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I am lucky enough to live close to mackinaw island and it is as amazing as the picture says. For people who don’t know mackinaw island is an island in one of the lakes surrounding Michigan and it has banned vehicles (except for essential businesses like repairs). You’ve got a super walkable island, bikes everywhere, no one complaining about the no vehicles, horses everywhere too. It’s amazing and I wish I could have that in lower Michigan .
It’s actually so idealistic the houses for permanent residents on the island are ungodly expensive. Millionaires only get to live full time there.
Meh. Last time I visited it was just another overcrowded tourist trap full of generic souvenir stores and storefronts full of the same "local goods" found in every tourist attraction in the country, only instead of vehicle exhaust the main street smelled like manure and stale fry oil. The fort was neat, I guess, and the fudge was good (I mean, it's fudge), but overall it was pretty underwhelming.
Without all the tourists it would probably be a pretty nice place.
So it’s kind of a trip that really is up to you how it goes. I went expecting tourist stuff off the boat and quickly just got a bike and zoomed around the island enjoying nature. I came back to the main town when I was hungry and having a ton of options was nice. I’d also really prefer the horse smells to cars, horse poop and all. I grew up with farms around me all the time so cow poop smell during fertilizer season is real normal to me. Also picking up like 5 pounds of fudge before I left was nice lol. Disclaimer: I went outside of peak season so maybe it’s different during the huge wave of tourists.
I went during off season with a group of friends and had the exact same experience. There were times we didn't see anyone. Most people we saw were in the early mornings, those stopping by to shop and such.
That sounds ideal. I was with a family including small children, which meant we walked everywhere, and slowly. The kids easily grew bored with the historical stuff, which necessarily meant I couldn't really enjoy it myself. It was not ideal.
Same. After moving to Michigan I saw Mackinac Island in every list of things to do in the state and so far it has been one of the most borings one
I love the UP and sleeping bear dunes (and the whole area around Traverse City) but the island just felt as a very generic tourist trap with horses and for some reason they think it's the only place to get fudge 🤷
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Beautiful!
Mackinac*