Mackinac weekend recap

Catherine's family owns a B&B cottage up on Mackinac Island, and her mom runs it in the summer. McNally Cottage is right there in the middle of everything on Main Street, with an awesome people watching porch.

We arrived early in the afternoon on Friday, and I instantly started to like the place. Julie, one of my Spartan friends, is working up there for the summer at the Grand Hotel, so we met up with her and took the bikes up around to a bluff with some neat views. That was a bitch, because the bikes don't have gears. I can't remember the last time I walked a bike! Next time up there, I'm so bringing my own. Of course, I had Cosmo (the dog) in the basket too, which didn't help. She's heavier than she looks! It was neat to see some of the private houses too, as well as various historic structures around town.

That evening we ate at the Pub & Oyster Bar down the street. Not bad at all, and pretty reasonable prices. I was kind of surprised that it wasn't a lot more crowded, but I'm not complaining.

In the evening we hung out some more at the house. Julie came over after work and we chatted for a bit as a few drunk people, mostly seasonals, walked down Main Street. For some reason, maybe because I was just in Las Vegas, I expected there to be a mass of people moving about at night going from one bar to another, but it's a little more family friendly than that. I think horses might outnumber the people in the evening!

I woke up to breakfast in bed. Not a regular feature of the cottage, but I'm dating someone in the family that owns it. We had some grand ambitions for Saturday, but due to some digestive issues and just generally not feeling great, we didn't do much of anything. But that was OK too, because it was nice to just chill out and relax. We had lunch at The Gate House (a Grand Hotel restaurant), and I had the best damn turkey burger ever. The fries are damn good too.

We hung out and did more nothing for the rest of the afternoon, until dinner time. First we went down the boardwalk and down along the beach to catch the sunset. The island has a lot of nice views, pretty much anywhere that there is water.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Goodfellows, in the ground floor of one of the hotels. Originally we were going to The Woods for some gourmet shit, but given our relatively mediocre bodily states (i.e., we both felt poopy), we decided to not go nuts. We got kind of nuts anyway. Catherine got a serious lobster tail, which she said was pretty good, as were the vegetables and mashed potatoes. I decided to take my digestive chances and have fettucini Alfredo, something I never eat because of the fat content. It was easily the best I had in years. The only real complaint I had was that $4.50 for a crappy draft Bud Light, all of 12 ounces, is a rip off even by Mackinac Island standards.

After dinner, we strolled back down the boardwalk so I could attempt to take a few stills of the Mackinac Bridge with lights. I wasn't that successful because I didn't have a real tripod. Then we walked by Julie's work to say goodbye before heading back to McNally.

Sunday morning, Catherine did some training before we packed up our stuff and headed for the boat. An overnight rain cooled things off a bit (and continue most of the morning), saving the island from the 100 degrees much of the rest of the region was experiencing. Cath's mom walked us to the dock, and we got on the 12:30 boat. It was kind of sad to see the island get smaller and smaller as we pulled away.

We really didn't do a whole lot of anything, but that's what made the trip so cool. Without cars or the Internet, it's just a fantastic escape. Some of the politics on the island, and the money snobbery, are a turn off, but not to the point that you can't have a good time. It's very relaxing there, and I absolutely adore the cottage. The plan is to go visit again in the fall.

Some pictures from the weekend. Sorry about all the dog pictures. :)