It Was Grand!

In an opposite of extremes, we ended our camping trip by heading to Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel. The Grand Hotel was where they filmed Somewhere in Time. Most of you probably haven't even heard of it, but it's one of my favorite movies. My sisters and I all loved it from the first time we saw it. Jim, being from Michigan, was familiar with Mackinac Island and had been there as a teenager. When we married, we wanted to go to the island for our honeymoon. My dad and step-mother, Nora, surprised us with two nights at the Grand Hotel as a wedding present. We must have done some heavy duty raving. Okay, I know we did because for Christmas 2006, they gave us another two nights. They thought it would make a nice family vacation for us our first summer home with Sera. Unfortunately, Jim only had 12 days off last summer, and the hotel did not have two consecutive nights available during those 12 days. Luckily, we were able to book them for this summer instead.

Here's one of the official photos of the Grand Hotel from their website. Jim took a lot of pictures during our vacation as well. Be sure to visit his site to see more photos.

The hotel has a dress code after 6 pm. It officially states that men should be in coat and tie and ladies in their finest. Some of the signs list pants as unacceptable for women, but we noticed that they were allowing dressy pant suits for women now.

Here is Sera in some of her finest. It wasn't looking so hot at the end of the night when she dropped her chocolate milk in her lap. The napkin took most of the damage, and the rest did come out when I laundered it. Phew! I'm so glad I packed that stain stick!

Jim all suited up. He's not a jacket and tie kind of guy, so this is a rare shot. Notice his new haircut? He buzzed it all off this summer.

I was surprised to like it.
The dining room rotates three amazing menus. They also put out a children's buffet each evening. Sera had the choice of ordering her own meal, eating on the buffet, or sharing with us. She ended up eating from the buffet and from our plates, as usual. That child is developing quite the palate.
The dessert table on the children's buffet
The next morning at breakfast. You guys eat that normal stuff.

I'll stick to butter.
The view from the window

We walked into town to check out the shops. Sera got this really cool book. You can't see it, but on the right side it shows the animal. It appears to be moving when you move the page.
Here she's proudly showing off her monkey shirt.

She asked me to take its picture.
We stopped in this little alcove for a rest before tackling the big hill in front of the hotel. Sera was thrilled to get out of the stroller. She entertained all the passersby with her jumping and dancing.

Part of the tradition of the hotel is to go on the front porch and sit in the white rockers. It's a hardship following tradition.


She spotted an airplane in this shot. It was very exciting!

This one isn't centered well, and I cut off her right hand. Catching a running and jumping child can be quite the challenge.

She kept spotting all sorts of fun things to see.

I know it's out of focus, but I still love the expression on her face and her hair flying back.
A quiet moment with daddy
It's too bad she didn't have any fun on this trip.