Visitor Information, News, Guide, Videos, Photos

All Blog Posts (134)

Arnold Line announces start of 2010 season

Great news for Mackinac Island fans. The 2010 season just got a little closer with today's announcement that Arnold Line will begin service to the island on Monday, March 15th. Intially three roundtrips daily, with perhaps the exception of no Sunday service. The schedule is not on their website as I write this, so there could be some changes from the information I know at present.

Knowing that the ferries are starting is my unofficial signal that spring has arrived and that the island o… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on March 11, 2010 at 12:20pm — No Comments

Postcard of the week

Once again I'm featuring a view of the present day Mission Point Resort on Mackinac Island - but it was the Moral Re-armament Assembly at the time this photograph was taken, which I would guess was sometime in the early 1950's, prior to when Small Point (B&B) was moved from its original location to where it rests today.

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Added by Mike Forrester on March 7, 2010 at 8:30am — 3 Comments

Mackinac Island morning

Each visit I make to Mackinac Island provides an opportunity for me to get up early and capture my favorite time on the island - morning. This is a short clip I cut together of morning life from a visit in June, 2009. There's no narration or music, just the natural sounds I heard while shooting the video.

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Added by Mike Forrester on February 28, 2010 at 5:00am — 1 Comment

mussers and Sadie

Sadie is Best in Show!!! Congrats!! Continue

Added by Katrina Raymor on February 19, 2010 at 4:00pm — 2 Comments

Pictures from the Winter Festival

It was a memorable visit to Mackinac Island last week for the Winter Festival. If you've never visited the island during the off-season, I highly recommend it! To help give you an idea of the sights, please be sure to look at some of the photos and videos from the visit. Here's a link to the photo album:
http://www.mackinacislandblog.com/photo/albums/winter-visit-to-mackinac

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Added by Mike Forrester on February 15, 2010 at 1:21pm — No Comments

Meeting Mike

Pleasure meeting you and the girls this weekend at the Cottage Inn. Looking forward to your next visit. Thanks for all your computer help. Marge Continue

Added by marge lind on February 11, 2010 at 5:32pm — No Comments

A walk around downtown Mackinac Island

On Sunday, February 7th, I decided to head out for a walk around downtown, then up Crow's Nest Trail to the East Bluff. In addition to taking pictures and HD video, I carry a Flip video camera that fits in my shirt pocket. This video was shot with the small, handheld camera.

The noise you hear near the docks are the pumps for the bubblers around the pilings that help in keeping ice from forming around them and possibly doing damage.

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Added by Mike Forrester on February 11, 2010 at 8:00am — 2 Comments

A visit to Anne's Tablet

If you are a regular reader, then you probably know that Anne's Tablet is one of my favorite spots on the island. On Sunday morning, it was time to venture up Crow's Nest Trail for the short walk to Anne's Tablet along the snow-covered trail. The light snow left t

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Added by Mike Forrester on February 9, 2010 at 1:09pm — 2 Comments

A cold morning on Mackinac Island

The air temperature this morning was in the single digits. With a lack of wind, it really wasn't too bad, so I ventured out for some pictures and video. I found the Chippewa and Ottawa boats tied up at the Arnold Dock. This afternoon, I'm headed to the Winter Festi… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on February 6, 2010 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

The flight to Mackinac Island

After a good day of travel, we boarded the next to last portion of the trip in St. Ignace - the flight to Mackinac Island. Great Lakes Air was making frequent round trips as they were taking construction workers off the island and quite a few residents...and visitors, back. Here's the entire five minute flight.

I have loaded additional videos on our YouTube page and
some photos on the MIB… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on February 4, 2010 at 10:44pm — 4 Comments

It's time for the Winter Festival on Mackinac Island

Get ready for a weekend full of pictures and video from Mackinac Island. I've only visited the island once before during the winter (New Year's 1999), so I'm looking forward to this visit quite a bit! When I first decided to make the trip, I mentioned it to friend and blog member Brenda Horton who soon decided that she and her friend Dawn, also from Georgia, would hop a ride in the rental car with me from Flint to St. Ignace. When Jill from the Island Bookstore heard of our doings, she joined in… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on February 4, 2010 at 8:00am — 11 Comments

Winter Pictures from Mackinaw City

Jill from the Island Bookstore shared these pictures with me from her December visit to the island. I'm guessing the amount of snow is not much different today, but I will know for sure on Thursday.

Boats rest comfortably ashore to avoid damage from the ice.

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Added by Mike Forrester on February 2, 2010 at 2:00pm — 4 Comments

webcams at daytime

wow!! I finally got to see the webcams at 5pm with the sun going down. It was awesome. You should look at them when the sun's going down..... Continue

Added by Larry Razek on January 31, 2010 at 5:09pm — No Comments

Winter has re-arrived on the island

Not even a week ago, much of the snow on the island had melted thanks to warm temperatures and a good rain. Fortunately, that weather anomaly seems to have departed as the forecast has decidedly returned to winter! Temperatures have been in the teens and are dipping even lower when the wind chill is included.

Here's The Weather Channel forecast for the weekend: http://www.weather.com/weather/weekend/49757

This morning the t… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on January 29, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

'Ice Bridge' movie releases new widescreen trailer

If you haven't seen 'Ice Bridge' you really should. It's a look at Mackinac Island that the majority of visitors never see. The filmmakers have just posted a new trailer for the film which continues to gather accolades from film festivals and fans.

I purchased a copy of the film about 18 months ago and was fortunate enough to meet the filmmakers last summer during a visit to the island. They've produced a film that only someone who lives on the island could make.… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on January 24, 2010 at 2:30pm — 3 Comments

Mackinac Island Winter Festival is February 6 & 7

Wanting to see Mackinac Island in a different wardrobe? Winter has wrapped itself around the island making for a very unique experience. In just a couple of weeks, the 34th annual Winter Festival will get underway with some winter events including snow golf, a snowmobile parade and snow volleyball.

The big event for me, however, is the chance to look through all the photographs being considered for the 2012 'Seasons of Mackinac' calendar during the Sunday events at the school gymnasium.… Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on January 20, 2010 at 5:00am — 7 Comments

Chat tab has moved

The 'Chat' tab has been moved and can now be found as a drop down menu on the 'Members' tab. All the other tabs remain the same at this time. The Chat option at the bottom right corner of the page has not changed. Continue

Added by Mike Forrester on January 19, 2010 at 5:23pm — No Comments

Ice on the Straits of Mackinac

I came across this video posted two days ago on YouTube by a gentleman that lives in Mackinaw City. It gives you a good idea of how icy the Straits of Mackinac is becoming. He also posted some videos of the outhouse races last weekend during the Winterfest in Mackinaw City.

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Added by Mike Forrester on January 19, 2010 at 1:30am — No Comments

cams

It's nice to see the cam back up and running.... Continue

Added by Larry Razek on January 14, 2010 at 10:29pm — No Comments

Too Victorian

Part of the charm of Anne Cottage is missing!! The fabulous Chinese and Japanese antique export furnishings are gone. They were unbelievable! Also the stunning formal dining room set manufactured by the Grand Rapids Furniture Company was extraordinary. Lots of chess games were played in the elegant foyer with its marvelous Italian antiques. Some of you will remember them. Looks like thereshould be a NEW remodel done to make it all look less cluttered... Hopefully the Georgian Bay Line panelling… Continue

Added by anne on January 14, 2010 at 2:30pm — No Comments