hiking, biking, and then…

more hiking around.  after the long walk and shorter bike ride, we sat in the park at the other end of main street from our hotel and watched the horses and bikes and people.  it was nice to just sit there, but for some reason, and i can’t remember why, we decided to walk up the hill towards the fort.

the fort had just closed, and i know what we knew that – maybe we just wanted to walk because it was a beautiful day, and because we could.

here’s the governor’s house on mackinac.  he wasn’t home.

we walked around a quiet road and ended up on the side of the island with the bridge in the background again.

there was a little path along the west bluffs, and along the path were many big and beautiful victorian homes.

the path was narrow, and not very long.  and we were the only ones on it.

beautiful flowers!  next year, i’m going to have more big flowers like that.

here’s the turnstile at the end of the path, i guess so bikes and horses wouldn’t be inclined to try to get on it.  and here’s a wagonfull of tourists!

i loved this row of houses.

more beautiful gardens!  i think we heard a phone ringing in one house, but didn’t see anybody around.

 

!!!

ok, i looked up this house, it’s called Cairngorm.  if you click on the link you can see photos of the beautiful interior – it’s for sale, for 5.8 million dollars!  but you get a real deal, because the furnishings are included!  i guess they do real estate like that a lot there on mackinac, because of the huge expense of hauling stuff on and off the island.  you’d hope that everybody had some good taste in furnishings, since maybe stuff isn’t changed out so much.

look how big and beautiful it is!  i strongly recommend that you look at the link, to see the fabulous inside.  and if you have some money saved up for a second home, you should buy it.  and invite us to stay.

i don’t know if you can see the pony stuff animal hanging off the balcony.

i did notice that some of these grand “cottages,” as they call them, are for rent, but there’s a month-long requirement.  i couldn’t find any rental prices online, but most of them have so many bedrooms and bathrooms, i bet they cost a pretty penny.

speaking of which – at the end of the street, there was the grand hotel, in all its grandness!

as we passed the famous enormous front porch, a michigan party was in full swing.  we didn’t stop inside, because they chage $10 a person to even enter the lobby.  i’m sure they must have been invaded by everybody before they started charging.  our plan was to have lunch there the next day, anyway.

we walked back down the hill and found a nice little pub to have some delicious dinner.  i had a chicken sandwich with yummy sweet potato fries, and kevin had one of the fanciest chicken pot pies i’ve seen.

after dinner we strolled down main street again and stopped in at the only grocery store.  i bought a tiny bottle of riesling.  

we were admiring the baked goods, and a woman told us about these cookies – she said she travelled internationally, and always got them on planes (is that what she said? she must travel first class on some pretty nice planes!), and she loved them.  she said there was caramel in the middle, and you set one on top of your cup of coffee and it heats up the coffee. sold.

we bought a bag, and tried them the next morning and they were, indeed, quite delicious.  sweet but not too sweet.  i found them on amazon and bought a good amount.  click here for the link.  they’re called stroopwafels.  i highly recommend them.

and that’s it for our first busy day!

ok then,

mrs. already the backside of mid october hughes.