After lunch, when we were in Frankenmuth, we took a ride on the Cass River. It was a lovely ride and the captain was so interesting telling us about the history of the area. He pointed out this dock, and the handicapped accessible kayak launch. I had never heard of anything like that.

I was unaware that onion domes are also prominent in Bavarian architecture until the captain pointed it out. I strictly think of them as Russian. It seems that they were originally used in Bavaria to keep snow off the roofs. I had no idea.

The last stop on our trip was in Frankenmuth, Michigan, a town with very deep German roots. We started off our day there with a pretzel making class at the Bavarian Inn. Originally it was scheduled to be a strudel making class, but they didn’t have enough instructors to help us – apparently strudel requires more assistance than pretzels. We each started off with a ball of dough that was already made up. Next step was rolling it out into a snake, and then we made it into a U, which is pictured here.

A couple of more pictures from the ferry as we were leaving Mackinac Island. Perfect day to be out on the water, even in a ferry.

We boarded the ferry early in the morning to head off on the final leg of our journey, to Frankenmuth, MI. On the ride over, with the storm, we couldn’t sit outside on the ferry, but it was such a beautiful day when we were heading back that we opted to do just that. We had a wonderful view of the Mackinaw Bridge that we had crossed coming from the Upper Peninsula on our way just a couple of days before.

Summer that night was at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth. Where in Wisconsin there was a strong Scandinavian heritage, in Frankenmuth it was all German. We had a family style supper with a Bavarian Combination Platter as the main course, and it was delicious.

We stayed out walking and enjoying the island until after dark, and I got this picture of Main Street as we were heading back into our hotel. As beautiful at night as in the daytime.

One more random picture, of the altar at the Little Stone Church we found while exploring in the afternoon. One more spot of beautiful on that little island.

We had the afternoon and evening free when we were on the island, to spend as we chose, so we just walked from the Grand Hotel back to Main Street to do a little exploring. We ran across The Little Stone Church, which I believe was built around the turn of the last century. So beautiful and picturesque.

Right down on Main Street we found The Pink Pony, with this hanging overhead outside. A friend at church who had been to the island before had told me they stayed right next to The Pink Pony, and recommended it for supper. That had been our plan, but we were still so stuffed from our lunch at The Grand Hotel that we just had Lance crackers and a coke, and were stuffed after that 🙂

When we were on Mackinac Island, we had a spectacular lunch at The Grand Hotel, and then spent some time exploring the site. Even the clock about the elevator was so fancy.

Our meal was fantastic, and our waiter told us not to miss visiting the cuppola on the top floor of the hotel, that the views were incredible. He was not wrong.

Wednesday of our trip we spent the day on Mackinac Island, and spent our morning on a carriage ride around the island. Unlike other carriage rides I have taken in other cities, carriages is one of the only ways to get around on Mackinac Island – no motorized vehicles of any kind allowed. The ride was interesting and the island beautiful. They weren’t blooming, but they have more varieties of lilacs growing there than anywhere else in the country, as well as the oldest and biggest in North America. I would LOVE to be there someday when they bloom. This is one of the very old trees – well over 100 years old.

One stop on our tour was at Mackinac Island State Park. The views from the lookout at Arch Rock were absolutely breathtaking.

We stopped for lunch in Michigan on our way to Mackinac Island, and the flowers there was just as beautiful as the ones we saw in Wisconsin.