The Gray Haired People Tour...

Another trip in the books for Claude and me. The first part was visiting family. The second part was a color drive through parts of Michigan. It was on this part that I clearly saw the other people checking into hotels, finding places to eat, stopping at scenic overlooks, etc., all were in the gray hair range. Yep. That is where Claude and I have officially reached. The joy of traveling in October is that, unless you hit an area where the school kids are on fall break, you will only have seniors visiting sites. A lot less crowded. Makes the trip less rushed feeling. Very enjoyable.

We began this trip on Friday, October 7th, by driving to Chelsea, Michigan. Our son, Jake, has relocated there after living with his sister, Nissa, for a while. He has taken employment at the Chelsea hospital and was in need of his winter clothing. When he left our home in April, he was all packed with summer clothing. The high on this Friday was 50 degrees. Yep, time to get that winter gear at the ready. We had a nice dinner with Jake at The Valiant. Then we went to our hotel and took his winter things from our car and put them in his car. Up to our hotel room for an evening visit. Nice visit with Jake.

Saturday, October 8th, we were up early and out of the hotel by 8am. We would drive across Michigan to Holton and stop at Nissa and Todd's to pick up Nelson. Nelson is our great grandson. We took him with us to Hesperia and had lunch with Aubrey (Nelson's mother) and Tay (aka The Boss). We dined at Hesperia House and enjoyed our meals and conversation. Nelson showed us how he has learned to write his name and sing his ABC's in school. 

We took Aubrey and Tay back to their home and kept Nelson with us to go to the Roper's for the afternoon. Claude had been seeing all the stands and farms with pumpkins and things. I sent a text to Katelyn and asked her if they had any pumpkin stands near her home. We decided to meet Katelyn and kids at the pumpkin stand near her home. The kids had a good time picking out the pumpkin they wanted to color. Claude even got him a pumpkin! The top picture is Emelia, Nelson and Raelyn checking out their pumpkins. The bottom picture is everyone with their pumpkin: Claude holding Nelson, Raelyn, Nelson and Katelyn with Emelia. 

After a stop at Staples to pick up some markers, we went to the Roper home and everyone colored their pumpkin the way they wanted it colored. I was not in the frame of mind to have them carve the pumpkins. Coloring was the best option. Emelia picked out a green pumpkin because it looked like a watermelon. We got Joel a white pumpkin. 

When finished, everyone posed for a nice picture with them and their pumpkin. We have Joel, Raelyn, Nelson, Emelia and the scariest one of all, Claude!

Andie sent toys her kids have outgrown and some toys she had for teaching school. We opened up one of them and the kids played with the ice cube game. Katelyn played this when she was little and knew exactly how to teach them to play.

We ended our visit with the Ropers by going to Pizza Ranch for dinner. Yum. Then Claude, Nelson and I went back to Holton to spend the night at the Tyler's.

Sunday, October 9th, Katelyn would give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. Claude and I drove to Grand Haven where her Ward meets. We helped wrestle the kids while Katelyn gave her talk. It was a really good talk. Then Claude and I took Emelia and Joel to the nursery and watched them settle in there for the remainder of the meeting. Katelyn teaches a Primary class the second hour. Raelyn was asked to say the prayer in Primary. Good Sunday!

After Church, we treated the little ones to lunch at McDonald's. This is always fun for them. Someday, they will outgrow the McDonald's thing. But for now, this is fine dining to a child. I did take note that Raelyn did not have a Happy Meal this time. 

Claude and I drove back to Holton for an evening with Nissa and Todd. We asked them to pick a restaurant and we would treat them to dinner. Todd searched and found Hobo's Tavern in Muskegon. We drove to it and enjoyed an absolutely fabulous meal. But one would expect nothing less from a restaurant with the confidence to paint the stripes in their parking lot with pink paint! Seriously, this was the best spinach-artichoke dip I have ever eaten. We will definitely all go back to this spot.

Monday, October 10th, Claude and I drove into Muskegon to have breakfast with Paul. On our way we stopped at Whispering Pines Amish store. Hallelujah! They had my Molasses Crinkle cookies. I was set with a treat for the remainder of our trip. On Monday morning, they haven't done the baking yet so I have to hope for day old cookies. Doesn't matter. They are always great. I loved the poem they had painted on their wall.

Rachel did not come with Paul this time. Bob Evan's served us well. A nice chat with Paul. My favorite part was getting a hug from Paul. Love me a Paul hug. 

