Grand Hotel Day 2

 Here are some pictures from the morning of our second day on Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel.  So, our first breakfast...

Dancing the Night Away

 At the Grand Hotel, after the amazing five course dinner each night, the lounge opens up and a live band plays dancing music.  They rock songs from all the eras and take requests.

Our crew had a ton of fun dancing together.

Fun At the Grand Hotel 1

 We had such a blast on Mackinac Island and staying at the Grand Hotel.  We did as much in two days as I think our group could have possibly done.

In my last post I explained what makes Mackinac Island so unique (no cars, horses and bicycles for travel on the island, and you have to get there by ferry).  What makes the Grand Hotel so unique is that is the largest hotel in the world that only opens for the summer.  It has the largest front porch in the world.  It also requires coat and tie dress code in the lobby and the dining room after 6:30pm.

It has a high tea in the afternoon complete with a harpist, breakfast and dinner are included in the cost of a room, and both breakfast and dinner is a five course meal.

The grounds are gorgeous with tennis courts, gardens, croquet, pools, and large chess and checkers courts.  A swing band plays every night after dinner in one of the lounges, and guests can dance for hours.  It is unlike anywhere else in the world.

Making the couple of days even more special is that we were there with my parents, but also my brother and sister-in-law, and my nephew.

So, our first day at the Grand Hotel consisted of checking in to the room (which was a suite that we shared with my parents and had plenty of room for our family of 8 and my parents -- my brother and his family were in a different room), leaving Hunter and Brady to nap, and the four big kids and I walked into town where they were allowed to spend some of their birthday money if they wanted to on a small souvenir.  We bought some fudge, and the kids found petoskey stones on the shore of the lake.

Then, the kids quickly went to the pool before we needed to be dressed to gather as a family before dinner.

Here are a few pictures leading up to dinner.

Arriving on Mackinac Island

 Mackinac Island is a really unique place which is only open to tourist during the summer months, and there are no cars on the island.  The only transportation is bicycle, horses/horse and carriage, or walking.

In order to get to the island, you take a Ferry across the northern part of Lake Huron.  There are views of the Mackinac Bridge as you cross the lake.  The Mackinac Bridge is 5 miles long and connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.

Here are some pictures of our getting to Mackinac Island and our first minutes getting settled at The Grand Hotel.