The morning started before the rooster and the dawn, because someone had planned a working day. Once the dawn arrived, I was already standing on the beach, wine in one and camera in other hand and watched the sun rising from the horizon. Around 7am I walked down to grab a coffee from the reception and took a look at the promised pool. It was a house in the middle of the parking lot with pool and outside deck. Exactly what I'd always wished for - suntanning on the parking lot on beach chairs, breathe the exhaust gas and watch, which cars get hit by the seagulls.
After the coffee we walked to town, parked the car very conveniently and wisely right in front of the best donuts and pastry shop in the neighbourhood and stepped in to have a bite before hitting the sightseeing objects. We walked out with a huge cinnamon roll donut covered with chocolate frosting and a cherry pastry. The donut was gone like the first snow and even the fingers weren't sticky, they got so clean. The cherry pie was OK too.
First sightseeing object turned out to be first beach on our walk, where we had a good look at the famous Mackinaw Bridge with the length of appr. 5 miles. We continued walking along the shore to the bridge. Visited the souvenir shop and walked under the bridge and then some in the town.
For the afternoon we had a bike trip on Mackinac island scheduled and like any reasonable tourist, we went to have lunch before that. We chose a brewery that had lot of positive reviews in Internet. Before we even managed to order some food, we saw on the menu that in this bar the recommended tip for service should be 8 dollars and we can also share our praise for the food and bier in sending the kitchen and service crew a round. We ordered two appetizers to share - loaded potato chips with bacon, blue cheese, chicken and sour cream and beef tacos. This type of loaded potatoes is an everyday or everymenu thing in this country - french fries are soaked in cheese sauce or nachos covered with guacamole and cheese or in this case, chips with all the mentioned. How to eat that is also nobrainer for an average American - fingerfood (or rather hand- or elbowfood, because that's where the oil gets to) is also very common here. We weren't grateful enough to the service and kitchen staff to leave 8 dollar tip and buy drinks worth of the gun budget of North-Korea for the all crew, so after paying the bill and leaving a reasonable tip, we left and returned to the hotel. One of us had a little nap.
We arrived in the harbor, loaded ourselves and bikes on the ferry, sat down in the first row like the good students ever and stranded 15 minutes later on Mackinac island. It's a car free island, where people move around using legs, bikes or horses. Bike rental must be the main income of the island, considering that daily bike rent was 62 dollars. My old school Schwinn got several admiring looks though. We started with the east coast of the island and made first climbing stop by an arch rock, which offered breathtaking views over crystal clear turquoise water and white beaches. We chose one and biked there. The one, who grew up in a Nordic country, jumped in for a quick swim and after we had a little picnic too. We kept biking, looked at the Mackinaw bridge and noticed that the water on the west coast is way muddier. We walked up the hill and made our way back to the harbour town. From there we made a quick trip to the terrace of the Grand Hotel and enjoyed the views that the customers, who used last minute deal of 350 dollars a room, could enjoy from their windows. Watched the sunset on the beach, bought some fudge and returned to the harbour to catch the prelast ferry back to mainland.
Before coming to US this time I was sure that on 4th of July I will see the most grandiose fireworks ever, but turned out that Ann Arbor, being the University town, doesn't think much of this trifling entertainment and only few flares went up the sky, fired by residents. Today, however, right before stranding, all flares in town were fired and while sailing to the harbour and a while after we had the chance to enjoy an impressive show.
After the coffee we walked to town, parked the car very conveniently and wisely right in front of the best donuts and pastry shop in the neighbourhood and stepped in to have a bite before hitting the sightseeing objects. We walked out with a huge cinnamon roll donut covered with chocolate frosting and a cherry pastry. The donut was gone like the first snow and even the fingers weren't sticky, they got so clean. The cherry pie was OK too.
First sightseeing object turned out to be first beach on our walk, where we had a good look at the famous Mackinaw Bridge with the length of appr. 5 miles. We continued walking along the shore to the bridge. Visited the souvenir shop and walked under the bridge and then some in the town.
For the afternoon we had a bike trip on Mackinac island scheduled and like any reasonable tourist, we went to have lunch before that. We chose a brewery that had lot of positive reviews in Internet. Before we even managed to order some food, we saw on the menu that in this bar the recommended tip for service should be 8 dollars and we can also share our praise for the food and bier in sending the kitchen and service crew a round. We ordered two appetizers to share - loaded potato chips with bacon, blue cheese, chicken and sour cream and beef tacos. This type of loaded potatoes is an everyday or everymenu thing in this country - french fries are soaked in cheese sauce or nachos covered with guacamole and cheese or in this case, chips with all the mentioned. How to eat that is also nobrainer for an average American - fingerfood (or rather hand- or elbowfood, because that's where the oil gets to) is also very common here. We weren't grateful enough to the service and kitchen staff to leave 8 dollar tip and buy drinks worth of the gun budget of North-Korea for the all crew, so after paying the bill and leaving a reasonable tip, we left and returned to the hotel. One of us had a little nap.
We arrived in the harbor, loaded ourselves and bikes on the ferry, sat down in the first row like the good students ever and stranded 15 minutes later on Mackinac island. It's a car free island, where people move around using legs, bikes or horses. Bike rental must be the main income of the island, considering that daily bike rent was 62 dollars. My old school Schwinn got several admiring looks though. We started with the east coast of the island and made first climbing stop by an arch rock, which offered breathtaking views over crystal clear turquoise water and white beaches. We chose one and biked there. The one, who grew up in a Nordic country, jumped in for a quick swim and after we had a little picnic too. We kept biking, looked at the Mackinaw bridge and noticed that the water on the west coast is way muddier. We walked up the hill and made our way back to the harbour town. From there we made a quick trip to the terrace of the Grand Hotel and enjoyed the views that the customers, who used last minute deal of 350 dollars a room, could enjoy from their windows. Watched the sunset on the beach, bought some fudge and returned to the harbour to catch the prelast ferry back to mainland.
Before coming to US this time I was sure that on 4th of July I will see the most grandiose fireworks ever, but turned out that Ann Arbor, being the University town, doesn't think much of this trifling entertainment and only few flares went up the sky, fired by residents. Today, however, right before stranding, all flares in town were fired and while sailing to the harbour and a while after we had the chance to enjoy an impressive show.
Kommentaare ei ole:
Postita kommentaar