Great Lakes Cities

[Crawford]

Mackinac actually is pretty overrun on summer weekends, though. I doubt a single boat would make a big difference, but the actual town is tiny, and the main street is packed.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

mackinac's character already is "summer tourism destination".

the island has a permanent population of ~500 people, but i've heard that on summer weekends the population swells as high as 25,000 people including all the day-trippers, tourists, cottagers, and summer workers.

300 extra people are not going to radically upset that balance.

I haven't been there since a class trip in middle school, but we probably had nearly 100 people in our group alone. We were there very early in the season (I believe it was in April or May) and there were definitely thousands of people on the island by then.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Mackinac actually is pretty overrun on summer weekends, though. I doubt a single boat would make a big difference, but the actual town is tiny, and the main street is packed.

main street in town certainly gets over-run, but mackinac island is 80% state park, and if you get up into the interior of the island, there is always plenty of space to get some breathing room, even on the most crowded of days.

the vast majority of visitors to the island buy some fudge in town, take a spin on the carriage tour, visit the fort, take a bike ride around the island, and then head home.

like most tourist places, the beaten path on mackinac is extremely well worn, but mackinac island has plenty of space to get away from all of that if you want to.

[Steely Dan]

rising and falling water levels are an eternal struggle for great lakes cities and towns.

Great Lakes water levels are surging and could hit record highs this year
John Flesher
Associated Press

Federal officials predict water levels will surge to record highs in some areas of the Great Lakes over the next six months.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report released Monday says the lakes have been rising steadily for several years and are getting an extra boost as winter's melting snow mingles with recent heavy rainfall.

The Corps' Detroit district office says levels on Lake Superior and Lake Erie are expected to break records set decades ago.

Records are not predicted for Lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario, but they're still expected to rise significantly.

Corps hydrologist Keith Kompoltowicz says coastal flooding and shoreline erosion will pose threats, especially during heavy storms.

It's a remarkable turnaround from early this decade, when lake levels were slumping and some hit record lows.

source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...t=oft12aH-1li3

[iheartthed]

^Detroit, city and suburbs, have been experiencing pretty bad floods over the past couple weeks related to the high lake levels. Some of the freeways have been completely flooded out.

This is at least the second time this has happened in the past four years. I don't ever remember flooding like this happening there in my lifetime.

[aaron38]

Mackinac is awesome and I definitely will go back when my son is older. We went, damn 9 years ago now in 2010 for a wedding. The wedding was at The Inn at Stonecliffe, so we stayed out there, 2 miles and a 10 mile bike ride from the center of town.
We probably should have stayed closer. I was making beer runs, bringing back as much at a time as I could sling off the handlebars, and we felt a little too isolated. Waiting 20-30 minutes for the horse taxi got old.

But if you want to be out in the woods, in a very quiet and beautiful place, I highly recommend it.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by aaron38

The wedding was at The Inn at Stonecliffe, so we stayed out there, 2 miles and a 10 mile bike ride from the center of town.
We probably should have stayed closer. I was making beer runs, bringing back as much at a time as I could sling off the handlebars, and we felt a little too isolated.

the cottage that my family stays at every summer is out near stonecliff on the west side of the island (gorgeous sunsets over the water), but as an avid cyclist, 2 miles does not feel isolating to me (hell, i bike commute 16 miles everyday, so 2 miles is like nothing to me). it does help that as a bike commuter i have a bike with a rack and panniers that i can use to haul stuff like beer. also, since having kids, we now bring a burley child trailer with us, which is great for hauling big grocery loads back from town.

being such a bicycle paradise is one of the big reasons why mackinac is so near and dear to my heart.

#fuckcars

Originally Posted by aaron38

Waiting 20-30 minutes for the horse taxi got old.

yeah, the horse-drawn taxis are expensive, slow, and can take a LONG time to get out by stonecliff. we generally don't use them because we bring our bikes with us.

[the urban politician]

Going on a bike ride for beer runs actually sounds exhilarating.

