Pure Michigan!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Traverse City (MI). We stayed longer than planned due to the fact our truck started spitting and sputtering. At times it acted as if it wasn’t getting any gas and I told Brian I was not about to be stuck in the middle of an intersection with the 5’er behind us when it decided to stall. The part had to be ordered from Chicago and apparently the dealership is closed on Sundays so it worked to our advantage as we were able to spend more time with our grand daughter, Ciara, than originally thought. It also allowed us to explore Traverse City and the surrounding area.

I was really surprised to learn that Traverse City is a town of only about 14,000 because they have just about every chain store one could hope for. As it turns out, Traverse City is the largest city in the 21-county northern Michigan region and functions as the major commercial hub for the area. The Traverse City area is also the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States. I’m told during the time of cherry harvest, the city really rolls out the red carpet and holds a week-long Cherry Festival attracting about 500,000 visitors annually. Personally, I’m not a big fan of cherries. In fact, don’t even like the taste or smell of cherries but I do like a glass of wine now and then and the area around Traverse City is also known for it’s many wineries.

Since Ciara had already started school, yep, she’s a freshman this year, we rented a car and drove out to the peninsula and check out some of the country side and wineries for ourselves. This area on Lake Michigan is absolutely gorgeous and I can really understand why Ciara and her family fell in love with this part of Michigan. We spent a little time at Two Brothers Winery tasting wines and enjoying the view from the lobby of their winery, then taking off to drive along the coast line of the peninsula. We stopped at the Old Mission Lighthouse and hiked all the way to the end of the peninsula. Back in town, Traverse City was holding it’s first Michigan Schooner Festival that weekend so we wandered around the bay looking at the different ships.

The Old Homestead

 Other than visiting our grand daughter, the other reason we wanted to come to this part of Michigan is that Brians’ grandparents owned a summer home in Montague on Lake Michigan where he used to spend his summers as a child. Brian and his sisters used to play in the cemetery located just down the road of his grandparents house and when they weren’t raising ruckus in the cemetery, they were spending their time at the beach on Lake Michigan. With address and GPS in hand, we took off one morning and drove the 2 hour trip to the old homestead. Even though the GPS kept stating, “You have arrived.” neither the house or the street the house was located was no where in sight. About that time we came across a group of teenagers walking down the deserted road. “Ask them where the cemetery’s located,” I told Brian, “all teenagers know where the cemeteries are.” Sure enough, they directed us to the cemetery and Brian was able to locate the house from there. As it turned out, the owners were out of town that weekend but we were able to talk to the neighbor who was a little younger than Brian but definitely remembered his grandparents. We talked to him for quite awhile, walked around the old homestead and took photos to share with the rest of the family.

Lake Michigan

After eating at the Old Channel Inn which is the local tavern where his grandparents spent many of their afternoons, and yes, we were also surprised to learn the tavern is still operational, we headed to the beach on Lake Michigan. Now you know the two of us. When it comes to people, no one is a stranger and this trip to the beach proved to be no different. We ran across a couple of women lounging on the beach and started explaining the reason we were in town. “Who’s your grandparents?” “Mildred and Clyde Drake.” “Ohhhhh… I know the Drakes.” We were amazed we ran in to someone who knew Brian’s grandparents. Actually we were amazed that anyone was still alive who knew Brian’s grandparents and who could actually remember knowing his grandparents. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them but her most vivid memory about Brians grandmother was how much time Mildred would spend in the tavern and how much time Mildred would spend trying to get out of the parking lot after downing a few too many drinks. Mildred used to buy herself a brand new Cadillac every year and I guess she must have thought it was a tank because she drove it like one. Apparently, this lady would amuse herself watching Mildred plow her way out of the parking lot side swiping and backing into every car that would get in her way.

It was truly interesting listening to Brian tell me of his childhood memories; where they played, how his grandparents house had a shuffle board court, it’s own private landing strip and he even showed me the patio where he celebrated his 10th birthday with a family party. I’ve seen the old black and white photos so it was fun to see the original locations for myself.



Our Beautiful Grand daughter!



That pretty much ended our time in Traverse City but while there we were fortunate enough to be able to shop for Homecoming dresses with our grand daughter. She’s growing up so fast! Before you know it, it’ll be graduation dresses and then wedding dresses. Egads!!! Where does the time go???

Mackinaw or Mackinac - Which is it???

Toronto is a city of 2.5 million people and I actually believe a majority of them were on the freeways the day we drove through. It took us a 2 full hours to get through it all. We drove at a snail’s pace, bumper to bumper from one end of town to the other. Now, I’ve been in traffic before and I’ve even been in bumper to bumper, not-going-anywhere-anytime-soon traffic, but this was hair raising since we were trying to navigate roads unknown but also pulling the 5th wheel. And if that wasn’t the worst of it, it was the fact that it wasn’t even rush hour traffic!! My advise if you ever decide to go to Toronto?? Fly!!!



