The Isle of Mackinac

The moment that we had been so excited for finally came.  We boarded the ferry that would take us to the famous Mackinac Island!!  By the time we got on the ferry the warm, inside compartment was completely full, so we had to ride on top and brave the freezing winds!!  It actually made for awesome pictures so I wasn't mad at all plus we got to sit behind fisher, the sweetest black lab ever.

Our first glimpse of The Grand Hotel!  Look at all those cool houses it's next too.  They look like doll houses!

The cute little town

When we had arrived on the island we were met by a line of horse drawn carriages waiting to whisk us away to our hotel, worthy of a fairy tale.  No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island, so horse and carriage, bikes and your feet are the only modes of transportation on this charming, little island.

And this is probably how it looked back in Elise Mckenna's day...

The porch was absolutely to die for.  It is my goal in life to have a wrap around, covered porch, lined with rocking chairs with the ceiling painted haint blue.  The Grand's is the epitome of a great southern porch.  AND it is the longest porch in the world! pretty neat.

After arriving in the best kind of style, we checked in and went to drop all our stuff in our rooms.  Every single room in this hotel is completely different and they are all elaborate and full of color and pattern.  Don't you worry, pictures of our rooms will be in the following post, you won't want to miss it! 

After changing into some warmer clothes, dad and I were off to explore the hotel and the surrounding grounds.  We went up to look at some of those amazing Victorian homes we saw as we were coming towards the island, they are right next door to the hotel.

Look what were all over the lawns ....

BUNNIES!  lots and lots of bunnies!  and they were everywhere

Then we walked back down to the hotel to explore the grounds of their property.  It was fun to find all the different parts of the hotel that were featured in Somewhere in Time, like the famous staircase he runs down to be reunited with Elise!

Paintings like this one are placed in different areas around the island.  I think there are like ten of them.  I loved seeing them and how they blend in with their varying natural back drops.

Way off in the distance you can see the little red light house that Richard and Elise row to on their afternoon of fun ...

While we were exploring we got a tiny bit lost and took the wrong road for a little while.  Lucky we did because it led us to the "Is it you?" rock.  It is the exact location where Richard find Elise when he successfully goes back in time (That line still doesn't make sense to me, they kind of explain it in the movie, but I think it is a weak explanation. ha ha )

Somewhere in Time is one of my dad's favorite movies and it has been a dream of his to visit Mackinac Island and stay in The Grand Hotel and that is where the whole inspiration for this wonderful trip came from.  One more thing from his bucket list crossed off!

We found some more bunnies!

After all our exploring we had worked up quite an appetite!  So we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.  Dining at the Grand Hotel is quite the formal affair, gentlemen are required to wear a tie and jacket.  Their dinning room is exquisite, again pictures are coming in the next post.  I thought the food was amazing, everything we ordered was delicious and was so unique.

Fanciest place setting I have ever sat behind, so much silverware!

For my appetizer I ordered their sparkling white grape juice and for my soup I got a chilled pear, cucumber soup.  It was both delicious and beautiful!

I forgot to take a picture of my main course of roasted chicken, but I assure you, it was delicious.  We had been told that their most famous dessert is their pecan rolls.  We had no idea what it included but we figured if we are at the Grand Hotel we must indulge in their signature dish!  Turns out, it's ice cream rolled in pecans with fudge sauce.  While it was, of course, very good to eat and was gone in a matter of minutes, we thought it might have been something a little more unique if it was their special dish haha.

After dinner, we explored the inside of the hotel...