June 24: The Inn at Stonecliffe

I've been to Mackinac Island exactly 3 times in my life - once in 2007, once in 2008 and the third time beginning today. The first year, we stayed in the Guest House at the Harbourview Inn. The second year, we stayed at the Mission Point Resort. This year, having stayed right in town previously, we decided to "rough it" and stay outside of town...way outside of town, as it turned out. We stayed at The Inn at Stonecliffe, which is about 2.5 miles from town. Uphill. Through the woods. Keep in mind, now, that (a) the only form of transportation is a bike, a horse-drawn carriage with a hefty one-way fee or your feet, and (b) we have two young children. Yes, we were well aware of these things prior to booking the reservations, but we thought it would be something new...an adventure. It most certainly was; at least Day 1 of our 4-day excursion. I'm not much of a runner or walker, thus I'm not real familiar with the reality of distances, but, boy, I can tell you that 2.5 miles is a long way when you're walking. Perhaps the backpacks strapped to both my wife and I added to that task, maybe even the 5-year old who randomly decided he preferred to be carried to walking. Anyway, we did eventually arrive successfully at the Inn and found it to be a real treat. In fact, upon reaching the Inn grounds we were greeted by "Tucker", the beagle who lives across the street from the Inn. Our room is in the Summer Home off of the main Inn building, but it is a very nice room. It has a mini-kitchen - complete with fridge, microwave and handy utensils (i.e. corkscrew/bottle opener) - and a small walk-out patio. This particular Inn is also one of the few accommodations that offers a pool for the kids, so that was definitely a winner, as the first thing we did after unpacking is take a dip! Aside from the long walk, things look good at The Inn at Stonecliffe. Still, we have 3 days to go so we'll have to wait and see if that pattern continues.