The day is far from over, but we are having a nice, relaxing afternoon and I decided to post now rather than later.
We ended up retiring yesterday pretty early again. And by "early," I mean around 20:30 when I got done with the blog post. I slept extremely well for several reasons. The first is probably luck. The second is that the previous night I was so hot. Then yesterday the AC decided to turn on full blast. I just don't understand our room's AC. It felt like it was barely on the first night. Then the second day it was like a freezer in there. Even I was cold. I intermittently kept turning it up. It is currently set at 72, but I assure you that it is not 72. Either way, it was cold, so I slept. Another reason is that I turned off the ceiling fan. That thing rattles something terrible and kept me awake.
So, I got a lot of beauty rest...waking up at about 4:45 and actually getting up around 5:30/5:45. Then I got dressed and went outside to the back gardens and read a little bit while Annie did a workout and took her shower. I had to come back inside as I got cold...so everyone else would've probably died of frostbite. It was 54 degrees, in the shade, and the chairs were a bit wet, so cut me some slack.
When Angie was ready, we went down for breakfast, eating it on the front porch again in the sunshine, which was incredibly warm. Impressive what that ball of flames in the sky can do. After eating, we went back to the porch and just listened to the island awaken for the day. I think the best seats are the chairs directly by the front door. I particularly like the one I am currently sitting in directly behind the lilac tree, as my strong sense of smell enables me to still catch faint whiffs of the dying blooms.
Angie had been sitting down in the front lawn chairs to warm up a few minutes ago and she saw that there is a plaque down there that says that this one at the Metivier is the third oldest lilac on the island. So, I pick really good B&Bs to stay at, just so ya know.
After reading for a bit, we went down to do a bit more shopping. I know it sounds like we're spending a ton of money everyday, but if you know me, I like to look at stuff than actually buy it. And many times, I go back to places after thinking about what I want. Just today, I went and bought a sweatshirt that I was looking at yesterday. I think we've gone to about all the shops.
A quick bathroom break, and then we were fast walking to the Grand Hotel. They are giving garden tours for the Lilac Festival. Unlike the lilac tour yesterday, it was not free, but it is included in the general admission to the hotel...only $12, which is not bad, considering the carriage tours were $41. And I feel like I enjoyed the garden tour more. However, I did learn a bit about the hotel on the carriage tour that was not discussed in the garden tour.
Did you know that the Grand Hotel was paid for and the grand opening date was announced, and rooms were booked before they even started it?! "That is grand corporate government planning in the making for you," as our tour guide, Mina, said yesterday. The hotel had to be built so quickly that some builders started in the front, other builders started in the back, and they met in the middle. That is the wrong way to construct a building. To this day, you can walk in the hotel and notice that the floors are uneven in places.
They did get the hotel done in time for guests, but it was not as large as it is today. I think she said that only 89ish rooms were completed the first time around. It has been greatly expanded many times. If you look closely at the outside, you can tell where the additions were built.
Anyways, back to today:
Our tour guide for the Grand Hotel Gardens was Ethan, the head gardener. His way of talking reminded me a lot of my nephew, Harrison, for some reason. He didn't seem to be very old, but he was very knowledgeable.
We started out the tour on the porch of the Grand Hotel. At 660 feet, the Grand Hotel's open porch is the longest in the world. Ethan also explained a few features of the porch. The ceilings are painted a green-blue to keep the birds from going and nesting on it, because they think it is just the open sky. And, apparently, down in the south it is considered the color of blue that would ward off spirits, so two-fold reasoning, I guess. There are also small hooks on the columns of the porch where they usually hang nets to keep the birds out, but staffing and costs have been cut so they have not been able to put it up this year. That's okay with me. Better views without the netting.
Of course, when you go for a tour for gardens at the Grand Hotel, the signature red geraniums must be talked about. Ethan says he and his team, eight people in all, have to plant them every year. Since they are native to Southern Africa, they usually let the flowers dry out all the way before watering them, which they have to do by hand. There is only one irrigation system, so every garden except one in the front, has to be watered by the team. Ethan says that if you are up early enough, you can come to the hotel at 7:00 and watch the gardeners drag hoses up the hills, water the gardens, and then roll the hoses back up.
The first garden we went to was down the stairs and to the right, or the west. Under the west wing (or west of the staircase), is the herb garden. It is very peaceful back there, normally, but today they were mowing the lawn of the resident housing right beside it. The cooks from the hotel sometimes actually come out and pick the herbs from the garden to use in the hotel restaurant. Ethan pointed out some of the herbs and a particular flower that is in one of the special salads, saying, "Some people think it tastes like pepper. I think it tastes like a flower."
Beside the herb garden is the Stroh House. It was owned by the Stroh family who apparently sells beer and ice cream...I had never heard of them, but ya know. Anyways, after the west wing of the hotel was built on, the Stroh family was not very happy, as the hotel now blocked a significant part of their view of the lake. They decided to sell their house to the Grand Hotel. Today, it is used for administrative housing. Every Friday, Ethan and his team goes there for meetings. When I was standing outside, I could hear a dog barking "Hello!" at us.
