May 5-We dropped off the camper for repairs and drove to Holland, Michigan to attend the tulip festival. It was beautiful and I took a billion photos of tulips, I will not post them all. LOL We stopped at couple of lighthouses and stayed the night in Muskegon at the Holiday Inn.
May 6-We drove to Traverse City. Along the way, we stopped in Manistee, saw the Point Betsie Lighthouse, saw the sand dune climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes, went to a FLAG at Glen Arbor, went to Northport Bay and Leelanau State Park. The train car and dinosaur in the last two photos are at a private residence right on the beach. We stayed overnight in Traverse City.
May 7-We drove to St. Ignace. Along the way we stopped to see TWO separate “World’s Largest Cherry Pie” pans/claims. One is in Traverse City and the other is in Charlevoix. We went to Michigan Beach Part and I met a couple who gave me a Petoskey stone!!! They were so kind. I had just stopped them to see what it was they were hunting. I mentioned that I had seen them in shops and might pick one up as a souvenir. The man didn’t want me to pay for a stone in a shop, so he gave me one. We had come to the area to see the ‘mushroom houses’ in Charlevoix. Ed found them online. They are quite quirky and fun. I could live in one! We then drove M22 to drive through the ‘Tunnel of Trees’. I think when the leaves are on the trees, it is probably spectacular. It actually was still a great drive.
We got a great hotel in St. Ignace. Being as we are at the edge of the season starting, it wasn’t busy which was nice. I love the view from our room and when we were walking in, I noticed the cute trim on the stairs! We learned about the gnats. They were crazy bad on the balcony!
May 8-We took the boat to Mackinac Island. I have heard so much about the island, so I was super excited to get to visit. Unfortunately, it was bitterly cold. We did take a horse drawn carriage ride, which was amazing. We didn’t do much else on the island, as it was just so cold and every shop was packed with people trying to get out of the cold & wind. We did get some Mackinac Fudge, it was quite good. I do want to return someday, however, we will plan it for a bit later in the season.
May 9-We left St. Ignace and drove to Sault Ste Marie. I stopped at Lehto’s Pasties as I had read so much about how you HAVE to get a pastie or you haven’t fully experienced the UP. It was really good! I had a regular pastie, go the gravy, but really wasn’t a fan of the gravy. Loved the pastie though. We drove up into the Upper Pennisula. There is one of the Dambo trolls in Germfask, so we had to go see him. He is Benny Beardfisher and he is located at a campground where you can take a short hike to see him. I love these trolls and we try to be sure to find them when in the areas they live. Each one is so unique and has a fun personality. Plus, it is a good way to get Ed to go for a walk with me.
We were on our way to Sable Creek Falls and we saw snow still on the ground! Scooby was not too thrilled to get photos in the snow.
We hiked up to the falls and they are gorgeous. There are A LOT of stairs to go up and down to get there. We had to laugh at the graffiti, Ed fully agreed! We went to the beach at Grand Marais. We met a guy who showed me what a Yooperlite is and he gave me a fossil stone! I admit that he told me what the fossil was, but I forgot. It was very sweet of him to give it to me. The photo below is my Petoskey stone, not the fossil stone. In town as we were leaving, we saw this huge barrel shaped building, it is the Pickle Barrel Museum. Unfortunately, it was not open.
We got to our hotel in Sault Ste Marie and I couldn’t stop thinking about the Yooperlite. Ed indulged my crazy and we went to get some UV flashlights to hut for Yooperlite! We didn’t have any luck finding Yooperlite, but we had a blast trying and it is one of my favorite things we did on this little side excursion! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man who encourages my silly antics. Life is good, no, life is GREAT!
May 10–I found my place! I am sure my brother’s would whole heartedly agree! LOL!
We took an early tour of the Soo Lock. This was such a cool experience! Things like this amaze me. Growing up landlocked and in a very small rural town, I had never even heard of this process. Even at 50, you can learn new things!
After the Lock tour, we started heading to Frankenmuth. We stopped in Cedarville and Cheboygan to visit the FLAG’s there. I picked up art that I felt would be good reminders of the area. I adore the style of the FLAG in Cheboygan! (I am updating the blog in December and realized I never mailed art to these two! I will ASAP)
We found this kitschy souvenir shop called Sea Shell City and had fun looking at all the wild stuff!
Ed had found this Gnome Village in Wolverine online, so of course, I had to find it! It is amazing. I had a blast looking at all the houses and the detail is great. I even made friends with a groundhog…well, he actually started yelling “GET OFF MY LAWN” in groundhog speak…but I think he liked me. LOL!
We arrived in Frankenmuth and settled into the hotel. It was a long day.
May 11-We spent the morning walking around Frankenmuth. I found the ‘Little Jesus’ figures at a shop and had to buy some! We have seen these around the Shipshewana area and I love the thought of giving people one and telling them the look/act like “they need a lil’ Jesus in their life”. **Side Story** Unfortunately, I found them after I had a run in with an idiot. I mentioned to Ed that I wish busy places like this would establish a no-smoking ordinance for those of us who hate the smell of cigarette smoke. This idiot was upset that I was ‘bitching’ about his elderly mother, who did, in fact, light up a cigarette while blocking the doorway of a bakery we were trying to enter. I LOATHE walking through cigarette smoke, as a non-smoker who cared for endless lung cancer patients, I truly loathe smoking in public areas. This woman was so fragile and weak that she was doubled over on a walker, yet could not even get out of the doorway of the establishment before she lit up. SO, yes, she was part of the problem, along with the group of 6-10 other folks who were smoking in the same general area (AGAIN, the doorway/porch of a bakery). This idiot walked up on me and cursed me out for being so insensitive to his mother…yes, the man who decided he was a big boy screaming profanity at a woman on a public sidewalk, which made his mother extremely upset. The elderly woman didn’t hear my comment to my husband so she didn’t even know what was going on. I just laughed at her idiot son and when I walked past her, I said “Happy Mother’s Day, I bet you are SO proud!” What a joke of a human. If I had the Jesus figures, this would have been the perfect opportunity to hand one out. Anyhoo! **End Side Story** We went along our merry way and had some beignets from N’Orlins, which are ironically amazingly good for Michigan. They also have gumbo, jambalaya and alligator nuggets, which I haven’t had the nerve to try. Maybe someday…
We drove back to Shipshewana and stayed the night in the Blue Gate hotel, tomorrow we will pick up the camper!