by Diane Brady

ituated between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, at the confluence of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, is Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw), home of the legendary Grand Hotel. This is Great Lakes country — blue water and blue sky wrap around you everywhere.

The Grand Hotel has been one of America’s premier summer vacation spots since it opened in 1887. The plan was to build a hotel that would emulate the “grand hotels” of fashionable European cities.

… no motorized vehicles … feet, bicycle and horse are the only options.

The Grand was chosen as the setting for the romantic 1980 movie, Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, in which he goes back to the early 20th Century in search of his love. The movie has a fan club that meets each year on the closing weekend of the season.

The only way to reach the island is by ferry or plane. Most people choose the ferry. We parked our car in Mackinaw City on the mainland and took the ferry across the Straits of Mackinac to the island. We looked forward to ‘stepping back in time’ as there are no motorized vehicles on the island — feet, bicycle and horse are the only transportation options.

Horse-drawn carriages were waiting to take guests up to the Grand Hotel. Our carriage wound through the downtown district of restaurants, souvenir stores and fudge shops before traveling up the tree-lined streets to the hotel, which sits atop a bluff.

When the carriage stopped, we stepped onto a red carpet which leads up to the 660-foot front porch (the longest in the world) lined with old-fashioned rocking chairs and over 5,000 potted red geraniums (the hotel’s signature flower). The porch overlooks the Tea Garden, which is used for croquet and bocci ball, and is the site of outdoor jazz performances during the Labor Day Jazz Weekend.

Our room, which overlooked the main road and the Tea Garden, with the lake in the distance, had white-painted furnishings with cushions decorated with red geraniums and green trim. This decor was continued in the draperies and bedspread, giving the look and feel of a country cottage.

What a pleasure it was to relax on our balcony, sipping sparkling wine and listening to the horses clip-clop past with their passengers.

There is no tipping allowed anywhere in the hotel. Breakfast and dinner are included in the price and you can enjoy Afternoon Tea in the Parlor. After 6 p.m. ladies dress in their finest and gentlemen wear coat and tie. The Main Dining Room has a soaring, 27-foot colonnaded ceiling and wraparound windows that take advantage of the island view below.

After dinner, guests can drift out on the porch or adjourn to the Parlor, where the melodic strains of a harp or violin lend romance — a prelude to dancing in the Terrace Room to the “big band” sounds of the hotel’s orchestra.

The Grand Hotel captures the gentle lifestyle and ambiance of a bygone era when people took the time to enjoy life. When guests leave they take a little of this with them.

The 2007 season runs until October 31.

Grand Hotel: tel. 888/33-GRAND (888/334-7263); www.grandhotel.com.

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