A beautiful day in Spanish, Ontario, Canada

 We weren’t in Canada for any length of time since we were mostly using the route as a short cut to see our grand daughter who lives in the upper part of Michigan. We spent a couple of nights in a small town by the name of Spanish which is just above Lake Huron. It was raining and a little cold for my blood but it was a beautiful and peaceful area which was a much needed change after the drive through Toronto. I checked us in to a local campground where I ran back to Brian, “I’ve never heard anyone say, eh? at the end of each sentence as much as the lady who checked us in! You‘ve GOT to go talk to her while we‘re here!” Sure enough, over the course of the next few days, he got his chance. And the funniest thing was the fact every time she put, eh? at the end of her sentence, I felt I had to respond with some sort of answer which made the conversation twice as long.

One thing we noticed about this part of Canada is that towns aren’t very large. I guess I’ve been a city girl too long because I was in total shock when we walked into the local grocery store. I’m used to the mega stores and this one would have fit into the produce section of the grocery store I used when living in Phoenix. Brian was in the mood for chili so we were trying to find ingredients for his craving. Needless to say, we struck out in the little grocery store in Spanish. “There’s a bigger store down the road which should have the stuff you need.” So we headed down the road to the larger store. I’m not sure what they had in mind when they were thinking the “store down the road” was larger but we were out of luck in finding all the ingredients needed. Is it possible the residents of Spanish don’t eat chili, eh? Even though we thought it cold and chili weather, maybe the residents of Spanish didn’t see it the same as Brian in thinking it was chili weather. Regardless, we bought as many ingredients as needed, improvised with the ingredients we couldn’t locate and Brian had his chili that night which I paid for the next day… if you know what I mean, eh? ;o)

We left Spanish and re-entered the States at Sault Ste. Marie. It was much easier navigating the 5’er through the lanes at this point of entry than at the point of entry at Niagara Falls, Canada where we mistakenly drove through the area for semi trucks and was reprimanded by the Canadian border crossing guard. Ok, in our defense, it really didn’t look like the lanes for automobiles was wide enough to accommodate our truck and trailer and as we debated, we remembered a time we re-entered the U.S. from Mexico when a friend of ours tried to maneuver their motor home through the narrow lanes and large concrete barriers set in a zig-zag to deter anyone thinking about running the border. Needless to say, it was concrete barriers… one. Motor home: zero. But that was another trip, back to this one.

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge which connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. At 5 miles long, it’s the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world. The thing with the Mackinac Bridge is you can actually see the lake below through the grates in the bridge’s road. We were told if we were afraid of driving across the bridge ourselves, they actually have drivers that will drive your vehicle across the bridge for you. Every Labor Day, they close a couple of lanes to traffic and open them to walkers for the Mackinac Bridge Walk and wouldn’t you know it, we missed it by one day!

We got up early the next morning and caught the ferry to Mackinac Island. The island is somewhat famous for the movie, Somewhere in Time, which was filmed at the Grand Hotel, which by the way, charges $10 a person just to walk onto their porch. Apparently they decided to charge tourists who wanted to see where parts of the movie had been filmed and no, even though I’m sure the view was very nice, we didn’t pay. We did however, take a carriage ride which is a must if you’re ever on the island. Our tour guide, John, was hilarious! He was an “upper” (meaning from the upper peninsula of Michigan), and when he wasn’t working as a tour guide or tending to the horses, he was attending college to obtain his degree as a high school history teacher and was also recently engaged. He made the trip so interesting that any high schooler would be lucky to have him as their teacher. But the island is most famous for it’s ban on almost all motor vehicles since the late 1890’s with the exception of snowmobiles during the winter months, emergency vehicles and service vehicles. In fact, the afternoon we were on the island, we did not see any vehicles at all which was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the world.

The day started out to be a beautiful one. The
ferry ride from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island was smooth and uneventful. After our carriage ride, we ate lunch on the patio overlooking the lake, strolled through shops and of course, bought fudge at not one, but two of the 17 fudge shops on the island. Ok, not exactly sure the reason for so many fudge shops but apparently, Mackinac Island is also famous for their fudge.

The start of nasty weather!

And as we were enjoying our day, the weather took a turn for the worse and became rather nasty. I’m not talking a mild nasty, I’m talking an all-out, mean and nasty nasty. The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped so much that Brian had to buy a jacket. It started raining and the wind picked up so much that the ferry ride back to the mainland was rather quite bumpy. I love roller coasters and airplane turbulence doesn’t bother me but this ride was a bit scary. All I could think about was how the boat was going to capsize and I was going to be thrown into the water along with every one else trying to swim back to shore. I was more than happy when we arrived back at the dock in Mackinaw City, safe and sound! But according to Brian, who’s an old “Swabby” the ride was a cake walk.

Oh... the question of Mackinaw or Mackinac. Mackinaw is spelled two different ways but pronounced only one way… Mackinaw. It’s Mackinaw City but it’s Mackinac Island. From what John, our carriage driver told us, the French came in long ago and used their version of the original pronunciation, thus, the spelling of Mackinac. This was about it for the Mackinaw area, our next stop was our visit to our grand daughter in Traverse City. See you there!