Then we drove back to Holton to Troyer's. It is another Amish store across the street from Whispering Pines. We saw lighthouses and windmills made by the Amish for sale. It occurred to us that might be a nice topper for our tree in the back yard. After studying them for a while, we determined a windmill would be best. We picked out one and went inside to purchase it. The windmill broke into three pieces and fit nicely in our trunk. It would ride there the remainder of our trip.

From this point forward, we were on a Claude and Sandi vacation. The purpose was to check out fall colors in Michigan. I had researched and found two forest that might be nice to drive through. I shared what I found with Todd and asked him about roads that might be good through these forests. Todd suggested we go up to the Tunnel of Trees in Michigan. I opted for us to find Hwy 37 going north and follow it to just outside of Traverse City. There we would catch Hwy 31 and follow it over to Petoskey, Michigan. We found a hotel in Petoskey for the night. 

These pictures were taken along Hwy 37 going north.

These pictures were taken from Traverse City thru Charlevoix to Petoskey. The water is Traverse Bay which comes from Lake Michigan.

Our hotel for the night was a Day's Inn. It was situated almost at the top of a hill. I asked the desk clerk for recommendations of a restaurant in the area that was not a chain. He gave me three and I wrote them down. When we got to our room, I found their location on Google Maps. Claude really wanted Mexican. One of the restaurants was La Tequila. It was only three blocks down the hill. We walked there and back. The only issue is there was not sidewalk. It was good to walk after being in the car for a long time. The food was excellent and the service was really good.

Tuesday, October 11th, we left our hotel in Petoskey and headed for Petoskey State Park. This in on Hwy 119 just before getting to the Tunnel of Trees. Michigan's state rock is the Petoskey stone. What is a Petoskey stone. The Petoskey stone is fossilized pre-historic coral fossilized rugose coral, Hexagonaria percarinata. Distinguishable by its unique exoskeleton structure, a Petoskey stone consists of tightly packed, six-sided corallites, which are the skeletons of the once-living coral polyps. (Okay, I know that info is correct because I copied it from a reputable website!)

These particular kinds of stone are only found around here in Michigan. Petoskey State Park has them along the beach...if you look closely. 

We entered Petoskey State Park and anticipated having to pay a fee. As it turns out, that is totally an honor system. We stopped at the check-in spot and got an envelope. It required a $10 payment. We didn't have a $10 bill or two $5 bills. So, we found the check book and Claude wrote a check. We deposited our fee in the closed up box with a slot on the top. Then we drove to the entrance to the beach. 

Alas, when we got there, a gate was in place over the road to drive to the beach. The only way to get there was to walk on the bike path beside the gate. We opted to drive into the campground. Now, we didn't pay a fee for the campground. We did pay for the beach. Hmmm... There was a great lookout at the end of the campground. We drove to that lookout, found an empty camping spot and parked the car. Then we walked to the lookout and down to the beach to look for Petoskey stones. The water in these pictures is Little Traverse Bay and comes from Lake Michigan.

We loved looking at these rocks. There are so many pretty colors. Claude found one that we think may be a Petoskey stone because it had a little fossil coming out of it. Some of the stones were just great colors from light pink to black to red speckled to orange. This is our collection of rocks.

We left the campground and drove back over to the entrance to the beach which we had paid for. It was now open. We drove to the beach and had another look around. We didn't collect any rocks from this beach. But we did see what we are sure was Big Foot's footprint in the sand!

We watched a bulldozer working the sand. I will pause here to give my feelings about sand dunes. They are so very important to beach areas. When the sign says "Don't walk on the dune." Don't do it. They are fragile and very necessary to keeping the land safe. 

Now we would begin the drive through the Tunnel of Trees. The Tunnel of Trees is along Hwy 119 (which happened to be our hotel room number the night before!) between Harbor Springs and Cross Village. It is beautiful any time of year but we hoped it would be particularly beautiful in our search and enjoyment of fall colors. 

First, we went to Thorne Swift Nature Preserve. It is at the very beginning of the Tunnel of Trees. 

It seemed as the day wore on that there were lots of 'nature preserves' along Hwy 119. Claude said that people designate their property as a 'nature preserve' and get a tax write off for that. This first one was the only one we stopped at. It was highly recommended in an article I read as I plotted our trip. It did not disappoint. They have taken fallen trees and limbs to create a sort of fence around the parameter of the preserve. The people on either side really don't want those visiting Thorne Swift Nature Preserve on their property or their section of the beach. I would imagine they paid a pretty penny for land in this area. I also imagine they didn't do that to have uninvited visitors on their property and beach. 

