"Michigan Adventure, Part 2" - Time Out #62

Last Sunday, I guided Our Town readers from Grand Rapids, on Michigan's lower peninsula, northeast across the mighty Mackinac Bridge, to the small community (about 2,500) of St. Ignance, MI, on the upper peninsula during a Tauck Discovery Tour. Today, we are going to complete the rest of the story regarding this northern state on a trip Debbie and I enjoyed several years ago.

The principle reason for this adventure was our 2-day stay at the world-famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. We rode the ferry from St. Ignance to the tiny, 3-mile by 2-mile island located in Lake Huron. This island has mainly unique features, including no motorized vehicles allowed except for a couple of emergency varieties. Therefore, the only allowed modes of human transportation are by foot, bicycle or horse-drawn carriages. In fact, there are about as many island horses, 500, as permanent island human residents.

Staying 2 evenings at the historic (built in 1887) Grand Hotel was truly a wish come true. We were in one of their large theme rooms, not too far from their world-famous wooden front porch. The porch is said to be the longest in the world at 660 feet, and has dozens of wooden rocking chairs to sit in, and look over the hotel's beautiful tea garden, large Ester Williams outdoor swimming pool, and view massive Lake Huron in the distance. Our island stay consisted of a carriage tour, sampling their classic fudge sold at many stores along its shopping mecca Main St, and eating formal dinners in their elegant, huge main dining room.

After departing the island and returning to St. Ignance on the upper peninsula mainland, we headed farther north to the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and the same-named Ontario, Canada, city on the north shore of the St. Marys River. The 5 locks on this wild river drop the water level 21 feet from the upper elevation Lake Superior region to the lower Lake Huron region. We overnighted on the U.S. side, but not before we experienced the Soo Lock Boat Tour. This involved a 2-hour, narrated tour through the famous lock and alongside giant ships, hauling various products thru the Great Lakes.

The next day, we completed our tour as "Upers" (wild, untamed, upper peninsula slang name of its residents) by traveling to a remote southern shore location along massive Lake Superior (by far the largest of the 5 Great Lakes), and toured the fascinating Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. This was followed by driving back south, and stopping to view beautiful Tahquamenon Falls. From there, we continued south, across the Mackinac Bridge again, and on further down to just south of huge Saginaw Bay, and the quaint city of Frankenmuth. This unique city of about 5,000 folks is like a slice of Bavaria (i.e., Germany) in Michigan. All over town, the theme is Bavarian architecture, and their #1 attraction is Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. This facility was founded in 1945, and is touted as the world's largest Christmas store. Just how big is it, you ask? It's as large under roof as 1 1/2 football fields, and a shopper's dream with over 50,000 trims and gifts. Actually, that number was decreased considerably after our visit with my bride, Debbie, being a HUGE fan of Christmas decorating. For many of our Stillwater holiday seasons, our home inside looks like Santa's Workshop due to her special decorative talent, and purchases from places like Bronner's over the years.

For our final tour stop, we settled in at Dearborn (a sw, up-scale, suburb of Detroit) with a population of about 100,000. Our lodging was the historic Dearborn Inn, built in 1931 by American icon, Henry Ford. Over our last couple of days, we used this centrally-located hotel to take in many of the metro Detroit attractions. Our first was the nearby Henry Ford Museum which celebrates American innovative genius, and, in my humble opinion, is on par with the greatest museums in the world, including the Smithsonian collection in our nation's capital. It is truly awesome. We followed it with a tour of its neighbor attraction, Greenfield Village. This complex is 90 acres, including 7 historic districts, each with its own buildings. Upon entering the front area, we boarded an operating Model-T, and were able to capture an overall feel of the entire setting from the auto. We then returned on foot to each district for in-depth enjoyment.

After the organized official Tauck tour was completed, we stayed a couple additional days, and took in more sites via a rental car before flying home. The rental provided us the ability to drive to the massive Ford Rouge Factory. At one time, this was one of the world's largest factories, and has tours of the plant where Ford F-150 trucks are pieced together along Ford's famous mass assembly line. We viewed the activity from high above the plant on an elevated metal walkway, and the entire process was so educational. The last day, we drove into Detroit's city center, by their fabulous Fox Theatre, ornately built in the 1920's, the NFL's Lions' home at Ford Field, the MLB Tigers' home at Comerica Park and the signature GM Renaissance Center, a 14-acre downtown complex and global home of the automotive corporation.

We concluded our memorable trip by visiting the treasured Motown Historic Museum on Detroit's nw side in a residential neighborhood. The structure, also known as "Hitsville U.S.A." was begun by genius Berry Gordy Jr. almost 60 years ago, and there probably isn't a baby boomer alive today that hasn't been touched by the Motown sound. Every time Debbie or I hear one of their famous songs in our cars, home, restaurant, etc,, we immediately start humming the words, and remember our visit to that special origin location on a pretty day, years ago.

In fact, to be totally honest with Our town audience, my mind's eye frequently returns to that Michigan trip as time marches on, and all my memories are good. Seeing the world and the Breedloves are inseparable terms.