THE JOURNEYS OF TERRMAR IV: AUG.19,2011 - MACKINAC CITY MARINA, MI

Mackinac Island Marina, while nicely situated for the tourist trade on the Island offered nothing else for boaters. Sort of if you don’t like fudge and we can’t convince you to like fudge don’t bother. At least after our return trip on the ferry tomorrow we could return to something other than fudge and heavy tourism and crowds. Terri and I and the girls have toured this beautiful island 17 years ago and not much has changed. The whole island seems to be geared to extracting as much from your wallet as possible regardless of the after burn. We took a carriage tour of the island and although it was very enjoyable and informative it too came with its own trappings. The first driver drove us around in a two horse cart and made it seem somehow that the tour was over and now would be a great time to add to his college fund if you saw fit. Which we did and my wallet was sufficiently depleted. Then before you know it holy 3 cart horse batman the tour is not over and they want more money. They had apparently just stopped at the first of the horsey rest stops where they have an old barn turned into the first of two greenback extraction zones. Hay wait I already tipped the first driver and you want more? Not to worry the process was a quick one only giving you about 15 minutes before the next lot of schmucks had arrived to take their turn. Now we board a different carriage that was driven by a new driver and pulled by three beautiful horses. But wait again! This college student was even better than the first one. He took us through the National Park which of course is protected from future development. Except for the two cemeteries, one for the Catholics and of course one for the Protestant’s which are still in use today. It seems that the original site of the cemeteries which was downtown, did little for tourism and tourism wins big here. There are only two ways in which you can be buried here. One, if you are born here and two if you are a land own owner on this island. One exception to the rule was a former Governor of Michigan. It seems that he liked this place so much and spent his summers here that an exception was made for him. This kind of tidbit was just an example of the kind of stories that this Carriage Driver/History buff spent an hour reciting to his cart load of very intent listeners. Again but wait, wait, I have already tipped the first driver for this excursion. For fend my wallet is extracted again and out comes a healthy tip. After the tour is over Ter, Smudge and I make a beeline for the Ferry Dock. We are back at Mackinac City and I light the Bar-B for another inboard meal and we make plans for tomorrow. Mackinac City/Island is now behind us. Lake Michigan and its 300 miles beckon.

P.S. Terri hasn’t even purchased any fudge yet!

Mark