Greetings! We are completing a 2 week outing that has taken us to western Michigan and the UP. Yes, the UP again! The upper peninsula of Michigan is one of our favorite places to visit (in the summer), but more on that later.
This is an annual trek for us, stopping first in the Grand Rapids area to visit our longtime good friends. Together we visited a couple very cool destinations. The first was Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, specifically the new Japanese Garden they opened last year. Meijer hired an expert Japanese garden designer to lay out the garden and it is awesome.
Upon opening, Meijer invited a large Japanese group to view the park and they were very impressed with its authenticity in capturing the Japanese culture. A must see if you find your way to Grand Rapids.
The second interesting stop was the Gilmore Automobile Museum in Hickory Corners, near Kalamazoo. If you are into cars and motorsports, the name Gilmore should be familiar as the sponsor for AJ Foyt during the 70s and 80s. Donald Gilmore was a store owner, then married into the family that owned Upjohn pharmaceuticals. So, this campus, which is on 90 acres consisting of 20 beautifully restored buildings, houses 400 automobiles from early 1900s to about 1980. Many of the cars are on loan to the museum and each have an informative plaque about them. The cars are interesting, but it really is the story behind them that grabs you.
The 1953 Hudson, popular for stock car racing
Out the windshield of a 1923 Packard
After three enjoyable days, it was time to say goodbye, till next year. Off we went to Mitchell State Park in Cadillac. We enjoy using our PortaBote at this park witch is situated between Cadillac and Mitchell Lakes. We had our favorite spot on the end with our Bote tied to the seawall right by our site.
Unfortunately, the fishing really sucked and Lake Cadillac was experiencing an algae bloom. Think of fishing in a bowl of pea soup. We went into Mitchell, which was clear and caught a few small fish. The bloom we heard happens nearly every year due to lawn runoff and septic tanks. We also had several days of 90s and high humidity, whick likely contributed. Michell does not have as much development and is larger.
We next travelled into the UP toward Manistique, at Indian Lake State Park. Very nice park on Indian Lake. A welcome cool breeze and temperatures here. Our objective was to visit areas of the Hiawatha National Forest that we did not have time for last fall. Also to explore campgrounds that might offer fishing and access to shoreline where we could keep the Bote.
Several meet our needs, however most have no hookups, or plumbed toilets and showers. Outhouses only. So, we need to think about it. The little lakes are are very pretty.
While in this area and adjacent to the park is the Palms Book State Park, home to Kitch-iti-kipi, Objiwa for Big Springs. A unique natural feature, 45 feet deep with a constant temperature of 45 degrees. You cross over the springs in a cabled pull raft.
The water is crystal clear with easy visibility of the bottom and the springs bubbling up through the sand.
We have a couple more days planned here before returning home.
In three weeks we start out on our fall adventure. This year we are travelling into West Virginia. As always, we have some interesting stuff planned.