There is a nice dirt path and also a boardwalk path in wet areas to walk on. The total distance, if you walked all the way around the preserve is 3/4 of a mile. We opted to walk the left outer perimeter and down t0 an observation platform and next to a staircase to the beach, then back up through the middle of the preserve to our car. 

These pictures are of the walk to the observation platform. At one point the boardwalk was a bit springy. I took a picture of Claude bouncing on the boardwalk.

The observation platform was strictly that. You had no access to the beach from it. A nice gray haired couple came to the platform and took our picture for us. Since I am awful with the selfie thing, I was very grateful for this couples help.

Back to the path we went to hike to the place with beach access. I was amused at two trees that were laying across each other forming a perfect X. I was reminded of Indiana Jones saying, "X never marks the spot." 

Down to the beach we went. Such a pretty place. Loved the milage markers by the stairs. I particularly noted the distance to Escanaba and to Green Bay. Then I had to have a picture of Claude trying to part the water. He does this at pretty much every body of water we pass. This time he did get the water to make waves!!

Back to the path and through the center of the preserve to the parking lot. I learned that the trees that a broken off and dying are called 'snags'. These are important to the forest. They provide homes for birds and squirrels and other small animals. They provide food for insects. As they die, they nourish the ground on which they stand. Lots of lessons about not judging by appearance the importance of people in these snags. I also loved my picture of the pond. I do believe it would make a great puzzle.

In the parking lot were two things I found fascinating. The first was a Woodpecker's nest and the second was a birdhouse by the caretaker's home.  

Back to Hwy 119 and the Tunnel of Trees. I had hoped to stop at St. Ignatius Church where a Native American cemetery was located. You learn a lot by walking through cemeteries. I thought it was right by the road but it was actually done on a lower road between Hwy 119 and the beach. We never saw the access road to it.  We purchased a Christmas ornament with Hwy 119 on it at Goodhart General Store. 

A word of caution about Hwy 119. It reminded me of taking Papa on drives in back roads of Kentucky. There are roads with only white lines on the outside, no center yellow line. These roads are supposed to be wide enough for two cars to pass. However, you need to be going slow so that you can actually pass safely. Hwy 119 is that kind of road. The actual Tunnel of Trees portion of Hwy 119 is only 30-40 miles long. You must go slow with all the traffic so you won't drive it in 30-40 minutes. If you stop and see things along the way, it can take several hours to complete. I recommend stopping and see a few things as you go. We were very happy with this part of our journey.

Once finished, we took back roads to get to Mackinac City. These were the roughest roads we encountered on the trip. Dirt in lots of places. 

It is really not far to Mackinac City from the Tunnel of Trees. We found I-75 and crossed the Mackinac Bridge from Mackinac City to St. Ignace. The Mackinac Bridge has always held a certain charm for me. Claude and I watched a Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs show where he was on the tip top of one of the towers replacing the light. His cameraman got an amazing shot from up there looking down the ropes to the other side of the bridge. When you drive over it, you really don't think about all the people that are working inside those towers and under the bridge supports painting and cleaning out so the bridge stays healthy. 

We went straight to our evening meal destination, Mackinac Grille in St. Ignace. Todd, our son-in-law took us here once before. We were really looking forward to another meal here. The patio was all covered in plastic to keep out the gnats that are abundant this type of year and to be ready for winter. The patio was heated and very comfortable. After we ate, I went to the gift shop. 

Then it was time to find a hotel. Todd had suggested the Best Western. We had the best room of the trip here. They have four buildings, each named after one of the Great Lakes. We were in the Huron building. Our room was on the 2nd floor on the end. We had a little balcony. The room had enough floor space to hold a dance. Highly recommend this place. Oh, our remote came in a wrapper to let you know it was sanitized. Clever. The water in the pictures is Lake Huron.

We had a couple of hours so we quickly plotted a route on this southern part of the Upper Peninsula and took the Buick for a few more miles of driving. We slowed down at one point for a wolverine to cross the road. The water in these pictures are Lake Michigan. 

The clouds were starting to roll in. Rain was expected this night and the next day. Before we went back to our room, we filled the car with gas. Then stopped at Molly Moo's for an ice cream. Yum.

The hotel had a campfire with free smores that we thought about going to but the clouds were rolling in and, honestly, we just wanted to enjoy this lovely hotel room. 

