Michigan Road Trip: The Eastern Coast

I'm glad you all aren't stick of this trip just yet. I've had a lot of fun sharing our silly photos and reliving our adventures. Maybe someday you'll find yourself in Michigan, and perhaps these posts will help spark your own adventures.

Which brings me to day four, the eastern coast of Michigan. Honestly, I'm not sure why anyone would visit the eastern coast... it's absolutely beautiful but there's not a lot out there besides quite campsites and cozy bed and breakfasts. The eastern coast is bordered by Lake Huron, and unlike the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan, the smaller lake stays pretty cold throughout the year and has a rockier shoreline. A lot of eastern Michigan is pretty underdeveloped, too, which is perfect for camping but that's about it.

That said, if you ever find yourself on the north eastern coast of Michigan, you're in for a treat. Because on the eastern coast, found in a sleepy little town called Ossineke, is a wonderful place called Dinosaur Gardens. It was by far the highlight of our trip (and, as the sign below states, the finest exhibit in the world.)

Dinosaur Gardens was constructed in the 1930s by Michigan native Paul Domke, who was inspired to make his own collection of dinosaurs after seeing replicas in the Smithsonian and Chicago Field Museum. It goes without saying, the giant concrete sculptures are far from scientifically accurate (we're pretty sure that some of them were completely made up) but that's part of their charm. To top it off, all of the sculptures are scattered throughout 40 acres of beautiful woodland. If you didn't know, weird sculptures and beautiful forestry are two of our favorite things! 

What's that lower photo, you ask? Oh, just some Michigan wolves attacking a mastodon (according to the plaque that was next to the sculpture.) Because Michigan wolves totally lived during dinosaur times.

 

The only bummer about vacationing as a couple is the fact that you can't take a lot of photos together. Of course, we found a way around that issue: set the camera on a tree stump and turn on the self-timer.

As if the photos don't speak for themselves, let me just say it: Dinosaur Gardens is the best place ever. It was totally worth going out of our way for a visit. Not to mention that beautiful forresty and giant dinosaur sculptures are among some of our favorite things.

Conveniently, when we headed south out of town on the only main road in Ossineke, we found these statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, which were also created by Domke. We ran out of the car to snap some photos and headed to our next destination, Bay City.

Bay City is home to the Bay City Antique Center, the largest antique store in Michigan. At first I was skeptical about the size of the place, but as we turned every corner, I became more and more convinced. The store is three stories and spans an entire city block.

It was HUGE.

We weren't looking for anything in particular, but as we were leaving the store we walked straight into heaven. We had missed a section right by the front door: the block letter section. Boxes and trays full of them, organized by letter and size. It was amazing. I'm guessing a local newspaper probably sold them when they moved to digital printing, because some of the boxes had actual photo blocks and advertisements from the 1950s. We didn't end up buying any because they were a little pricey (and we already have a small collection of our own) but if I'm ever in the Bay City area again I think I'll be making a stop for sure.

From Bay City, we made our way 20 minutes south to Saginaw, planning to stop at the Castle Museum. Sounds like it could be awesome, right? Like a giant historic castle in the middle of a city? Nope. We pulled up to the address, which was just another building downtown, and decided to skip out on this adventure (and the entrance fee.)

So we went to Ann Arbor, our favorite city in Michigan (in the world?), for dinner at Zingerman's Deli. We didn't get a chance to eat at Zingerman's the last time we were in AA, so we made a point to go this time around. It did not disappoint, friends. I had the oh-so-delicious Tarb's Tenacious Tenure and Christopher ordered the Diana's Different Drummer, which he declared the best sandwich he's ever had (beef brisket with Russian dressing, coleslaw, and fresh horseradish if you're curious.) Top that off with giant pickles and their garlicy potato salad (YUM) and you have yourself a tasty meal. 

We wandered around Ann Arbor for a little longer and decided it was time to head home. The sun was just beginning to set and the air was warm - it was the perfect ending to a great trip. I love that we were able to explore bits and pieces of this great state we live in. Now that we're in the middle of autumn, it's nice to look back on our last summer adventure and all the fun we had together.


