MACKINAC ISLAND, MI. – The first time we visited this vacation hotspot in Northern Michigan we came largely to check out the golf. It appeared to be a well-kept secret on the Island that we should be uncovering – and it was.
The island’s iconic Grand Hotel has an 18-hole course that is well worth playing. The front nine by the hotel is called The Jewel and Tom Bendelow designed it in 1898. It offers a pleasant setting and the horse-drawn carriage ride to the back nine added a fun touch of the unusual.
Jerry Matthews, a Michigan architect, updated The Jewel in 1987 and designed the back nine, called The Woods, in 1994. A lot of golf history there, but Wawashkamo was another matter. This nine-holer was well away from where the action was on the Island and had much more history than the 18-holer.
Called Wawa, it was built in 1898 with Alex Smith the designer. You play this unusual layout using sand to create your own tees, feathered golf balls and hickory club. Just like the Island itself, its golf courses have lots of history. You get the idea.
All that was well and good, a story worth telling, and it produced our first travel writing award – a big boost as we were just getting this website going. That was in 2016. We’ve changed our thinking a lot since then.
While we did visit the Island just to watch the boats finish the storied Chicago-to-Mackinac yacht race a few years later, we thought this year would be a good time to visit Mackinac Island again with no pre-conceived ideas. It was a good idea.
In our many trips around the United States we have seen both golf and travel writing change, and we’ve needed to change with it. Covering just golf wasn’t enough. We started blending our travel destination stops with more family visits, then looked for other attractions to check out. That’s enriched our experiences.
That was especially true of our return to Mackinac Island. We visited like tourists this time. We enjoyed the 20-minute boat ride to the Island, when we crossed under the Mackinac Bridge, from the waters of Lake Michigan to the waters of Lake Huron. We took a two-hour carriage tour of the property. We sampled the fudge, which seemed to be on sale at every other storefront.
We also savored the food at the Chippewa Hotel and chowed down on those delicious pasties – an area-wide attraction – upon our return to our hotel in Mackinaw City. Yum!
Wish we had taken this approach sooner. Our arrival at the Island came after four straight days of great golf at the Boyne resorts (much more on this in our next destination post). We just wanted to get a fresh look at Michigan’s Upper Peninsula after that.
A couple hours’ drive from the Island was Manistique, a town with a 1.8-mile walking/biking trail along the shores of Lake Michigan. We enjoyed our 2-plus mile walk the first day so much that we stuck around another day to go even further. The route had signs giving information about the birds, fish and plants along the way. Very interesting stuff.
Our next stop is back to the wonderful world of golf — a one-hour drive from Manistique along Lake Michigan’s shores to the Island Resort & Casino in Harris, MI. We have two rounds scheduled at this destination, one on the Sweetgrass course that we believe is one of the best in Michigan, based on a stop we made in 2018. We’ll also get a sneak peek at a nine-holer that is under construction.
This stop, though, won’t be all about golf. Hopefully none of our others will be, either. We’ll be seeking more new adventures. Can’t wait to see what lies ahead, and we’ll tell you all about it.
