Mackinaw Island, MI

Hello all,

Yesterday my mom, Madi, and I traveled north to Mackinaw Island while on our vacation in Michigan. I will be doing a whole post on our entire trip, but this deserved its own post for sure! We left at about 8AM and drove the two hours to the Shepler's ferry dock. Because of the wind, the ride was rough and I actually felt a little nauseous. Once we got to the island we browsed a few shops on the main street and bought our tickets to the butterfly garden. On our walk to the garden, we went into a couple of churches and took some pictures by the harbor.

I remembered the butterfly garden from when I was little, and honestly the garden, Kilwins, and bike riding were my main memories from going to Mackinaw. The butterfly garden was beautiful. We got a lot of cool pictures and learned about how to distinguish male monarch butterflies from females.

Afterwards we headed onto the trail. Since my mom recently had surgery, we couldn't bike around the island, so we decided to walk. My mom had us convinced that the whole trail around the island was only 5 miles. Well, we realized at mile 3 that it was way more than 5 miles. Madi decided to google it, and figured out that it was actually 8 miles. Needless to say, we decided to cut back through the woods, which meant going uphill. On the way through we got to see the airport, the cemetery, and the infamous fort. The fort had the most incredible views! It was gorgeous, and after walking close to seven miles we were happy to sit for a little while and take in the scenery. Unfortunately, this point was when I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up (which is typically how I feel before I do pass out) so we skipped Kilwins and the Grand Hotel and headed back to Shepler's dock. Overall we had a great day and got to see some beautiful sights that I hadn't seen since I was about six years old. I am looking forward to going back one day and having some Superman at Kilwin's and seeing the Grand Hotel again. Hopefully taking a bike ride around the whole island as well!

Thanks for keeping up with me :)
-Olivia