Meandering through Michigan, Part 2
Welcome back! I will now continue my story about my solo road trip around Michigan! After waking up in Traverse City, I drove to Mackinac Island. I parked my car and hopped on a ferry to take me to the island. Remember, there are no cars on this island except for an emergency vehicle or two. I had packed my bicycle helmet because I knew I would rent a bike to ride around the island. When I had visited the island years ago with my family, we had rented bikes. There is a road that goes along the shore of the island and is approximately 8 miles long. My dad, sister, and I had ridden around while my mom walked around the shops. Knowing I would ride a bike, I decided to play it safe and bring my own helmet. I also did not want to rent a helmet that someone else had used before. Most people did not wear helmets as they rode, but I tend to follow the saying, “Better safe than sorry!”
According to my itinerary, I rented a bike from Ryba’s Bicycle Rental. I most likely chose them because they had a coupon and/or a good deal that I found online. In one of my future blog posts, I will write about how I research my destinations and how I structure my itineraries, so keep a look out for that! Anyway, after getting my rental, I started to ride around the island. I started on the south end of the island and made my way to the east to go counterclockwise around the island.
I stopped every once in awhile for breaks and to admire the views. One such view was the Arch Rock. You guessed it, it is a rock formation in the shape of an arch! It is actually pretty stunning, and I walked several wooden steps up the hillside to view this rock. It was a long way up, but it was worth it! Apparently, it is limestone and is rare; I looked it up on the Internet (also known as Wikipedia haha) to see if there were any cool facts to share with you.
I continued on my eight mile ride and worked up quite the appetite, so after I returned my bike, I went to a few fudge shops. Mackinac Island is known for their fudge, and I had heard that you can go in and ask for a free sample, so I may have done that at two or three or maybe more shops! I did not buy any fudge, but I believe the shopkeepers are used to people coming in for free samples. For dinner, I ate at Pink Pony; I remember this because I remember getting a drink in a glass with the picture of a pink horse on it! I then rode the ferry back to the mainland where I had a hotel reservation in Mackinaw City, Michigan. I originally wanted to stay a night on the island, but all of the hotels are super expensive on the island. Also, I could not find any that were refundable; they were mostly non-refundable except you could get refunded if you cancelled your reservation at least a week or more before your stay! That to me was ridiculous! I do not like booking things that are non-refundable because I am afraid something will happen, I will have to cancel, and then I would be out of a lot of money. I just do not like committing to things either. Also, I was having a hard time finding available rooms; I believe there was some sort of convention going on at the time, so I just got a hotel on the mainland. There are some things I will splurge on during vacations and other things that I do not need to splurge on. In this case, I wanted to splurge on my experiences rather than on lodging. Do not worry though! I do spend enough money to stay in safe areas! Well, that concludes my story of my second day on my solo Michigan road trip. Come back later to read about the rest of my trip!