2 beers, then ride your bike...... followed by another few beers, another bike ride.....rinse and repeat. I could totally go for that.

I still need to visit Mackinac Island

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Going on a bike ride for beer runs actually sounds exhilarating.

2 beers, then ride your bike...... followed by another few beers, another bike ride.....rinse and repeat. I could totally go for that.

I still need to visit Mackinac Island

pabst laps! dude you can do that in chicago. i take two bombers with me on rides in the summer all the time. ride around, find a cool spot to chill out. enjoy a cold one, continue on....but yeah, mackinac island is very unique. ive only been there once but it was pretty neato.....

[niwell]

Biking with beer - whether it be stuff brought with you or riding to a brewery - is one of my favourite summer past times in Toronto. A full loop of breweries and bars is the best but just need to be aware of how much you have consumed...

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

2 beers, then ride your bike...... followed by another few beers, another bike ride.....rinse and repeat. I could totally go for that.

Originally Posted by niwell

Biking with beer - whether it be stuff brought with you or riding to a brewery - is one of my favourite summer past times in Toronto. A full loop of breweries and bars is the best but just need to be aware of how much you have consumed...

The difficulty of operating a bicycle while drunk never ceases to amaze me.

That whole balance thing, I guess...

[the urban politician]

^ The key isn’t to get drunk. Enjoy a few but take a break in between drinks, definitely hydrate yourself, plus you get a bit of exercise along the way.

[Acajack]

"Drunk cycling" would be illegal in some way, in most jurisdictions I assume.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Drunk cycling" would be illegal in some way, in most jurisdictions I assume.

Seeing as just being drunk in public is technically illegal, doing so on a bike wouldn't change anything. I think an officer would likely use public intoxication laws to stop a cyclist that was obviously impaired.

[xzmattzx]

A bicycle is considered a vehicle in most states. Riding a bike while drunk can result in a DUI, just like driving a car while drunk.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Seeing as just being drunk in public is technically illegal, doing so on a bike wouldn't change anything. I think an officer would likely use public intoxication laws to stop a cyclist that was obviously impaired.

well, not inherently, public intoxication is not a crime in my state just as passengers in motor vehicles having open containers of intoxicating beverages is not illegal. in other words depends on the state.

[Centropolis]

Just checked state of missouri law: Bicycles are non-motorized. No application here nor does Missouri have public intoxication law.

So, it seems mostly attached to public intoxication laws only in applicable states as it’s a non-motorized vehicle. If the state doesn’t have a public intoxication law - intoxicated bicycling is not a crime. I mean hell, ive been on bike kegger rides pulling keg/taps in the open...not to mention we have a trail through wine country where people actively bike between wineries and drink.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Drunk cycling" would be illegal in some way, in most jurisdictions I assume.

In Ontario I believe you can only get hit with public intoxication, no different than walking. Which is crazy because you can get a DUI on a canoe, but not a bike.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

In Ontario I believe you can only get hit with public intoxication, no different than walking. Which is crazy because you can get a DUI on a canoe, but not a bike.

what the fuck? getting wildly drunk in a canoe in the ozarks with national park rangers and state police watching is a state sport in missouri. i think they started to try to ban full sized kegs in boats/rafts within national park administered areas on ozark mountain rivers in missouri but other than that...

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

mackinac's character already is "summer tourism destination".

the island has a permanent population of ~500 people, but i've heard that on summer weekends the population swells as high as 25,000 people including all the day-trippers, tourists, cottagers, and summer workers.

300 extra people are not going to radically upset that balance.

I've heard that the 1980 film "Somewhere in Time" has a cult following and some of the fans make the trek to the Grand Hotel. I kind of like that film. Wish your way back in time through self hypnosis. Sometimes when I'm at the Hotel Del Coronado I close my eyes and pretend it is the late 1950s and I meet Marilyn Monroe while she is filming "Some Like It Hot" and she takes a liking to me. One day maybe I will open my eyes and it will be 1958 and Marilyn will be at the next table and I will say something clever or funny and make her laugh and the rest is history.