!
Soo Locks
After a healthy lunch of an ice
cream cone, we drove back to the motorhome. I took
Snickers on a long walk and we left him to snore
while we took the
Star Line Hydro-Jet Ferry to
Mackinac Island. The island is 2 miles by 3
miles long, and sits a few miles off shore of St.
Ignace and Mackinaw City. Both cities offer ferry
service and it takes about 15 minutes to reach the
island. Though the spelling is different, both the
island and city are pronounced MACK-in-awe.
(Mackinac is a rough pronunciation of the Native
word for "Great Turtle Island".) Cars are not
allowed on the island - everyone gets around on
bicycles, foot, or horse-drawn carriages. The place
absolutely reeks of horse "stuffâ€. The
Grand Hotel sits on the west bluff of the
island. Built in 1887, it is the world's largest
summer hotel. It also has the world's longest porch,
at 600 feet. The porch is lined with hundreds of
white rocking chairs. The Grand Hotel is open for
only 6 months during the year and is set to close on
October 31. When Brother Bill was in high school, he
had a summer job working in the dining room! We
enjoyed a stroll through the hotel and enjoyed a
cocktail (DT ordered a Red Strip from our friendly
Jamaican waiter) while rocking away on the beautiful
porch, looking out over the Straits of Mackinac.
The Grand Hotel, from the ferry
The Grand Dining Room
Carriages line-up for tourists on Mackinac Island
Typical street on Mackinac Island
Pretty porch on Mackinac Island
We toured through the gardens of the hotel and also a bit
through the town itself and went into a few shops. Every-other shop sells
fudge. We figured fudge was the "thing" in Mackinac, but we left without
fudge - but did get a lot of postcards! We caught a ferry back to the
mainland before dark and rescued our dog. Another night with Derek Jeter...
but not my husband. DT fell asleep on the sofa after dinner.
RV Park:
KOA in
St. Ignace, Michigan