If you aren't familiar with this state of Michigan, it's basically made of two separate peninsulas and those land masses are surrounded by three (or four) of the Great Lakes. While by all rights the upper peninsula of Michigan probably should belong to Wisconsin, it doesn't, thanks to us giving up Toledo (I think).
The upper peninsula and the lower peninsula are connected by a five mile long cable suspension bridge called the Mackinac Bridge. Nestled just south of the bridge, is the small town of Mackinaw City. If you want to know why one ends with 'c' and the other with a 'w', you can Google it yourself.
Given a number of factors, Mackinaw City has become a typical tourist town. It is a destination location for many people who are on their way further to the north, the local historic attractions, or the famous Mackinac Island slightly to the north east.
Mackinaw Crossings is a victorian inspired shopping center with a variety of entertainment options and restaurants for people to enjoy. They also have quaint little specialty shops along with entertainment options like live music, buskers and a laser light show every night.
There was one specific reason we made our way over to Mackinaw Crossings after we finished filling our faces at Legs Inn.
Given we had a young teenage boy with us on our trip, we knew that he would be over the moon to see this 30 foot tall replica of Bumblebee from the Transformers. They actually call it Mack-A-Tron which is kind of dumb considering it is clearly Bumblebee, but most of the kids didn't seem to mind.
The attraction was assembled on site in Mackinaw City, and according to some of the information I saw they used old pieces of the Mackinac Bridge to make some of it.
Even as a grown adult, I have to admit that it was pretty cool. Once you take your photos and look at it for a bit though, there isn't much else to do in the immediate vicinity of the statue/sculpture(?).
As I mentioned, there were buskers around the victorian village and this was one of them. The guy was playing an accordian and he had a dog that would sit on the chair next to him. When you wanted to give a tip the dog would come down off the chair and take the bill out of your hand, bring it back, and put it in the hat. The guy wasn't very nice to the dog to be honest, so we didn't stick around this area too long.
We had a bit of time to kill, so the kids decided to do a little bit of exploring around the crossings area. They found a hall of mirrors that they wanted to run through.
Meanwhile I found this cool place called The Forge where you could craft your own knife right on the spot. I didn't do it, but I should have. I stepped in and snapped a photo anyway. I've always wanted to learn a bit of metalworking. This might be a good option for me next time I am in the area.
Ultimately, the kids decided they wanted to see a movie in the theater that is right in the village. We decided to see Inside Out 2 and I have to admit, it was a really good show. I found myself laughing despite myself at many of the jokes. The theater was packed with young kids, but we still found it enjoyable and comfortable minus the occasional crying child.
On our way out, I stopped into the Straits Distillers tasting room, but most of the whiskey's were in the $70 range and I want to save my money to pick up a special bottle when I am out in Colorado next month.
If you don't mind the tourist scene and the tourist prices, Mackinaw Crossings is a pretty cool place to hang out on a breezy summer afternoon. If nothing else, stopping by to say hi to Mack-A-Tron is worth ten to fifteen minutes out of your life!
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