I happened to notice the large number of motels in Mackinaw City near the bridge. The coast looks like a low rent Miami Beach. What do the the tourists do? There are narrow beaches but it seems like the water would be cold all year round. There is a small casino but in this Google view there are like ten cars in the parking lot. NOTE: the view doesn’t open the way I intended. Switch to the satellite view and zoom in on the curved beach area a bit.
You’re right - the water is cold as hell all year round up there. Swimming in the lakes is not an attraction. Actually, swimming in the water can kill you quite a bit of the year, it’s not far above freezing.
There is the big boat race, but that’s only once a year and while the focus is on Mackinaw island proper they probably pick up some tourists from that, as Mackinaw has a ferry base to get to and from Mackinaw Island. So, park in Mackinaw City, take the ferry to Mackinaw Island and rent a horse to get around (the island doesn’t allow motorized traffic).
Since the big bridge is THE means to get between the two peninsulas without a ridiculously long detour either around Lake Michigan through Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin or, alternatively, going through an entirely different country (Canada) huge numbers of people go through the towns at either end of the bridge not because they give a damn about those towns but because they’re on their way to somewhere else. And some of them will be at a point where they want to stop for the night.
But, perhaps what you’re not realizing is that the Mackinaw Bridge is forced to shut down a number of times per year due to bad weather. Sure, the bridge is designed to be stable in winds of up to 150 mph but cars and trucks maybe not so much (there was that one Yugo that went over the side of the bridge back in 1989…). Also, if there’s ice forming on the bridge structures, well, that ice isn’t engineered for wind resistance and the big bridge has closed at least a dozen and a half times for falling ice, which has heavily damaged more than one truck. Probably two dozen (give or take) bad-weather closures that I have heard about, which means there have probably been more than that over the years since it opened. When that happens, whichever end of the bridge your on that’s where you stay until it re-opens. You can see a similar phenomena near mountain passes as well. So there’s some business from stranded travelers.
(Personally, I’d prefer NOT to find myself stuck in the middle of a five mile long bridge during extreme weather. Heck, so many people can’t handle that bridge even in good weather there’s actually a service provided by the bridge authority that will drive your vehicle over the bridge for you.)
My sister-who-does-not-speak-to-me lives in Marquette City. She and various other members of the family have had weather delays in crossing the bridge from time to time. The closures aren’t super long, you’re not stranded for weeks, but it can be long enough that getting a room for the night makes more sense than pressing on.
My son and I stayed at a hotel in Mackinaw City during the summer of 2019 while on our way to Canada (Court Plaza Inn & Suites). The area around E Central Ave and S Huron Ave is pretty nice. We ate at the Hook Lakeside Grill and then played pool at the Keyhole Bar & Grill. Lots of shops. And of course, you can always take a ferry to Mackinac Island, which has lots of tourist attractions. (And if you have big bucks, spend a night or two at the Grand Hotel on the island.)
It’s a lot cheaper to stay in Mackinaw City (as well as St. Ignace) and ferry over to the island to do fun things during the day than it is to stay on the island, even at the ‘bargain’ places.
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Having a room overlooking the water is fun. Beaches are fun even if you can’t go swimming. As much as I wanted to go swimming and boogie boarding, I can’t swim so visiting my friends in Florida I simply hung out on the beach with whoever wasn’t in the water at a particular time (and one of their kids apparently refuses to put on a swimming suit, so she stayed on the beach the whole time). There’s lots of hotels and resorts on Lake Superior in Minnesota, where swimming is similarly out of the question.
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Your chain hotels by the interstate exit- these are for people just passing through on road trips, or vacationing or visiting family in the area that don’t view a resort on the beach as part of the experience. I’d like to visit Mackinac Island sometime. No way am I going to stay on the island for over $200 a night. I’m going to stay at the Holiday Inn Express, Mackinaw City where I can park my car for free, get a free breakfast buffet, and collect my reward points for staying in an IHG group hotel. All for less money and a lot less hassle than staying on Mackinac.
Similarly, I never stay at big city hotels when visiting big cities. Too expensive and inconvenient- we stay by an interstate exit with free parking and drive or take the train in. . Visiting Boston we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express out by the Patriot’s stadium. Chicago we generally stay in the Schaumburg / Rolling Meadows area. San Francisco we stayed in Walnut Creek.
Location, location, location. For hundreds of years, the intersection of Lake Superior’s outflow and the tops of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron was an area at which to stop-over to trade, and today it remains a significant intersection for people on road trips in the region. Makinaw City is not a big destination resort, but its location is well suited for people wanting to stop overnight when they are on a recreational road trip from southern Ontario or Detroit to the Upper Peninsula, Northwestern Ontario, or Minneapolis.
The Makinaw area has been a tourist draw for one and a half centuries and continues to be a regional draw. Makinaw City and Makinaw Island have enough attractions to keep folks’ attention for a day or two, and some activities that stretch for days on end (e.g. fishing). Mackinaw City Information: Mackinaw City Attractions
And it has fudge.
