After enjoying an early morning walk and photography
along the shore, I changed and we walked to the Little Stone Church
for the 10:30AM service. The seasonal Congregational Church is served by
retired pastors. When we attended a few years earlier, it was a United
Methodist pastor and this year it is Rev. Dr. Dan Hans, who is ordained
in the Presbyterian Church.
The music was fabulous. The Music Director, Karen Hughes
Beacom, is a professor at Lake Superior State College and has performed
in operas around the world. She played piano and organ and was joined by
Alan and Lori Jacobus on bassoon and flute.
Following the service, there was a reception on the grounds
behind the church with some nice treats, but we assume that most people
were visitors like us and everyone was in little clusters, making it hard
to start a conversation.
Little Stone Church
Lori Jacobus, Karen Hughes Beacom, Alan Jacobus
We went on to lunch at Kingston Kitchen at the Village
Inn, a wonderful restaurant which Chef/Owner, Jamaican born, Shawn
Fearon opened two years ago. Shawn's culinary career began on Mackinac
Island twenty years earlier and he also has Kingston Kitchen in Okemos,
Michigan.
A staff shortage made service suffer a little, but everyone
in the restaurant worked hard to cover for each other and do as well as
they could. I had the Caribbean Classic (Sautéed chicken, shrimp,
onions, tri-color peppers tossed in a zesty boom boom sauce and served
with seasonal vegetables and red beans & rice) accompanied with ginger
beer (soft drink), while Linda had a Tomahawk Pork Chop (Berkshire heritage
breed tomahawk cut pork chop topped with caramelized walnuts, mango &
liquid gold sauce and served with seasonal vegetables and homemade smashed
potatoes).
I loved the flavor of the spicy boom boom sauce and how
it went with both the entree and the red beans and rice. After more than
70 meals over the years on Mackinac Island I think I enjoyed this dish
the most! Linda's pork chop was also great and her leftovers made a nice
breakfast the next morning. Linda had requested that the liquid gold sauce
be left off. While I am sure she enjoyed the dish much more without the
house made mustard based sauce, I suspect that I would have found it to
be heavenly.
Kingston Kitchen at the Village Inn
Tomahawk Pork Chop and Caribbean Classic
After a return to our hotel and a change of clothes, we
walked to Jack's Livery Stable where they set us up with a self
drive carriage and a Percheron named Bill. The staff are very accommodating
and gave us extensive info on the routes we could take and specific details
about the individual horses, such as Bill would try to graze on the tall
grass along M-185 and how to overcome that.
We were going out along the lake shore and another party
was just leaving to go that way, so they had us wait 15 minutes, to allow
for separation between the carriages. When we left, Adam took the reigns
and walked beside us through the first two turns giving instructions and
tips for driving the carriage. Only one person drives and Linda generously
took the reigns so I could take photos during the entire trip.
Percherons are gentle giants and we were hardly a load
for Bill, but he knew he was in charge and was in no hurry. He walked at
a leisurely pace and wouldn't speed up to even a fast walk for more than
a couple of seconds, not matter what we did. It was a little frustrating,
but still fun and the slow pace let me see things along the shore that
I have missed while bicycling the route at a much faster pace.
Bill was so slow that the carriage behind us caught up
to us before we went the three miles to British Landing. The couple in
the carriage behind us apologized that no matter what they did, their horse
went faster than they wanted and they stayed close behind us.
After passing through British Landing and speaking briefly
with Mike, who was stationed there to assist people who had rented
carriages, we found a quieter, wider spot where we could pull to the side
and let the other carriage go by. Seeing that carriage pull away inspired
Bill and he kept up with them for the trip back through the interior of
the Island and that part of the ride was more fun. Our route went through
the 1814 battlefield and part of the ride was on road I had not been on
before.
Back at Jack's Livery Stable, we had a chat with the couple
who had passed us, who we learned were on a long road trip from (I believe)
California and that they had become engaged earlier in the trip. Their
horse was named Belle. We gave them my card and they emailed a couple of
days later so I could send them photos of them and their carriage.
The ride took nearly two hours, though the nice people
voluntarily took a little time off the rental when I mentioned Bill's speed.
This was a lot of fun and something we will do again.
Jack's Livery Stable
Adam and Bill
Driving along the west shore on M-185, the only Michigan State Highway
where cars are not permitted.
Anne Hildebrand and her fiancé Chris Severino with Belle
Bill, Linda and Keith
Back in town, we walked Market Street, the somewhat quieter
street, one block off Main Street, with more galleries, public buildings
and year around businesses like a bank and the post office. We window shopped
at the real estate office, which had the fewest listing we have seen in
years of checking it out. We also visited the Biddle House, a museum
in an 1830 merchants house. It has recently been redone to tell more of
the story of Agatha Biddle and the indigenous people on Mackinac Island.
There is also a blacksmith shop where that craft is demonstrated.
Native American history exhibits in the Biddle House
Mackinac Island has many more museums including Fort Mackinac,
which was built during the American Revolution, but we have visited all
of them several times and didn't return to them during this short two day
stay.
After coming back down Main Street, we stopped for an
early supper at the new Great Turtle Brewery & Distillery in
the old Goodfellows location. We had BBQ chicken flat bread and whitefish,
which were both good and we decided to return in the evening to try some
of the great looking appetizers.
After a relaxing evening at the hotel (much of it on the
porch) we returned to the distillery just after 9PM, only to learn that
they closed at 9. Not wanting to end the evening this early, we walked
down to the Pink Pony for a second night. We enjoyed another set by Myk
Rise, while having baked whitefish dip, deep fried whitefish fingers and
Blake's Hard Cider, which was available on draft.
