So I think we can all agree that last year was not the best. Traveling especially had definitely been almost put to a holt. My trips to the island for years fell on the Lilac festival weeks. Well unfortunately that was cancelled last year. Now most years you can’t get on to book a room in midsummer to attempt a fall visit. It might happen but not always. I have always wanted to go in the fall. Now I had been every Month accept October when it was season on the island. I was gonna do winter this year but week before I fell and got a massive sprained ankle with stress fracture. Anywho I was missing the island so I randomly decided to explore options in October.

I came across the Pontiac Lodge which I was familiar with- and they had a great room with fridge and microwave. Also the room overlooked Main St. It didn’t have a balcony but as long as I could open the window for the sounds I was solid gold. So I booked it. October 16-18. I was on pins and needles because I wasn’t sure if covid would make it I couldn’t go. The numbers were rising daily and it was a race to see if the trip could happen.

I asked a good friend of mine if she wanted to come because she said she loved seeing all my pics and was a huge fan of Somewhere in Time. So the weekend came to go. Now normally I like 4 days with 3 night stay over. Only because the drive for me is a little over 5 hours then the ferry- yada, yada, yada. The dates were Oct 16-18. Usually the island is still open. A few shops might be closing up but for the most part everything is still going.

This also happened to be the Somewhere in Time weekend. I will go into that in another post. So we left early and had podcasts galore. It was gray out which honestly was nice because the trees for the drive were so beautiful if it had been sunny I would have gone off the road. As we were getting closer it started snowing. I just laughed. Because why not? I knew regardless of the weather it would be ok. So get to the ferry and now its raining and snowing. Thank god I had my concert ponchos in the trunk. I also on a post am gonna share packing information. Probably my packing when I do that this weekend. Anyway, we head over to the island. It was muggy on the ferry so you couldn’t see coming in which is one of my favorite things. But we arrived nontheless. As we got off we headed to our hotel and the room was ready. Got new dry socks on and warm dry sweatshirt and went to get food. I swear at this time the sun started to come out. It was gorgeous. Fall is my favorite season so I loved the temp and the colors all around.

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We decided to walk first around and bike the island the next day. Now I know this place can be beautiful but with the fall foliage it was stunning. Marquette Park was surrounded by trees lined with variations of orange, red and bright yellow. Of course we had to get fudge and then go to the shops. Some stuff was closed already and I now know it was due to Covid. The coveted Pink Pony was all shut down 😦 But that just meant more exploring.

Walking was so peaceful and therapeutic after the crazy couple of months. You really felt connected with nature. I am a hot person so these temps were straight up my alley. We ventured to the Grand Hotel. Looked at the Somewhere in Time memorabilia then sat on the porch for a fantastic margarita.

The next morning is one of my favorites. I got up and ran down to Arch Rock then walked my favorite path that took me down beside Marquette Park. I just felt so relaxed. It was quiet because no ferries had arrived and any guests weren’t out yet. The island slowly woke up.

The rest of the visit was just riding, exploring and eating Islander Bean dip (I’ll get to that) I just felt it was busy but not as many _ of course this could be due to COVID. But I loved the scenery even more and just the whole atmosphere. I will be back again this October- can’t wait to enjoy here at this time!!