MICHIGAN AND MACKINAC ISLAND TOUR

Thursday, May 19 – Travel day to Chicago

We fly non-stop from Houston to Chicago on American Airlines**. You will have bus transportation to the Houston airport from pick-up points in Silsbee and Liberty, TX. We will overnight in Chicago at Springhill Suites.

Friday, May 20 – Travel to Detroit and Dearborn

We head out east from Chicago and head to Detroit for a stop at the historical Motown Museum. Hitsville U.S.A. is the nickname given to Motown’s first headquarters. Step into an area of musical magic on your visit here. Stand where the Temptations, Four Tops, Miracles and Supremes recorded their famous songs. Learn how Barry Gordy started it all with an $800 loan from his family. From here we check-in at our hotel – The Dearborn Inn, A Marriott Hotel located in Dearborn, MI. This will be our hotel for two nights.

Saturday, May 21 – The Henry Ford

This morning we will visit The Henry Ford, one of the nation’s most impressive museums dedicated to American innovation – including the workplaces of Edison, Firestone, and the Wrights. This is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex and a National Historic Landmark. Our hotel is directly across the street and a shuttle goes back and forth. You will be able to do as much or as little as you want by taking the shuttle to The Henry Ford and back to the hotel. You can go for a spin in a vintage Model T and enjoy exploring American ingenuity and traditions at your own pace in Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford. You will also have the opportunity to look at the past, present and future of automotive manufacturing on the Ford Rouge Factory Tour in Dearborn. The Henry Ford, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour what a great way to enjoy your day!

Sunday, May 22 – Mackinac Island, Timeless Sights

Today we set off for the highlight of this tour – Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel. We will travel northward to Mackinaw City and then we leave our bus and travel by catamaran to the northwestern corner of Lake Huron to Mackinac Island and the magnificent Grand Hotel.

Mackinac Island measures just two miles by three miles and has changed very little in the past three centuries. Travel here is exclusively by foot, bicycle or horse-drawn carriage – no motorized vehicles allowed.

The Grand Hotel opened in 1887 and was billed as a summer retreat for vactioners who arrive by lake steamer from Chicago, Erie, Montreal, Detroit and by rail from across the continent. Rates then were $3 to $5 a night. There are 385 guest rooms with no two decorated the same. Grand Hotel’s front porch is the world’s longest porch at 660 feet. The Old World elegance of the Grand Hotel envelops you the moment you step onto Mackinac Island and board a horse-drawn carriage taxi to the hotel.

The property has been a venerable icon of summer resorts since it opened, but the Grand Hotel achieved cinematic fame when the 1980 film Somewhere In Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, was shot on location. Don’t let its turn-of-the-century façade cast the impression that the property itself is antiquated. The slower, more leisurely pace the past merges with all the amenities of the present to make your two night stay here memorable.

Monday, May 23 – Mackinac Island

Our time on Mackinac Island continues today with a private island tour by horse-drawn carriage and a visit to Fort Mackinac; the great fortress on a bluff has guarded the island since 1780. Also, today you will see Surrey Hill, Arch Rock, and the Governor’s Mansion. You will have plenty of free time today to explore and shop at your own pace.

Tuesday, May 24 –

This morning we depart Mackinac Island and head back across the lake via our catamaran to Mackinaw City where we will meet our bus at Shepler’s Ferry Terminal and will be joined by a stepon guide. We begin our touring with the “Big Mac”, Mackinac Bridge, Michigan’s crown jewel. You will hear the dramatic tales of brave iron workers who built this massive structure, how several of them lost their lives in the process, and what safety procedures today are in place to protect motorists, workmen, and boaters. You will hear the stories of how it has been struck by a ship, an airplane, and how an Air Force bomber once flew under the bridge’s center span.

We continue northward to the city of Sault Ste. Marie, the second oldest city
in the United States. You’ll visit the spot where the voyageurs portaged their
trade canoes around the rapids and see the place that today’s fishermen still
catch “the big ones” as they attempt to jump the rocky ladder from the St.
Mary’s River into the waters of Lake Superior. The Soo Locks are the
centerpiece of any visit to this border community. You will visit the Locks
Information and Visitors Center and then go to a covered viewing platform
to watch the freighters as they pass through the locks.

After lunch in Sault Ste. Marie, we make our way westward to Whitefish Point, where a windswept lighthouse guards the entrance to Lake Superior from Whitefish Bay. We will tour the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, the lightkeepers quarters, check out the large observation deck and see the big lake called “Gitchegumee” by the Chippewa hundreds of years ago. The Whitefish Point Lighthouse has been in use since 1849, making it the oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior. Inspect the Shipwreck Museum, where hundreds of artifacts have been retrieved from the “Graveyard of the Great Lakes,” Superior Shipwreck Coast. The museum has relics from the region’s first shipwrecks to the haunting ship’s bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank just 16 miles away in the November gale of 1975. This will be a day you will long remember!

Wednesday, May 25 – Mackinaw City

Our step-on guide will meet us at our hotel, and we will have a city tour of Mackinaw City. Mackinaw City’s story has always been one of transportation – and of being a meeting place for hundreds of years. You’ll see local landmarks where railroads, ships, and automobile travelers gathered. You’ll hear tales of an era long ago when those who walked this land wore moccasins, sold fur pelts, and built the early infrastructure of a village projected to become “the next Chicago.” The population then was 975! It is less today, but Mackinaw City has transformed from a railroad and fishing village in the 1900’s to a bustling, charmed destination point for millions of visitors each year.

You will visit Colonial Michilimackinac where treasures from the past come to life at this 18th century fort and fur trading village, reconstructed based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavations. As you walk through the site, you are stepping back in time to 1778, when rumors of war and peace swirled around Michilimackinac. Here, you will see and hear how soldiers, civilians, and Native people responded to threats real and imagined as they attempted to maintain their livelihood, the fur trade. Historical interpreters representing voyageurs, British soldiers, and French-Canadian merchant families are stationed throughout the fort to answer your questions and perform demonstrations.

Also, on the agenda today will be a visit to Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse where you will hear the stories of those who worked as a marine reporter, a light keeper, or drove a water wagon through the village streets. Why did local residents buy water? You’ll know after this tour, and you’ll see the ingenious way that business was made possible. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse has been a guiding beacon since 1889 helping passing ships navigate through the treacherous waters of the Straits of Mackinac. Today you will have some time for shopping at Mackinaw Crossings and in the downtown area.

Saturday, May 28 – Chicago

Today you will enjoy a fully narrated driving and partial walking tour of the city of Chicago. You will drive along the lake for a breath-taking view of the skyline and Lake Michigan. Discover why Chicago is called the Windy City and why its river flows backwards. You will see the Magnificent Mile, Buckingham Fountain and the landmark Water Tower that survived the Great Fire. You will stroll through Millennium Park and see Cloud Gate or “The Bean” as it is often referred to. You will travel in the world’s fastest elevators to the 103rd floor, 1354 feet above the ground in the country’s second tallest building, the
Sears Tower. Skydeck Chicago will give you the best views of four states. A great group photo stop will be at Planetarium Point. We will drive by famous Wrigley Field home of the Chicago Cubs. You will see great neighborhoods like The Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Chinatown, Greektown and Little Italy where we will be doing dinner at Pompeii. There’s a lot to take in before we end the day and head back to our hotel.

Sunday, May 29 – Flight Back To Houston

This morning we will take a cruise along the Chicago River—one of the top attractions in Chicago. Next, we head to the airport for our afternoon flight back to Houston.