Our 15th anniversary night on Mackinac Island

We decided to celebrate our 15th anniversary just a bit early (since we had available babysitters!) and spend the night on Mackinac Island. (It’s actually a bit longer story. I had wanted to go to the Headlands International Night Sky Park in Mackinac City so Tom was in charge of picking the hotel. He thought he was making a reservation for Mackinac City, but when we had to change nights, he realized he had made a reservation on the island—he had a few tabs open on his computer and called a different one than he was looking at! So our plans changed to go to the island instead!)

Unfortunately, we knew bad weather was on the way, so we chose not to do anything time-intensive like biking around the island…so when this happened…

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…we stopped our shopping for a quick lunch at Seabiscuit Cafe. We had yummy whitefish chowder and a mediocre whitefish reuben.

The weather app we were checking seemed to predict that it would only last an hour or so, but the rain just kept coming. We decided to take the shuttle back to the hotel and wait out the rain in our room.

Our room was GORGEOUS with an AMAZING view…or a potentially amazing view if it hadn’t been raining and foggy.

The Cudahy room at the Inn at Stonecliffe --- click for a larger version.
The Cudahy room at the Inn at Stonecliffe, Mackinac Island — click for a larger version.

This was our view before the fog rolled in and obscured the bridge:

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It was quite chilly in our room and the heat was slow to come on, so we pulled the extra blanket out of the closet, rearranged the chairs, and crossed our fingers that the front passed soon.

We rechecked the forecast in a different app and that showed rain pretty much all day. 🙁 So Tom took a nap and I sat and tried to catch up on writing blog posts…while listening to a wedding taking place below us on the covered back porch 🙂 and watching it rain and rain and rain.

We had almost the same view at dinner:

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And then we got to watch the wedding guests wander around during the reception:

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Our meal was very, very good. We knew we’d blow NS principles out of the water, but we didn’t care because it was our anniversary and everything sounded amazing. And everything WAS. We were very happy with our dinner. 🙂

  • Appetizer: Cheddar-Crab Fondue | Thyme-Lemon Gremolata | Toasted Brioche
  • Soup: Lobster Bisque | Lemon Tarragon Oil (which surprisingly Tom loved—he’s not a big lobster fan)
  • Entrée (me): Sea Scallop | Cheddar Polenta | Bacon-Fava Succotash | Ver Jus | Citrus Micro
  • Entrée (Tom): Battered Whitefish BLT | Smokey Caper Aïoli | Peppered Bacon | Tomato | Frisée | Toasted Brioche
  • Dessert (Tom): Chai Crème Brûlée

It had stopped raining during dinner so we went for a walk around the grounds and out to Sunset Rock.

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And the panoramic view (click for larger version):

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And do you see what we saw in the water? 🙂

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It really was a pretty place.

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After our walk we headed back to the room where we listened to the reception rave on while we watched Breaking Bad on Netflix. 🙂 Then it started raining again but thankfully didn’t storm since it was bedtime (though I wouldn’t have minded watching a storm from our room).

While overall it stunk that the weather was so crappy, we still enjoyed being together—alone!—all day! That’s always worth something. 🙂

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