Wednesday, October 12th, we began our journey home. I had a plan to go down Hwy 127 to Lansing and then to Jackson, then pick up I-94 across to Hwy 23 and down to I-75 and home. However, we decided to try something different. One needs to be flexible when traveling like this. We realized we had never driven Hwy 23 along Lake Huron to Detroit. We really didn't want to go all the way to Detroit and get mixed up in that traffic. We found a Hwy 13 that would take us further south along Lake Huron. We decided to drive that new-to-us highway and see what we could find. Back across Mackinac Bridge to Mackinac City we drove to find Hwy 23.

We had to take a detour in Mackinac City as the exit from I-75 to Hwy 23 was closed. We found our way through and we headed south on Hwy 23. This is part of the Lake Huron Circle Tour. There are four different circle tours in all or parts of Michigan. The Lake Superior Circle Tour was the first and longest circle tour. The Lake Michigan Circle Tour was the second created and the only one wholly in the United States. The Lake Huron Circle Tour is the only one existing in two jurisdictions. And the Lake Erie Circle Tour encircles the smallest Great Lake. Claude and I have now taken snitches of the LMCT and the LHCT.

Claude pulled off at the scenic overlooks and roadside parks. The first we stopped at was Cheboygan Roadside Park. My pictures were deliberately taken first as a distance view and then a zoom-in view. This first set of pictures was of the lighthouse. We met a couple at this stop that were traveling up the route and stopping at all the lighthouses. There are so many ways to explore the shores. 

The next four pictures are also at Cheboygan Roadside Park. The first is a regular view and the second is a zoom-in view. The third is a regular view and the fourth is a zoom-in view. 

The last is a video of the leaves blowing in the breeze. I loved watching them shimmer and totally enjoyed the sound of the leaves in the wind. 

We next stopped at Huron Shores Roadside Park. 

Claude also stopped at a historical marker that talked about Lake Huron. Cool!

The last park we stopped at was simply named Park #414-5. Maybe it is the R2D2 or C3PO of Roadside Parks!

We ran into some rain showers but a lot less than we figured from the weather reports the previous night. As the wind picked up, the white caps on Lake Huron also picked up. These pictures are of our drive along Hwy 23 heading toward Frankenmuth, Michigan. It is fun to see how the lay of the land changes as you travel.

As we approached the exit off I-75 to go to Frankenmuth, there was a Baymont Inn at the exit. We drove to it and secured a room for the night. After taking our suitcase and things up to our room, we hopped back in the Buick and drove to Frankenmuth. We were in Frankenmuth last year. However, the lines to get into Bronner's Christmas Store were around the building at each of their entrances. We opted not to go in the store. This time, we had plenty of time and there were NO lines. Claude was kind enough to let me take that item completely off our bucket list. It is an amazing store. We purchased a Christmas ornament for our tree.

These three pictures were taken for family members who love these particular teams. The first is for the University of Michigan, the second is the Detroit Redwings and the last is the Green Bay Packers.

We said goodbye to Bronner's and went in search of our big meal of the day. 

Claude wanted to try the Bavarian Inn. They had a 45-minute wait. Nope, not going to do that. We found the Michigan on Main. It was actually the bars eating area in the Bavarian Inn. We each had a most yummy dinner. 

Back to our hotel to rest up for the last day on the road. 

Thursday, October 13th, we had to get back to Kentucky. We would drive from Frankenmuth to LaGrange, Kentucky this day. The day did not look promising as we hit the road.

However, we only had a few rain showers and made it through the rest of Michigan, across Ohio and into Kentucky with no problems. We arrived in LaGrange early enough to go to Hometown Pizza for our big meal of the day. Then we drove to Oldham County High School to await entry to the football stadium. 

This night was the final home game for OCHS. It was also the night they seniors in the band, cheerleading and football teams would be honored. Tradition is the seniors in the band all get a red beret to wear this night. Hayden is a senior and we were there to watch him as he performed in his red beret for the final time at a football game. Joyce, Michael's step-mother, and Hayden's other Gramma, flew in to watch this momentous occasion as well. These honoring moments are done before the football game begins. Andie and Michael would go down and escort Hayden. Here are pictures.

Hayden was very happy to have this support. And...Claude bought him a Graeter's Ice Cream cup after the game. 

We were very tired puppies after this game. We pointed the Buick, which had served us so well, to Georgetown and greatly appreciated climbing into our own bed for the night!

Being a gray hair and enjoying vacation time with other gray hairs is not a bad place to be. Nice people to speak briefly with and enjoy the beauty of the world. It was a very good trip. Family and Nature.