• Saturday-What'sUP June 3 - 04:23 am

From yesterday's visit to the humble Phoenix Store, we jump eastward to revisit the luxurious Grand Hotel. The island is heating up with the arrival of flocks of visitors, many for their first time in the U.P. We hope they will have the opportunity to discover the rest of this enchanting peninsula, from St. Ignace to Ironwood, Marquette to Iron Mountain, the Soo to Escanaba. And of course, no visit to the U.P. would be complete without a stop in the Copper Country, where the Pasty Cam originates each morning.

Our discussion about lilacs on Thursday's What'sUP reminded me of the sea of color which surrounds the Grand Hotel this time of year. The whole U.P. undergoes such a radical transformation from April to June, and the again from September to November. Too bad the vast majority of short term visitors pass through Upper Michigan during the period between these amazing days of change, for the most part because of schedules dictated by the school year.

Our thanks to Daryl Laitila for her panorama of the Grand Hotel, and to Jon Jacobson of PictureMichigan.com for more scenes from the Straits.

Gorgeous! We'll be there in late July and I can't wait!

Looks great. 6 days till I'm back in the CC.

We have visited Mackinac Island several times but have never walked on the Porch!

My Mothers favorite Movie is "Somewhere in Time" with Jane Seymour and Cristopher Reeves, that shows the Grand Hotel from many views, including the porch. If you have never seen the movie I highly recommend it. They actually allowed cars to be on the Island for the movie, which is set in the early 1900's and 1970's.

I just love the Grand.I attended several Winsome Women Retreats there. It was a most awesome place to stay and we got to stay there for a very reasonable rate during the retreats.It is a most special and beautiful place.

I was on Mackinaw Island last weekend for my grandniece's wedding and the lilacs were just starting to bloom. Sure made me want to go back this weekend. The aroma was already very sweet and I can just imagine what it is like when they are all in bloom. Maybe I'll run for governor so I can stay there at taxpayer expense during lilac time!

Looking forward to end of July Deb. Only 53 days. Cant wait. Anyone else going up for the bridge 50th anniversary?

Great shot of a great place

I haven't been on the actual grounds of the Grand Hotel since I was a kid, but we've ridden past it on carriage rides several times in the past few years, and it is always beautiful. I've visited their website, and they seem to have some fairly good deals off-season...maybe someday!

Theresa - I have to agree with you about "Somewhere in Time"...one of my very favorite movies as well. Did you know they actually had to move the gazebo that was featured in the movie to a safer location on the island, because fans were stealing pieces of it? I find it so sad that people are like that.

How do we spell Mackinac/Mackinaw?
State of Michigan map says:Mackinac County, Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island, Mackinaw City, Mackinac Bridge Fare. I guess we know what it means when we see either spelling!

No Anna I didn't know that. I need to return to the spot where the two characters met in the film. I am watching the movie as I type, cause all the memories of the Island have been Flooding me (Notice reference to TS Barry) since I wrote the above posting. It's still raining here in Tampa, but my heart and mind is in the UP. Oh by the way thanks for posting the pic of actor Christopher Reeve leaning against the car and the link to the past Pasty Cam from 2005. I didn't know you guys could do that. :)

WE WERE THERE TWO SUMMERS AGO. JANE SEYMOUR WAS FILMING A COMMERCIAL OR SOMETHING , SHE SURE IS TINY, THE PLACE WAS ALL ABUZZ. WE HAD TO PAY $10.00 EACH TO WALK THRU THE HOTEL, BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. IF I START SAVING NOW WE MAY BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO ACTUALLY STAY ONE NIGHT NEXT SUMMER........

I love to visit Mackinac Island and see the Grand Hotel. That is a beautiful picture of it, with the fountain in front! Daryl, thank you for the link to your slide show. I have not been over on the island for several years, and I've never been there at lilac time. Lilac time on the island is beautiful. Your slide show brings back many memories over a number of years for me, Daryl. Thank you all!

And, I had forgotten about the movie, Somewhere in Time, you all. I am going to have to find it and watch it again soon!

Pennie it's sure a good thing we have you to keep the countdown going for us. We can't wait either.

Wow, thanks for pointing out the link back to 2005. At first, I couldn't figure out why I didn't remember seeing that picture before, but then I realized that we were actually on the road to the UP that day! Bad coincidence, because if it had been a day earlier, I would have known to go look for that marker. Guess I'll just have to go back. ;-)

Paul
The area known as "Michilimakinac to was originally called MICHINNIMAKINONG by the Indians who were here when the French arrived from the North in 1715. The French corrupted the “n” sound with an “I”. (The Indian vocabulary did not contain an “I”.) They also replaced the soft “sh” sound with the “ch”. The ending was heard and pronounced as “aw” by the French, but in their spelling it became the “ac”.

The British, who came from the South and defeated the French, heard the term pronounced as “w” and also spelled it that way in English. Thus you will see on the map that Mackinaw City is in the Southern Peninsula and that all other names ending with the “ac” spelling, with the exception of Fort Michilimackinac, are in the Northern Peninsula.

The area was known also as the “Land of the Great Turtle” from the shape of the island and included Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, St. Ignace and all of the Strait of Mackinac Area, and became simply, “Mackinac” instead of the longer “Michilimackinac”. (The term strait as singular is correct, but usage by early sailors gradually changed it to the plural “Straits”.)

The original Indian word “MICHINNIMAKINONG” is translated as follows: MISH - great; INNI - connecting sound; MAKI - fault; NONG - land or place. The literal translation is the “land of the great fault”.

Mackinac Island has a large crevice or crack and the term was used by the early Indians as an identifying description to fellow travelers and voyageurs.

So, whichever way you see it spelled - ac or aw - it is always pronounced MACKINAW!

Has anyone seen one of Thomas Kinkade's newest paintings of Mac Island ? It is so good you'll feel like your right there on the Island, if you look close enouigh you will see Jane and Christopher too !

I love Thomas Kinkade. Where did you see this painting? I really want to see it for myself.

I saw it recently at a Kinkade Gallery, (in a mall). It was painted in 2006.
It was easy to find on the enternet, but not nearly as impressive as the real thing on canvas.

The really neat thing about it was I knew the second I saw it it was Mac Island, and not because of the bridge or the hotel, but because of the magic of the place and Kinkade captured it.

Kinkade is like that. You know immediately when it's something he's done. I can't wait to see it. If you haven't read his Cape Light series, you really should. They're really a great read.

http://www.kraftmstr.com/kinkade/k213/

Bob. Thank you for the explanation of nac/naw. My Mother in law,God rest her soul, all ways pronounced it "nack".

Hold those lilacs for mid-June when I'll leave THIS island in CA to celebrate Father's Day with brother and kids on THAT island! By the way, THIS island (Santa Catalina) is back in business after our very harrowing fire scare. Most of our little harbor town of Avalon was spared (thanks to many heros) & looks normal; however over 4,000 acres of beloved parts of the interior were devastated. Recovery has already begun!