Ahhhh....the sweet smell of chocolate fudge mingling with the stench of horse manure! Where else can you have this rare and unforgettable sensory experience other than on Michigan's historic Mackinac Island?
Having spent many summers in Northern Michigan (particularly at my grandparents' cottage in Charlevoix), we often took a day trip to Mackinac. But it had been several years since I had been back to the island, so a couple weeks ago my husband (John), dad (Gait) and son (Jack) decided to hop a ferry across The Straits.
As we were speeding across Lake Huron (east side of that great bridge), the memories came flooding back, especially those of the legendary Grand Hotel.
I have been very fortunate to have worked for some really wonderful clients, and have them to thank for some amazing experiences -- the Grand Hotel is one of those. I was on the account team for the resort when I worked at Anthony Franco PR in Detroit, back in the early 90's. My fellow account team members and I spent three days touring every inch of the property behind the scenes and interviewing every key staff member, from the executive chef to the chief gardner.
So as my family and I took a tour of the island on horseback, I recounted my stories of Grand Hotel. And at that very moment, as we were trotting down a shaded lane of impossibly gorgeous summer homes, we were nearly side-swiped by a man in a three-piece suit speeding by on a bicycle.
He looked vaguely familiar to me. I called out "Is that Dan Musser?" He stopped and turned around to take a look at this crazed women on a horse yelling at him. It was indeed Dan Musser III, who took over the reins (no pun intended, really) from his dad as President of Grand Hotel. I had no idea how to stop my horse to have a chat with Dan, so we quickly exchanged "nice to see yous" and the reunion was over.
How bizarre. Even our horse guide was stunned about the ironic encounter.
After our ride, we ventured down Main Street to buy a snow globe for Jack's collection (he now has 63 of them from all over the world) and headed home...happy to have more great memories of Mackinac Island.
- Brendy
PR Postscript: This was a day of brand value at its finest…we paid $40 just to walk through the Grand again…and it was worth every penny.
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