We arrived in Mackinaw City the following morning, it was cold but beautifully sunny. A perfect day for moving onto an island in Northern Michigan. We both had forgotten how crystal clear the waters of northern Lake Huron really were, the water at the ferry docks was the clearest water we’ve seen since the Bahamas.
We unloaded all of our stuff onto a luggage cart, purchased our commuter pack of ferry tickets and then parked the car at the state park lot a few blocks away. We made it onto the 10 a.m. ferry, which just happened to be one of the Mighty Mac tours that takes you under the Mackinac Bridge before heading to the island. We, of course, sat up on the top deck even though we had to wear all of our winter gear. A magical way to start our new island life.
Adrian, the state park’s island housing manager and ranger extraordinaire, met us at the ferry dock. He helped us push our heavy dock cart through an empty downtown Mackinac Island. We arrived 20 minutes later to Mission House, our home for the next seven months. Adrian showed us to our room, a great spot on the first floor in the “Men’s Quarters.” We even got a room with our own attached bathroom. We were assigned the Tahquamenon Kitchen on the second floor. Adrian kindly put us up there with other, “not-college age people.”
Mission House was built in the 1830s and is Michigan’s 11th oldest building. It has housed state park seasonal staff for decades and can house about 50 people. Mission House is just a short walk (especially when you aren’t pushing a huge luggage cart) to downtown and has amazing views of the bay from the front porch.
We spent most of the afternoon unpacking and organizing our room and kitchen stuff. After being on the road for a few weeks, it felt great to have our own space again. My parents were kind enough to loan us some plastic totes to aid in our moving and they turned out to be a key part of our room organization scheme.
The next day, we woke up early and headed back to the mainland. It was time to grocery shop! Today, the weather was not our friend. It was windy, rainy and cold – now this is spring in Northern Michigan. We persevered and made the 7-hour round trip. How do you take seven hours to grocery shop?
- 15 minute walk to ferry dock
- 30 minute ferry ride to Mackinaw City
- 15 minute walk to car
- 45 minute drive to Petoskey (the closest Aldi)
- 1.5 hour trip in Aldi
- 45 minute trip in Meijer
- 30 minute lunch at Wendy’s
- 45 minute drive to Mackinaw City
- 10 minute unloading groceries onto ferry cart
- 5 minute drive to parking lot
- 15 minute walk from parking lot to ferry dock
- 30 minute ferry ride
- 25 minute walk to Mission House (we’re slower pushing a loaded cart back up the hill)
It was a good thing we have been preparing for this kind of epic grocery shopping all year. There is a grocery store on the island but it is very expensive, so most island employees do their grocery shopping on the mainland if possible. Many of our new housemates gave us a lot of crap for buying so much food. We took it all in stride, they just don’t understand the fine art of major provisioning yet. We’ll convert them soon enough!
It was an exhausting two days but we were officially moved in! We spent the next few days getting settled, meeting our housemates and exploring our new island home. We even set up a PO Box at the island’s Post Office and got our bike licenses. Pinch us – we’re really living on Mackinac Island!
Lucas and I both started work for the Mackinac State Historic Park on Wednesday, May 1. I’m an alternate lead in the guest services group, the team that manages all of the ticketing and gift shops within the island’s state park facilities. I’m basically paid to run around our facilities on the island helping my co-workers and the public – a dream! Lucas is Fort Mackinac’s lead park operations worker. He is responsible for maintaining the buildings and systems of the fort. As one school kid put it to Lucas, “You’re like a janitor but way cooler!” I couldn’t agree more.
So far, my favorite part of the job is getting to work with so many fun people, including Lucas. I love running into Lucas throughout the day as we both work. We get to have lunch together nearly every day too. The commute and scenery aren’t bad either. While I’m sure Lucas enjoys seeing me throughout the day, he has also really enjoyed the opportunity to fire the opening cannon shot. Such a lucky duck!
About a week into our island life, we also started working our second jobs. We both will be doing some work on the Sip ‘N Sail Cruises, an island-based cruise company that takes passengers on a sunset cruise under the Mackinac Bridge. Lucas will be helping with boat maintenance and I’m training to be a crew director. Our first day at Sip ‘N Sail consisted of going out on a cruise to see how they work. Lucas, of course, found himself knee deep in the engine room on the very first night. By the end of the cruise, Lucas also had a lead on a third job but more to come on that one soon!
Needless to say, it was a busy start to our new island life but we couldn’t be more excited for the summer. Let’s just hope it warms up a little bit soon!