Catch the rest of the trip here: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Michigan Road Trip: Mackinac Island

Okay friends (aka Keitha who has been complaining about my lack of posting), after an unintentional blog break, I'm back in the swing of things to finish my MRT recap. I'm sorry if you're sick of these photos.... I kinda feel like that great-aunt at the family reunion who wants to show off vacation slides in the warm, musty den after everyone's had lunch. If you feel the same, feel free to ignore my next two posts.

Mackinac Island is one of Michigan's biggest tourist attractions, so Chris and I decided to make our way to the island on day two, to make sure we had plenty of time to explore everything. Honestly? We probably could have covered the whole island in a day or less. I don't know if we over-hyped the island up in our minds, or if friends over-hyped it for us, but we were pretty disappointed in our island experience. Everything was crowded, smelly, and extremely over-priced. We still had a lot of fun together, as usual, but I don't know if we'll be making any return trips to Mackinac.

For our first evening on the island, we walked along the boardwalk, explored Main Street and watched the sunset over the rocky beach. Everything on the island is perfectly picaresque, like a tiny Victorian town. I mean, come on, the public library was mint green! The island officially banned motorized vehicles in 1898, so island transpiration is limited to bicycles and horse-drawn buggies. The only problem with that? The entire island smells like horse poop. We couldn't even get away from it indoors, which made mealtimes unpleasant.

 

 

The only way to get to and from the island is by boat; to save a little money, we booked our hotel on the mainland and purchased two-day ferry passes. In the morning, we caught a special bridge-view ferry that took us under the Mackinac Bridge, Michigan's famous five-mile bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas. Considering that we accidentally slept in and missed the 7 am ferry we had planned on taking, it was a pretty happy accident.

First thing off the boat, we rented a tandem bike to cruse the island. After a shaky start, we took a beautiful eight mile ride around the shore, stopping at random points to stroll the beach. It was by far our favorite activity. If you ever visit Mackinac, totes rent a bike.

We also toured Fort Mackinac (meh) and hiked around the inner trails of the island. One particularly confusing thing about Mackinac is that a majority of the island is preserved state forest land, and the remaining bits and pieces are private mansions and tourist stops. There were some trails we started to walk down, only to realize the trail was actually someone's driveway.

All in all, Mackinac is a beautiful little island. Over-priced and over-rated, perhaps, but still beautiful. I think if it would have been more state park and less Victorian-themed tourist trap, we would have enjoyed it more, but I'm still glad we visited. 

Michigan Road Trip: Benzonia and Traverse City

Day two of our Michigan road trip came with gray skies and a steady drizzle of rain. We headed north on US 31 towards Benzonia, a sleepy little town on the northern coast of Lake Michigan. Despite the rain, the scenery was beautiful - rolling hills and lots of trees the entire way. Northern Michigan is quite beautiful.

 

We kept ourselves entertained on the 2.5 hour drive by memorizing Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and taking goofy pictures with the camera's auto timer. Chris doesn't think that last one is very believable because I was looking at the camera. Whoops... now everyone knows that we weren't really involved in a roadside accident.

Our sole destination in Benzonia was Gwen Frostic Studios, the home and workspace of Michigan print maker Gwen Frostic. Frostic has been one of my favorite artists for years and her work, which is heavily influenced Michigan wildlife, never ceases to inspire me. If you're not familiar with her work, I suggest taking a moment to peruse her website.

Although Frostic passed away in 2001, her 1960s home studio is still in operation and is open to the public. A team of artisans use Frostic's original linocuts and woodblocks to reproduce prints, and you can watch them in action from the main floor. After we wandered around the studio space for a while, we picked out a 2013 calendar and a sweet little Michigan print -- perfect tokens of our trip.

Traverse City is a short thirty minute trip from Benzonia, so we were there in no time. We decided to start this city off right with a trip to the Grand Traverse Pie Company for a slice of Michigan cherry pie.

I had a slice of the original cherry and Mr. Christopher ordered the blueberry crumble. Both were absolutely delicious. Totally worthy of those crazy-eyes, too.

After getting our sugar fix, we decided to walk around downtown to take in the sites and do some shopping. Our favorite store was Cherry Republic. It's a fun little foodie stop that sells everything cherry and nothing else. Chocolate dipped cherries, cherry salsa, cherry cola, cherry pancake mix. The best part? You can sample every single one of their products. We also visited The Village boutiques at Grand Traverse Commons, an old state mental hospital that has been converted into shops, restaurants and town houses. The shops were okay and the history of the building was interesting, but we were both a little disappointed. I think it was because we were both hoping to see a ghost.