Top of the Falls

So the next stop on the agenda was Niagara Falls but not before stopping at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. Hey, you can’t expect me to go through Pennsylvania without stopping for chocolate now, can you??? To tell you the truth, we were there only long enough to do some damage to the pocketbook. We took the free tour (yep, there’s that cheap thing again) which reminded me a bit of the ride, Astro Blasters at CA Adventure Park, only without the space guns. Everywhere we looked was chocolate and there’s a heavy aroma of chocolate clinging to the air. It was a chocolate lovers paradise and yep, I was in heaven. But surprisingly enough, I didn’t buy myself anything. Not to say we didn’t get out of there without loads of the dark, gooey stuff, I just wasn’t in the mood to pay the premium prices they were asking for what I could buy at Sam’s Club or Costco for half the price. The treasures we walked away with were gifts for the grandkids and some old fashioned, black licorice for Brian. What can I say, he’s a big kid at heart!

We both decided that Chocolate World is more geared toward the little ones so got back in the 5’er and headed up to Niagara Falls. Now, Niagara Falls is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but never thought I’d get the chance to do so. Face it, a girl from California, transplanted to Alaska, Colorado, Arizona and back to Colorado and never traveled farther northeast than Kentucky never thought she’d ever see one drop of water rushing over Niagara Falls. So needless to say, I was more than thrilled when Brian started talking about seeing Niagara Falls when planning this adventure. And I was not disappointed when we stepped up to the edge and looked over the falls.

On average, Niagara Falls carries almost 4 million cubic feet of water over the crest line every minute and is the most powerful waterfall in North America. In other words, that’s a lot of water! The falls are divided into the Horseshoe Falls, which are located on the Canadian side, and the American Falls, which, you guessed it, are on the American side. Although not exceptionally tall, the Niagara Falls are very wide. The Horseshoe Falls have a height of about 173 feet while the American Falls varies between 70 to 100 feet because of giant boulders at its base. And it’s because of the humongous boulders at the base of the American Falls that no one that has ever gone over the falls and survived.

We arrived mid-morning and bought our Discovery Pass tickets which includes admission for all of the attractions at Niagara Falls State Park on the U.S. side. Since we had some time before the next trolley arrived, we decided to hit the Aquarium of Niagara first. Maybe I’ve become spoiled with Sea World but thank goodness we didn’t have hours to kill because frankly, the aquarium is really not worth the time spent on the long walk from the Niagara Falls information center to the aquarium itself.

You can ride the trolley all day hopping on and off wherever you choose so our first stop was at the falls themselves. The path leading to the falls follows the river and I was amazed at the color of the water. Not sure what I expected but certainly not the beautiful turquoise blue that was rushing before me. And the falls themselves are absolutely breath taking. Niagara Falls has always been famous for honeymooners and I can certainly understand why. They are beautiful and in my opinion, somewhat romantic. Course, Brian wasn’t seeing it the same way but what does he know, he’s a man!

Now when you go to Niagara Falls, you must certainly take the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The Maid of the Mist has been operating for more than 150 years and will take you to the base of the falls and caveat emptor, you will get wet! Upon boarding, you are issued a flimsy rain poncho and some of the most ugly plastic sandals I’ve ever seen. I’d have to say, I’d put them in the same category as Crocs but they do serve a purpose (slip resistant) and it really makes you feel somewhat better since everyone else is wearing the same God-awful sandals.

The view from the base of the falls is a lot different than the view from above. You really get a sense of just how much water comes pouring over the falls and just how powerful the falls can be since the river leading to the falls edge is quite calm. In fact, if you were out for a leisurely boat ride, you’d never know the falls were there until it was too late.

Yep, that's Brian
under all that water

And then there’s the Cave of the Winds which is another must. If you didn’t get wet during the Maid of the Mist boat ride, you will certainly come away from the Cave of the Winds feeling like you just got out of the shower. There are stairs and various platforms leading to the base of the American Falls and we took them all. It was really quite fun. In fact, I’ve already decided I want to return one of these days and visit Niagara Falls again.

Horseshoe Falls

The next day we left the American side of the falls and drove over the river to the Canadian side. I’ve always heard and read that the view from the Canadian side of the falls is much better than the American side and I’d have to agree. While on the Canadian side I started talking to a man who had migrated from Scotland and was there for the day with his brother who was visiting from their homeland. In fact, he had only been there for an hour or so and was ready to drive the 2 hour trip back home. I couldn’t understand why, but he just wasn’t that impressed with Niagara Falls. Ok, I’ve never been to Scotland so have no idea his comparison but I suppose that’s one of those things I’ll have to see for myself. Do I see a trip to Scotland in our future???

The American side offers the Discovery Pass and the Canadian side has the Adventure Pass which is admission to various “attractions.” They’re pretty much the same with the exception the Adventure Pass costs a few extra dollars but I would say it’s definitely worth it. The Adventure Pass includes admission to tunnels behind and at the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. Since the tunnels behind the American Falls caved in long ago the Canadian side is your best bet and has more to offer.

One last thing, when you do visit Niagara Falls, make sure you have lunch at the Top of the Falls restaurant on the American side of the falls. Their fish and chips are to die for!