So on Monday the 17th, we arrived in Michigan. A new state to explore! Where to first?
It really is fun to avoid the interstates, and we happily accept the challenge of making our route fairly straight-ish. Anywho, we entered the state just above South Bend, Indiana, taking state roads and byways for a diagonal route across to Oscoda / Au Sable, skipping the original destination of Bay City (more on that below), on the eastern side of Michigan.
Why way over there? To watch the sun come up over Lake Huron, of course!
Our route was full of all sorts of farms and small towns, but it had a different look, farmlands between large swaths of forest.
Plan A for our first stop in MI – made some time ago – involved a rental in Bay City (near the crook of the mitten thumb) that fell through two days before our anticipated check-in due to a stove that developed a gas leak (yikes!). We scrambled and came up with a small rental further north in Oscoda, right on the shore of Lake Huron.
Great! All set, right? Well… this cute little freshly renovated cottage had only one of those portable ACs, like what we put in the master stateroom in the boat during that fateful time in he%$, oops we mean Holden Beach, NC, you know, where Todd had the stroke thingy. Anyway, this AC unit was even smaller. So-o-o… after a warm night, the blazing morning sun (we might have been passed out) slowly heated the place right on up. By 10 a.m. it was in the high 70’s outside and the high 80’s inside!
Plan B was melting quickly. We needed a Plan C, pronto! Todd did a quick search – says he’s not sure how – and found us a cute, old-fashioned beachside stay just a few miles north.
Enter, the Sandcastle Beach Resort, which had one available suite. And working A/C! (aaahhh) Thanks, Stacy & Tom!
We checked in, returned to the unfortunately failed Plan B (which was up to 92 degrees inside, even though the little-AC-unit-that-couldn’t was humming away), packed everything up, moved it to Plan C, and unpacked again. Now we were ready. Next morning, “Cue the sunrise, please.”
After enjoying the beach, with Todd even doing a quick splash into chilly Lake Huron, we passed a few days NOT packing or unpacking, only to pack it all up again Friday. It was time to wiggle across to the other side, almost. Taking the River Road National Scenic Byway out of Oscoda, we passed through the Huron-Manistee National Forests, paralleling the historic Michigan version of the “Riviere aux Sable” (River of Sand), and headed across the state to Fife Lake, near Traverse City.
But first, a side trip (of course) to the Sturgeon Point Light.
Let’s climb some stairs!
We enjoyed the little museum and tackled the 85 stairs to take in the view of Lake Huron, then clambered back down and went out onto Sturgeon Point to search for Petoskey Stones (Michigan’s official state stone) and/or Charlevoix Stones, both fossilized coral remains.
I think…
After conferring with the “expert” volunteer in the lighthouse gift shop to determine that Susie did indeed have a few of the treasured stones – and Todd had rocks – we backtracked a bit and continued on our way across the state. One of the stops was the Lumberman’s Monument
circa 1907.
The bell still works 🙂
With our bellies grumbling about the lateness of the afternoon, the missed lunch, and the fact that we were in a FOREST with scant dining options – unless Todd was going to switch from logging and teaching to foraging and hunting – we made tracks for our destination.
During our first week in Michigan, we’ve already learned a bit of history regarding the lumber and fishing industries (fascinating lack of fish in the Great Lakes) and are soaking up the colloquialisms. We now know that 1) saying someone is “down state” means they are in the Detroit area; 2) we are currently “trolls” because we’re below the bridge (the Mackinac Bridge, that is); and 3) once we travel to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula), we’ll be “yoopers” (pronounced YOUpers).
Now rested and refreshed after the rainy weekend, we are ready to explore the west side of Michigan and learn some more. Oh, and as Traverse City is recognized as the Cherry Capital of the World, we plan to eat our share of those yummy delights!
Our Travels 