We caught a late lunch at North Peak Brewing Company (which I found thanks to this post by Cal.) I wish I would have snapped a few more pictures because this place was pretty awesome. Their branding and menu design was enough to make me love the place, and the food was delish. Wonton wrapped mozzarella sticks with sundried tomato, garlic, and a creamy pesto dipping sauce? Oh yes.

On our way out of Traverse City headed towards Mackinac Island, we came across the World's Largest Cherry Pie in Charlevoix. We drove right by it and had to turn the car around in the rain to snap a few pictures with the historically huge pie pan and custom-built oven. It was awesome. The perfect ending to our Northwestern Michigan visit. Onward to Mackinac! 

Michigan Road Trip: Holland and Grand Rapids

Now that I've had a little recovery time from moving, I'm finally getting around to sharing some photos of the Michigan Road Trip Chris and I took three weeks ago. I'll be breaking down our little adventure into four posts to cover the legs of our journey around the outer mitt of Michigan. Today's post covers our stops at Holland and Grand Rapids.

Holland was the fist little town on our list, a quick two hour drive from home. The town is known for it's Dutch heritage and annual spring Tulip Time Festival. We decided to visit Windmill Island Park first, one of Holland's main attractions.

We listened to an antique Amsterdam street organ, visited the Dutch cottage shops, took a tour through the five-story 18th century windmill (it still grinds flour, which you can buy in the gift shop) and watched the traditional Dutch dancing that happens hourly at the base of the windmill.

Apparently, Holland school children learn these dances at a very young age and perform them in festivals and parades every year until they graduate high school. We were expecting to see a large group of dancers, but instead found four high school girls in folk costumes, who clomped around in wooden shoes for about 20 minutes. I'll be real: it was awkward. The girls knew it, too, although the older couple sitting next to us loved it.

After Windmill Island Park, we made our way over to Nelis Dutch Village, which is described as a "Dutch amusement park" on the village's website. The village was built in the late 1950s, and the quirky park doesn't seem like much has changed.

We visited the Dutch barn petting zoo, toured a typical 1800s Dutch home, sampled tasty cheeses in the Cheese Shop, and wandered around the museum buildings. The park also had several demonstrations, including wooden shoe carving, candlestick making, Delftware pottery glazing, and traditional dutch dancing (which, because of our last experience, we avoided.) Chris was also publicly tried as a witch in the Weighhouse. He was found to be innocent, if you're curious, and has the certificate to prove it.

Can I be honest? Holland in general was really disappointing, especially for the amount of money we spent on the park and village admission. If you're ever planning a trip to Holland, I would recommend going in the spring for the Tulip festival, when a lot more events are going on. Otherwise, it's just not worth it.

Other Holland attractions we didn't make it to: Veldheer De Klomp wooden shoe factory, Holland State Park and beach, and the Big Red Lighthouse.

Grand Rapids was our next stop on the map. The city is only about 30 minutes from Holland, so it was an easy drive over. We decided to skip out on the GRAM and UICA art museums this time around, since we plan on returning in October for ArtPrize, and headed straight to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

How had we not visited this place before?! It was one of my highlights of the trip, for sure. Exotic plants and interesting sculptures in a beautiful setting... we spent almost all of our afternoon here, wandering around the greenhouse and acres of gardens.

The whole place reminded us of a zoo, only instead of looking at animals we were viewing artwork. We also had our own little Five For Fighting concert as we strolled the grounds... he was practicing for his set that evening (accompanied by the GR Symphony, no less) as part of garden's Summer Concert Series. We'll definitely be returning for a concert or two next summer. 

By the time we were done with the gardens (and we didn't even see everything!) it was pretty late. We finished our day with dinner at Marie Catribs, ice cream at Jersey Junction and a stroll around the Gaslight District before checking in to our hotel. We didn't get a chance to take in a lot that Grand Rapids had to offer, like the Public Museum or the Meyer May house, but the city is pretty close to home so we can visit those another time. If you are visiting the GR area, though, we highly recommend a stop at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Next up: day two's adventures in Benzonia and Traverse City.