Mackinac Island 2023

In June 2023, I took a trip to do some photography on Mackinac Island. I made a 4 day weekend out of this plan, and scheduled it so that we’d be there for the annual Lilac Festival. The trip also included photography stops throughout the Lower Peninsula, and a little bit in the Upper Peninsula as well.

Day 1

This day consisted of the drive up to Mackinac City. The plan was to devote an entire day to photography on the island without time constraints, so for the first day of the trip we took our time and checked out various lakes, parks and trails as we traveled north, ending the day at our hotel in St. Ignace.

Day 2

This day we got up bright and early to catch the first ferry to the island. This proved to be a smart idea as this allowed us a chance to photograph around the downtown area while the tourist crowds were thinner.

After the time downtown, we checked out Arch Rock and got our steps in as we walked around the perimeter of the island and up the stairs to the arch.

After that, we scheduled a horse drawn tour to take us through the interior of the island to see a few more landscapes, but while we waited for our allotted tour time, we walked to the other side of the island to check out the Little Stone Church and the Grand Hotel, photographing the lilac gardens along the way as well.

Then came the tour and we saw the rest of the island, including the wooded trails, the governor’s mansion, and the Skull Cave. After the tour, we ended our time on the island with a little more downtown photography, dinner, and visits to the gift shops before taking the ferry back to St. Ignace.

Since there was still time left in the day after the island, we filled the rest of the day doing a little bit of Upper Peninsula photography. Here I added the Manistique Lakes and Seul Choix Pointe to the portfolio.

Day 3

The next day we filled the itinerary zig-zagging our way around the tip of the Lower Peninsula. The idea was to fill this area of the map for my mosaic project.

Day 4

The last day of the trip was devoted to the drive home, and much like the drive up, this day involved many stops along the way to check out various parks, trails and lakes. While taking a somewhat lakeshore route up to St. Ignace on Day 1, this route home went through the central portion of the state to spread out the portfolio of the trip.