A view of the Stroh house from the herb garden:
Next we went back to underneath the west side of the porch to talk about the gardens beneath. Ethan explained that they have spring flowers early on and then a summer arrangement.
When you look down the garden, you can see that it mimics the floors of the hotel in that the pattern is repeated. They are also an English style, with taller plants in the back and shorter ones in the front.
After talking a bit about the side gardens and the pool (no pictures), we went down below to the Tea Garden. Many social events are held in the Tea Garden. Back in the day, it was Tea parties, hence the name. Today, events like barbecues, bounce houses, jazz concerts, weddings, receptions, etc. are held down there.
This portion of the Tea Garden is the Wildflower hill. It is Ethan's favorite part of the garden for two reasons: he likes all the wildflowers and it is the only part of the gardens that he and his team do not have to maintain all year round. It used to be just grass, but he suspects that someone got really tired of climbing the hill to mow and decided to throw flower seeds down it. Today, there are hundreds of flowers on the hill. A few months ago, it was covered in daffodils. Today we saw a mixture of flowers, including Shasta daisies and poppies.
This fountain was brought back from England from one of the previous hotel owner's. It is currently the most popular part of the garden to get married.
Overlooking the Tea Garden:
In the far right back corner of the Tea Garden are Peat and Moss: two horses with their carriage. Peat and Moss used to stand in the larger garden at the front of the hotel, but they scare the horses too much. I guess they look too much like other horses, but not quite horse-like enough. Ethan explained that, "If you don't know much about horses, they are all big babies. Everything scares them. Hoses, wheelbarrows, bags of mulch..." So, he and his crew had to haul Peat and Moss down to the Tea Garden...and they had to do it without any equipment, because they couldn't ruin the grass in the garden.
Our next stop was the newer greenhouse. They have an older greenhouse, but this one was put in about three years ago. They store extra geraniums in there and are planning to have a more interactive place for people to come and learn about gardening in a few years.
On to the Secret Garden:
The Secret Garden is just past the greenhouses. Ethan's boss was down chopping trees that were becoming a hazard in the compost, turned around, saw the Grand Hotel, and decided that they needed a garden right there. Just like the side gardens, the front gardens, and the Tea Garden, this garden is replanted with different flowers for each season, so it will look different depending on when you come to them.
Today it looked like this:
Ethan's boss' sister is a wood burning artist. She has seven wood burning pictures in the Secret Garden. I only found five, not counting the "Secret Garden" sign, but I wasn't looking hard.
I guess I haven't mentioned, but "Mackinac" comes from the Native American name for the island. It means "Turtle". The full name for the island is "Great Turtle." It all makes sense why you see so many turtle paraphernalia in the gift shops.
After the Secret Garden, we made our way back to the front of the hotel. There are two gardens at the front: the Big Diamond garden and the Little Diamond garden. The Big Diamond is the garden that is the only one with the irrigation system. In order to not scare the horses, they run the irrigation system right away in the morning.
Here's the smaller Little Diamond:
In the middle of Little Diamond, there is a statue of a pineapple, the international symbol for hospitality. It is there to show that no matter who you are or where you come from, you are welcome at the Grand Hotel. As long as you pay the $12 admission fee or get a room.
Finishing up the tour, Ethan pointed out the vines that are growing from the geranium boxes over Sadie's Ice Cream Parlor:
These vines are a type of clematis and become so long they grow past the awnings.
The tour being over, I snapped a few pictures of the Tea Garden. I think it is my favorite, the Secret Garden coming in at a very close second.
Annie and I decided that we wanted to sit on the porch for a little while.
I, however, got too hot rather quickly sitting in the sun instead of back in the shade. Annie was hungry anyways, so we made our way to figure out where we wanted to eat. The plan was to eat somewhere at the hotel, but we got a bit lost. One of the employees told us where we could eat. We eventually decided to go back down to Main street, as the food sounded extremely expensive. One place had a lunch buffet for $80 a person. Nah....that's okay. I need to eat next week too.
We ended up at Seabiscuit's hotel, which was nice inside, but rather small. I noticed that on one of the TV screens they had the movie playing. We wonder if they keep playing it on a loop all the time there.
I had the Colossal Triple Crown sandwich (ham, turkey, bacon, provolone cheese on sourdough) with sweet potato fries, while Annie had a Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese that also looked good.
Just to be a killjoy: why do these American restaurants call themselves "cafe"s when they are bars? Just saying, that would not be called a "cafe" in France.
Okay, I'm done.
After eating, we went to a few stores. I actually noted during lunch that maybe if Mackinac had a yarn shop, my mother would want to come more often and maybe I would've come before now...or maybe she would've gone without me yet again. Who knows. But then, just today we found yarn!
Not an entire shop, though. That might be the problem.
Anyways, we are now back on the front porch. I'd better close up the computer. The battery is running low. May have to charge it later if I post again.
Tomorrow is our last day on the island. I have had a really good time here. I am going to be so unhappy with the summer heat when I get back home tomorrow. And there's the fact that I have to go get Gina's AC fixed (my car).
Oh, well. It just means I have to come back again, doesn't it?
