I'm Baaaaackkkk!

The Grand Hotel---Mackinac Island is the most incredibly beautiful place I've ever been---talk about luxury! The island is exactly what I expected Martha's Vineyard to be (and was really disappointed when we visited there). You truly feel like you've stepped back in time. No cars allowed, bikes and horses only. Very quaint with darling houses perfectly landscaped with beautiful gardens. The hotel itself was built in 1887 and contains most of the original furniture. Each of the 450 rooms are decorated differently---no two alike. The entire place is very colorful and inviting. The front porch is 650 feet long with 1000 red geraniums and 100 white rockers. I had expected to park myself there for most of the week to read and stitch. There was so much to do that I only did that for about 3 hours one day.

You have to dress for dinner and the guys had to have coats and ties everywhere in the hotel after 6 p.m. We girls loved getting all "gussied" up---but the guys weren't too thrilled. The dining room was to my liking with cloth tablecloths, fresh flower arrangements, china and crystal. The original china was made in St. Louis and was in a display case in the grand parlour. I thought that was pretty interesting.

I took the garden tour and Butch joined me for the historic lecture. I love all the educational "stuff"! I just want to know everything!

There were so many activities---it was great to see the kids having the run of the place. They had a great carnival on Tuesday and Wednesday with really good prizes. Butch had a good time winning stuff too. You know how he likes free stuff! This was such a family oriented place----we highly recommend it, but wait until most of the kids are 5 and older. They have to be 5 to participate in all the children's programs. It's an all inclusive type place---breakfast and dinner, on your own for lunch (we mostly had lunch at the pool).

The best part---this vacation was about half the price of Disney!!! We'll definitely be going back.