Mackinac Island - 1

I have always been accused of being a sedentary creature and have borne out its truth too, often enough. So when summer came around and I was still home not venturing into the beautiful days that were dawning in and around Notre Dame, not many were surprised. Work is good and sleep better and all comforts are available inside my small room north of campus so why bother? Anyway, I was quite contented with occassional glimpses of the sun from my bedroom window until the Wanderlust gripped me when Sheetal Kiran, a friend from India, who had come to Detroit on official business, visited us in his SUV and suggested we take a road-trip to some nice place in Michigan for the Memorial Day long weekend.

I and three other friends at Notre Dame, Ganti, Mahesh and Srinath, were quite happy to accept the offer but none of us had a license nor were confident of driving an SUV. But Sheetal said he could drive on the whole trip by himself and we set about planning the trip. After initial discussions we settled on Grand Rapids and Mackinac Island but people were uncomfortable about spending too much time away from research(yeah right!). Finally we decided to just pass through the town of Grand Rapids on our way to Mackinac Island, stay overnight at Mackinaw City in the mainland, take a ferry the next day to the Island itself and see how things went from there.

Packing for the trip was minimal and we were ready to start early the next afternoon. Ganti volunteered to be the navigator and I just lay back on the backseat of the SUV for a contented sleep. We had a DVD player on board and had picked up our Lord of the Rings DVDs but everyone tired of seeing it for the nth time. My Simon&Garfunkel CDs were also not agreeable to some and we fell back upon the default Indian film music CD everyone was OK with.

Mackinac Island is near the northern border of Michigan with Canada and Notre Dame is very close to the Indiana-Michigan border. The entire distance, as the crow flies, to use a favourite expression of Mahesh's, was about 300 miles. We could have done the trip in 6-7 hours flat but since Sheetal was to be the only driver, we decided to take it slow and rest every now and then in various cities. The first leg to Holland, MI, was north-westerly and we got really close to Lake Michigan's shoreline. After losing ourselves in Holland for quite sometime, trying to figure out the way to downtown Holland, we had a lunch of pizzas in what was advertised to be the best pizzeria in Michigan or something like that. The food was not really satisfying but we picked up some coffee and got out of Holland at about 2:30pm. The plan to pass through Grand Rapids was dropped as we were already looking at something like 10 or 11pm when we would hit Mackinaw City and we charted a new route direct to the City taking the State Highway at M-... and joining I-... near Lake City. Again we lost our way trying to get onto I-..., and went all across Holland. We ventured into some residential areas and there was quite some ogling of pretty girls and teasing of each other as we behaved like teenagers. I even suggested we continue along the road and hit Lake Michigan for a small beach-party in the afternoon but sanity prevailed and, inspite of and with the help of Srinath's constant interjections, we managed to hit the road to Mackinaw City.

The traffic on I-... was quite heavy with lots of people hitting the road for the long weekend and soon we were forced to a crawl. I was already feeling the effects of the sun and lunch, lying comfortably on the backseat with only Mahesh's laptop for company and dozed off. After an hour or so, I was woken up when we stopped at a gas station at Cedar Springs to fill gas and get some coffee. It might have been the lurching of the SUV or my disaffection towards travel but I had a big headache and dozed on and off till we reached Mackinaw City. The stop at the gas-station was short and when we had bought some goodies to munch, took to the road again.

The next stretch was perhaps the best in the whole trip as we got to see the Land of Lakes in all its glory in the late afternoon sun. The sky was a little overcast and there was a chill breeze but the beauty of a vast land, in long stretches untamed by man or shaped only so much as to reflect its natural beauty, took our breath away. A cool breeze and thankfully only intermittent traffic now and signs of civilization provided us all the opportunity to click away and enjoy "nature."

We stopped for a bit at Lake City after a few wrong turns and serendipitous visits to scenic inland lakes to stretch our legs and get some stuff. A few more clicks of us at the lakeshore and a few cans of Mountain Dew and a packet of potato chips and we were back on our way. It was near 8pm now and already getting dark and so we made some haste on this part of the journey. The only other stop was at a rest area very close to Mackinaw City, where there was an observation point high up and a stunning view across the land in the setting sun. And an hour after that we were in Mackinaw City.

Mackinaw City itself is a historical place with Fort Michilimackinac, a French/British post of old and a few other attractions. The Mackinac Bridge linking it to St.Ignace across Lake Huron is the third longest bridge in the world and we proposed to go across it once atleast for photos. But it was 10 by the time we reached Mackinaw City and so our first concern was for a place to stay the night and get some dinner. There was a cheap motel on the lakeside that offered breakfast in the morning and after unloading our stuff in the room, we went into the town.

Most shops were closed but there was an old-world charm to the place even without people. There was only pizza to be had and we decided to explore the place till pizza arrived. But all we did was have some fun in a video-games parlor and soon it was time for another round of unappetizing pizza. After the unsatisfying dinner, Ganti and Srinath decided to fold up at around 12 while the other 3 of us went on a walk that took us through the beach and into Mackinaw City, and after some useless observations concerning the number of tourists and the seasonal business of the few bed and breakfast places about the place, we headed back to sleep. The plan was to get up early and catch the 7:30 ferry to the Island but that is another story.