40 - Pure Michigan!!!

So, we left Ohio and continued our road trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan where we'd agreed to house /dog / cat sit for a family there.  This housesit was actually the catalyst for this road trip.  To avoid contact, the homeowners Anne and Christina and family were already gone when we arrived.  We found the key right where they said it would be and let ourselves into the house.  As they predicted, Molly – an adorable lab mix- welcomed us with open paws.  We were instantly in love! Then we met the cats.  Roger (dark tabby) also welcomed us and allowed us to love on him as much as we wanted.  Again, love at first sight!  Then we found Jake (long hair yellow) curled up in his basket.  Not so excited to meet us. While he was fine with us being there - hey someone had to feed him and scoop the litter box- he was much more standoffish.  He preferred that we keep our distance until we were needed.  Pedro enjoyed irritating Jake (it really didn’t take much) and Jake enjoyed swatting at me whenever I walked by but, we quickly learned to just leave him alone.  Anyway, we had Molly and Roger so we were very happy.

Molly loved walking anywhere and we got permission to take her to downtown Ann Arbor.  It was such a hot day that we were worried about her poor paws on the concrete sidewalks, so we found a great park nearby and she enjoyed a dip in the river.  It was great to have a dog.  Our weekend was over way too soon and we reluctantly had to give the animals back.  Pedro kept trying to get Roger to hop into his bag so he’d have to go home with us.  However, he was too smart to go with a couple of homeless sailors.   We later found that we got Molly's owners in trouble because they'd never bothered to tell her that Ann Arbor had a downtown area where one could walk around!!!  Oops!  All in all, everyone - except maybe Jake- had a great weekend.

 

 

Another great thing about our spot in Ann Arbor was that we got also got to use our kayaks.  Within about 25 minutes from our house, Pedro found us a couple of places to kayak.  Specifically, 2 very different sections of the Huron River.  It was our first time kayaking in Michigan and couldn't have been better.  As there was a slight current, we paddled against it on the way out and got to ride it back.   Beautiful scenery and two great excursions.  If we ever go back, we want to ride the river all of the way to Lake Huron but we didn't have time this trip.

 

Next, Pedro had to fly back to Florida for business so MaryAnn booked an Airbnb right in downtown Ann Arbor with great bike trails all around and plenty to walk to.  Pedro flew in and out of Detroit. Two days later, he was back and we were headed west.  MaryAnn's brother Mickey had given us a list of his favorite towns with the caveat to just head to the west coast of Michigan and follow the lake north.  Every 10-15 miles will have another town that's quainter than the last and it's absolutely true.

Our first stop was St. Joseph.  It's an absolutely adorable town with great beaches and a lighthouse.  We found an amazing brewery/restaurant and walked all around town.  They have a huge beach area that was packed and a great lighthouse and inlet.  Loved the town.

The next morning, we headed north up the coast to Saugatuck.  This was on Mickey's list and also a huge favorite of our hosts from Ann Arbor.  This town is totally artsy fartsy with tons of great little stores and they even have a human-powered chain driven ferry.  Everything about the town was completely adorable.   We even met Trudie (she the 5-month-old puppy of the guy who sharpened knives at the farmer’s market).  This is seriously must-see town for anyone in this area. 

Our next stop was Holland.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this was another adorable town.  Holland is somewhat larger and a little more spread out so we took the bikes and rode around to see everything including the genuine Dutch windmill brought over in several thousand pieces in the 1960’s.  There is even a part of the blade that has bullet holes from WWII.

We also took our bikes out to the inlet area and had a great picnic along the water.  We hiked up all 239 steps (this was after a day of bike riding so we were impressed with ourselves) of Mt. Pisgah for another great view of the lighthouse and the surrounding area.

The next morning, we put the kayaks in at the Paw Paw Park. Pedro had never heard the way down yonder in the paw paw patch song and after MaryAnn made up her own version, he wished he’d still never heard it.  But I digress. 

We put the kayaks in and paddled up again to the windmill.  It wasn’t the prettiest water we’d ever been in but it was gorgeous scenery and well worth the paddle.

Next, we headed north to Grand Haven.  Another adorable town.  The city touts itself as Coast Guard City, USA.  We rode our bikes around the town and made our way out to the lighthouse.  We enjoyed another great picnic lunch on the water and surprisingly found another really tasty brewery back in town.  