Among many other little towns attracting tourists on the Great Lakes, Superior has Grand Marais, Michigan has Saugatuck, Huron has Makinaw City and Makinaw Island, Erie has Port Stanley, Ontario has Niagara-on-the-Lake. None of them are destination resorts, but each of them hit the spot for enough people to support local tourism economies.
Broomstick, I hear ya about cold water. I’m at the top of Superior where a swimmer would not last long offshore.
There are a number of shallow bays that are OK for swimming. The warmest is Jarvis Bay. Camp on the beach with a great view of the bay and the lake beyond, paddle about, and swim to your heart’s content. Google Maps
St Ignace has Straits State Park (ok, main attraction of that is the bridge/straits). There is (or was) a splash park and fireworks.
There is Marquette’s grave and Museum of Ojibwa Culture.Personally I can sit by the marina and watch boats come in and out for quite a while.
I’ve stayed at the Moran Bay motel – family run place – small but fit my needs at the time just fine.
@Muffin do you mean Grand Marias MN or MI or both? I’ve spent more time in in the MI one – there is a campground and a couple of restaurants and a kayak rental place (and a disc golf course a few miles outside of town).
I’ve swam near where the Taquamenon River empties 'just south of Paradise" and it was pretty warm.
Brian
By the way, whether spelled Mackinaw or Mackinac - the pronunciation is always Mackinaw.
There’s always the historic Fort Mackinac. And the west coast of Michigan from the bridge on down features a state scenic drive. When the birch trees turn gold and start to drop their leaves the effect is heavenly.
Too infrequent to support hotels/motels, but on Labor day there is a “walk across the bridge”. Vehicle traffic is rerouted to one side, and the other side is devoted to foot traffic.
There was also a “jacked up” Bronco that went over the side. After the two vehicles - there was speculation of this possibly being the cause of other people who disappeared while travelling between the upper and lower peninsulas - disappeared in low visibility conditions and were never missed. There was talk of using magnetometers to search for other vehicles under the bridge - but too much steel ‘junk’ had been thrown off of the bridge during construction to make this feasible.
Also see: Mackinac Bridge - Wikipedia
My recollection of Mackinac Island is walking around (no cars) and eating fudge.
And the bridge.
This changed a couple years ago. The current route is to go halfway across (from Mackinaw City in the lower peninsula), turn around, then return to your starting point. The entire bridge is shut down to vehicle traffic.
If you are so inclined you can go all the way across, turn around, and return, but then you are walking ~10 miles instead of ~5.
I walk the bridge every Labor Day (except last year when they did not hold the event).
mmm
I was thinking of Grand Marais in Minnesota. Roughly halfway between the two Grand Marais as the crow flies is one of my favourite places: Mt. Bohemia – excellent powder tree skiing.
I saw this mentioned on a tv show one time. Is it scary just because it’s so lengthy? Obviously any bridge is intimidating in bad weather but the scene I saw appeared to be a bright, calm day. Or is it simply that it’s so widely travelled that there’s bound to be a large amount of people afraid of bridges?"
I’ve not tried it yet in person, but it seems fine to me looking at pictures. Scary was the old Goethels Bridge with a semi passing on your left.
I’ve driven across it a couple of times and didn’t have any problems with it. It is pretty long, so that may be the issue.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I’ve driven across the San Mateo Bridge many times. It’s seven miles long, and I never thought anything about it. How does that compare to the Mackinac Bridge? I’d like to someday take a trip out that way in the motorhome. It would happen during the summer. Will it be scary driving across that bridge?
Depending on which lane you’re in (check out the Google Street view), you may be driving on steel grate instead of solid pavement. And depending on your tires, it can make for squirrelly steering (especially on motorcycles). Being so high above the water, winds across the deck can be much stronger than in the middle of Mackinaw City. And then some people are just freaked out by the visual experience of being so high above the water.
As to what tourists do in Mackinaw City, I think a lot of the usual tourist-trap stuff is there, which can make it a pleasant place to start and end your day. From there, you can drive to other things in the area, like Tahquamenon Falls State Park, or drive the scenic “Tunnel of trees” route (M-110 down the coast of Lake Michigan to Petoskey).
The locks at Sault Ste. Marie may be of interest. If you time it right, you can sometimes watch huge ships passing through.
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is also in the area.
I’ve biked down the hill next to Mt Bohemia as part of Tour da U.P. The luggage truck’s brakes were smoking by the end of it…
Brian
I should mention that there are motels and resorts all along Michigan’s coastlines. Especially up north and around the upper peninsula. For a state where you can’t go in the water wolverines sure love to vacation near it!
I once asked a Michigan friend what he thought about cross breeding a Wolverine with a mongoose. Without hesitation he replied, “Why would you want to dilute a wolverine?”
Even if it is too cold to swim there is boating/fishing plus it can be quite pretty. Storms can be cool to watch too.
Brian
You can swim in Superior and Michigan and Huron in summer. I’ve done it often. And the inland small lakes can get nice and warm.