Ken & Dawn Ellis
Vacation 2001
Mackinac Island - Great Lakes - Niagara Falls
Day 3 - Monday, August 27th, 2001
Monday, we visited
Bronner's Family Christmas Wonderland,
the largest Christmas decorations store in the world! The place is so big
they divide it into zones! We heard one woman entered the store in September
and didn't find her way out till after Thanksgiving!
As we traveled north, we stopped briefly at a church with an enormous cross
with the figure of Christ.
Continuing on, we left lower Michigan behind, crossed the
Big Mac Bridge
to the upper peninsula. Three of the largest freshwater lakes on the face of
the globe form the peninsula's shoreline.
In order to get to Mackinac Island, we boarded a
ferry
for a 15 minute journey.
As we stepped off the ferry onto the dock at
Mackinac Island,
it was like stepping back in time. There are no motorized vehicles on the
island, just horses and bicycles. We boarded a
horse drawn carriage.
for our ride to the
Grand Hotel
where we spend the next two nights. The Grand Hotel certainly lives up to its
name. Its stands majestically on a hill crest looking down over the town below
and out over the lake. The colonial white columns that line the front of the
Hotel give it unmatched style and class. The front porch lined with rocking
chairs stretches longer than a football field. And the bar on the fourth floor
has a unobstructed view that stretches from sunrise to sunset.
Meals at the Grand Hotel are something to write home about. The
dining room
seats 500 and you are served in style by waiters in formal atire. After 6:00
PM, coats and ties are required inside the Grand. Dinner is a formal occasion
and possibly the high point of any day. Each evening the chefs bring out their
masterpieces. Dinner is a five course extravaganzas!
After getting through the first four courses, my belt was beginning to feel a
little snug. But the best was still to come! For dissert, I chose the 'Grand
Hotel Pecan Ball', a perfectly formed round ball of the finest vanilla ice
cream rolled with a thick covering of candy coated pecans, and resting on a bed
of hot fudge! To Die for! I calmly told Dawn, "we're not leaving here till I
eat every bite of this - no matter how long it takes!'
We took an evening stroll up the hill from the Hotel's location. The sun was
setting across the lake, beside the Big Mac Bridge as we walked by some of the
most magnificent Victorian houses we had ever seen.
Shortcuts to Pictures:
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Day 8
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Day 9
Vacation 2001
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Ken & Dawn Ellis