Next, we headed inland to Grand Rapids.  It was so different being a larger city after having spent so much time in the little coastal towns but it was a nice city.  We found a great Indian restaurant for dinner and got to walk around a bit exploring the town.

The next morning, we decided to head to Traverse City where we found an Airbnb for a few days so that we could re-group, get our laundry done and catch up with a little work.  We rode our bikes around town and enjoyed the city.  There wasn't as much going on here (probably a lot to do with Covid-19) but Traverse City turned out to be a great jumping off point for several nearby places.

We'd heard so much about Sleeping Bear Dunes that we made it our first excursion.  We were not disappointed.  The dunes and surrounding park were gorgeous.  We thought it would be great to hike up the dune and get a picture of the lake.  Well....  we had no idea that the first huge dune was less than a 1/4 of the way to the lake.  Not to be undone, we continued on until we 'd gone up and down 3 more dunes with no water in reach.  Literally - we didn't even bring our water bottles as we thought it would be a short jaunt up the one dune.   So, we took our bottom burnt feet and parched throats and headed back to the car so we could drive over to the park for a much shorter walk to a great view.   

The drive through the park was gorgeous too.    They have a list of the various stopping points along the way.  We met a couple of ladies who gave us some advice on places to go.  The ride culminated as a great spot where we had an amazing view of the lake.

Our next day trip was to the town of Leland.  What a little gem!  The town itself was so quaint.  It's surrounded by water as it lies between Lake Michigan and Lake Leelanau.    The historical district known as "Fishtown" is so charming with its fishing shanty houses lining the wharf area.  It's a very small town but we thoroughly enjoyed walking all around.   

Our next jaunt was to the town of Petoskey.  While it's impossible to choose a favorite amongst all of these amazing and each somewhat unique little town, Petoskey ranks pretty high.   This town - the former summertime home of young Ernest Hemmingway - is just adorable.  We dropped the car outside of town and rode our bikes into town.   Everywhere you look from the natural beauty of the lake front to the gorgeous old houses to the waterfall right outside town is just perfect.  We thoroughly enjoyed everything -well maybe biking on the hills wasn't great but we did have to get our exercise in - about this town. 

We continued northward to our next stop which was Mackinaw City where we and our bikes caught the ferry over to Mackinac Island.  We spent a day there and rode the entire circumference road around the outside of the island.  We also rode all of the cross-island roads we could find and a few trails.  We visited the aptly named Grand Hotel.  As no cars are allowed on the island, we were frequently in traffic jams with horse drawn carriages and a few horseback riders.  We loved the island - and yes, we found a great brewery and got some fudge.

We decided to continue north and crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and we were officially in the Upper Peninsula. We drove north as far as we could go and until we reached Sault St. Marie, MI.  There was no doubt we were in the right place.  As we approached town, the road we took into town dead ended into a rather large boat.

We knew we wanted to see the Soo Locks - the connection from Lake Huron to Lake Superior - so we found a hotel room for the night right across from the locks.  We were able to walk around exploring.  We even found out that a local outfitter offered kayaking trips through the locks but we'd arrived on the wrong day. While it would have been interesting, we really needed to keep moving.  The town was quaint and the locks were impressive.  While the borders were obviously closed, we got to waive at Canada.

 

The next morning, we left Sault St. Marie and started heading west - we'd gone as far north as we could after all.  We followed the coast of Lake Superior for a few hours where we found a beach that allowed us to dip our toes into the water.  On this trip alone, we'd put our toes - and not much else as the water was way too cold for our thin blood - into 4 of the 5 great lakes.  Counting our trip to Toronto a couple of years ago, we were excited to realize that we'd actually touched all 5.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Continuing west along the lake we found Point Iroquois Lighthouse.  The actual building was closed due to Covid-19 but we were free to explore the grounds.   It was a great place to stop and enjoy the views.

Next, we started heading somewhat south towards the Tahquamenon Falls.  We'd met a couple of ladies at Sleeping Bear Dunes who touted the beauty of the 2 waterfalls.  They didn't mislead us at all.  The tannin-colored water made the falls even more stunning. 

 We continued south until we'd once again reached the shore of Lake Michigan. Following the shore line west and then south, we found the town of Escanaba and decided to stop for the night - plus they had a brewery that looked promising.  The town was quaint and we enjoyed a great bikes ride - and yes, the brewery was also great.  

This was our last town in Michigan as the next morning we headed into Wisconsin on our way to Beaver Dam for our next house/pet sitting job.  We'll fill you in on that next post!