Virtual Vacation 1- Mackinaw City or St. Ignace

Well, here's a "Virtual Vacation". Actually, it's just me pricing things, and figuring out how much it would cost for a vacation to Mackinaw City or St. Ignace (St. I is on the upper penninsula side of the Mackinac Bridge).

Step 1, milage & gas: 235 miles, estimate of gas is $3.20/gallon (it's only $3 right now, but you never know!), and estimate of gas mileage in our small car is 15 MPG (which I think is a bit low, but better safe than sorry). So, it would cost around $110 round trip, counting escalating costs here and there, and a few dollars wiggle room.

Ways to cut gas cost: save up gas station rewards, and cash in for a free gift card or two before then. I think I could save up enough for at least 1 $25 card before then, but possibly 2.

Step 2, accomodations: Camping is my first thought. Upside, cheaper per night. Downside, we don't own a tent. We could borrow one- my mom has a huge one, as does my Aunt Deb, and my brother Jason. So, we might not have to buy one. We have coolers, we have chairs for sitting by the fire, and I've been wanting a griddle, so we could buy one of those for home, and take it with us to use while camping. 

Costs for the campgrounds-

KOA: $33.50/night. Spend $16 for a membership, and save 10%, but you save less than you spend on the membership. (Mackinaw City) They don't offer free shuttles, and are further from the bridge, downtown, and shuttle, and not on the beach.

TeePee Campground: $28/night (Mackinaw City) - they offer free shuttles to the ferry, it's on the beach so you have a nightly view of the bridge, they have campfires on the beach at night (so we wouldn't have to have our own campfire, and buy wood). Within walking distance to downtown Mackinaw City for shopping.

Castle Rock Campground: $25.50/night (St. Ignace). Plus side- we can have up to 7 related people on a site, and it's $5/night extra to have another tent. But, if my aunt wanted to tag along, she'd be able to do so relativly cheaply. Oh- slight downside- the rates advertised were for 2005. So, it's likely more by now. Free shuttle to the ferry. Playground, arcade, campstore.

KOA: $31/night. Spend $16 for a membership, and save 10%, but you save less than you spend on the membership. (St. Ignace).

Ok... so, let's say we'd stay at TeePee, since we don't know if Castle Rock is more expensive now, or not. We'd stay over 2 nights. So, that cost is $56 for the accomodations.

Next: Things to DOOO

Here's the free things we can do:

Take a hike
Visit the Bridge, and picnic next to it (on the Mackinaw City side, there is a park on the right side of the base of the bridge. Under the bridge is a small tourist shop, and the entrance to Colonial Fort Michilimackinac, which is on the left side.)
Walk around downtown.
Watch Fudge or Pastries being made. Of course, then I'll want to buy some.
Visit Castle Rock. It's free to visit, but $.50/person to climb to the top (still cheap!)
Walk the beach and look for neat rocks, crawfish, and skipping stones.
Visit some of the many Sand Dunes.
Swim in the straights (Brr... cold!)

Now, for the stuff we'd want to do which costs money:

Visit Mackinac Island- The ferry is $20/adult, $10/child, but you can buy 2 adult tickets online for $44, and they come with a free child's ticket. So, it would be $64.00 to get us on the island, and back again. UGH!! That's more than staying over for 2 nights!!!

Carriage Tour on the Island- $23.50/adult, $9/child. OUCH, agian! $74!!!!! Good grief! The tours are nice, because they take you all over the island, and narrate where you are, and what the buildings are, and stories about the history of the island. But good lord!!!

Haunted Theater- $6/ea- not bad- though I think only Chris would want to go in. So, if just 2 of us went, it'd be $12. If we could get the whole family in, it would be $30.

Window shopping- FREE. There are tons of cute little shops in the Downtown area on the island. We could do that for about 2 hours. Maybe give the kids each $5 to spend.

Picnic at the park- we'd have to pack a lunch (besides, MUCH cheaper than buying the food there), but there's a nice little park in the downtown area that we didn't get to explore with Raegan's class last year.

Buy an ice-cream cone for a treat- This would likely be around $12-15 for the 5 of us.

Buy and send postcards to family from the island- $1.42/each. This would be fun for the kids, have them each pick a different grandparent, and go into the small post office to have them sent out.  

As you can see, the island would be expensive. There's no way we would do everythng I listed. We'd stick to the free stuff, after how much it would cost just to get there. We could take a walk through the state park trails, but it's a LONG walk, and VERY hilly to get there. But, awesome nature, and great views.  Also, making sure the kids do NOT pick anything at all would be hard. There is a $50 fine for picking so much as a blade of grass or a weed on the island. Seriously.

Ok, back off the island.

In Mackinaw City, there are a few things to do- Colonial Fort Michilimackinac would be fun. It costs $10/adult, and $6.25/kid. $38.75 for us all to go. UGh.

Historic Mill Creek Adventure Park- This is another city or state park, like Colonial Fort Michilimackinac. It's actually pretty cheap, though- $7.50/adults, $4.50/child- $28.50 for all of us. That's not bad! There's a lot of hands on things to do in hte 625 acre park, including rope challenges- climbing, walking on em, etc. I think this would be a must-see.

Next is Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. This is the 3rd State park in the Mackinaw City area (there's 3 on Mackinac Island, as well). This one is only $6/adult, and $3.50/child. $22.50 for all 5 of us.

Now, if we were interested in going to all 3 of them, or doing 3 different parks out of the 4 "pay to go" parks on the Island & in the City (there are 6 parks, 2 are free), we could buy a Triple Choice ticket. They give you admission to 3 of the 4 (you pick) parks. Once each over the course of 7 days, so they don't all have to be on the same day, either. It's $22/adult, and $13.50/child. For $84.50, we could pick 3 parks. I'd probably do Fort Mackinac on the island (which includes admisson to Historic Downtown), then the Mill Creek Adventure Park, and Colonial Fort Michilimackinac. That wouldn't be too bad for 3 parks. That's $16.90/person is all.

Lastly, souviners. I'd have to limit the kids a bit. On the Island, $5 each. On mainland, maybe $10 each. I'd likely spend about $10-15 myself on some small items. Let's say we'd have $100 in souviner money to spend.

Step 4: Food- I'd pack most of it. Lots of easy stuff- bread & lunch meats for lunch and dinner, some hotdogs & marshmallows to roast, snacks, lots to drink, etc. I'd avoid paying much out of pocket for food on the trip. Pack a special treat for the kids for each day to avoid the "I want it!"

I'd say $100 for groceries is over estimating, but gives us wiggle room.

Oh my god, that's one expensive trip, isn't it?

Ways to cut costs: skip the island, stay for 1 night, and visit 1 park. Ok... so, $28 for the campground. $110 in gas. $28.50 for the park visit. $50 in grocery money. $50 in souviner money. Total cost: 266.50. OMG, for a single night?!?!?! Are you kidding me?