Tag: Michigan

Last Days in The Mitten

When I was in Muskegon, I found this great screen print. I bought the tank top version since it was so hot that day. One thing that caught my eye was that every one of my finalist cities in on or near one of the Great Lakes. The water has always had a pull on me. Maybe it was growing up in a city with five lakes, or maybe it is just how powerful water is? There’s just something about it that draws me in; I have the utmost respect for it.

I think I say it every time I leave one location for another, but it’s hard to believe that it was already time to leave Michigan. There were a few errands that I needed to run on my last day, and I wanted to be sure I had enough time to load the car and get everything settled. In the evening, my friend, her husband, and I went out for dinner at The Green Well. We had a lovely time and barely talked about work (a minor miracle!). Then we walked down to Furniture City Creamery for dessert where we all enjoyed some very good ice cream. I had mine in this adorable kid-sized cake cup, and it was the perfect night cap and toast to Grand Rapids.

There were two options for us to get to our next destination – Irondequoit, NY (just to the east of Rochester). We could go through Canada, or we could go through Ohio. Ohio had its appeal since we wouldn’t have to cross the borders, but the trip would be about an hour longer. Right now, border crossing as a naturalized American citizen is unsettling at best. Believe it or not, I don’t have a prison record or a speeding ticket to my name, but I can’t help feeling a certain way about “testing” my documents at the border. Did I mention that I hate driving through Ohio?

So, we went through Canada, and it was lovely. Crossing into Canada took longer than it took to get back into the US. There was quite the line. We stopped at one roadside rest area on the way for a break. The roads were perfect, and Arthur barely complained. I did make an effort to make sure he didn’t over-eat before left. He found a comfy spot under the passenger seat, and we made it to Irondequoit in around 7 hours. When entering the US again, the border guard did have some very good questions for me, but I passed the test with flying colors, and we were back in the US without any issues.

Just a Little More Michigan

Michigan brought the return of my famous tater tot hotdish, some delightful banana bread, and lots of local fruit – the strawberries and cherries were my favorite.

Just a couple more works of “art” from Michigan – the beautiful marble gallery wall at the Muskegon Art Museum, this lovely dress I found at the grocery store, Meijer, on clearance, and Arthur admiring the light art that my coffee cup made on the wall one morning.

Overall, Michigan was fantastic. I liked Grand Rapids more than I thought I would and felt quite at home there. If you forced me to rank them now, Michigan has the edge over Chicagoland.

Until Next Time…

I typically only write after I’ve been somewhere and not while I’m there. With my upcoming 8-month stay in New York, it’s going to be hard to keep that up unless I become grossly behind on the blog. So, I’ve decided to write while in place, but the details may become more vague to preserve some anonymity. Thank you, as always, for reading along with us. More adventures to come!

Mainly Muskegon

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that I had been to Michigan and spent time in Holland and outside of Grand Rapids in Jenison. This time around was so different. With the freedom to travel by car, every day activities like going to a movie or to the grocery store were just easier. It’s one of the things I’ve had to adjust to outside of the RV. In Grand Rapids, unlike Evanston, I was able to establish a routine, which felt like a step back to getting normal.

I read a few books, I did some meal planning with an actual oven and full-sized refrigerator, and I did more baking – one of my favorite things. I made banana bread and chocolate chip cookies and monster cookies. Thankfully, I had friends to share them with, but I ate my fair share. I also went to the same hairstylist twice. I found Studio 3 Salon because it was open on Sunday, and I found a wonderful stylist who really listened to what I needed and was able to deliver.

These might seem like small things, but it all feels like really big – like I’m returning to a “normal” life. I am forever grateful for my time on the road and all the adventures, but there’s a part of me – a very big part of me – that is yearning for a place to call my own and, well, my own furniture. 😂

Muskegon

I did get a chance to drive out to Muskegon a few times when I was in Grand Rapids. On my first trip, I had intended to go to the Muskegon Museum, but I failed to read the tiny print, and it was the only Saturday (other than holidays) that it is closed during the year. 🍫 So, I went and bought a purse instead.

My second trip out to Muskegon involved a tour of the area with a work friend who spent the day taking me around the area and showing me all the fabulous beaches and places to eat. To start, we had delicious hand-press lemonades and cookies at The Gooleyguk Cafe.

On the way around Lake Michigan, we stopped at cantilevered, replica of the historic Fort Dearborn – The Block House – in the State Park. It sits high on a hill and is a remarkable piece of craftsmanship.

We visited a lighthouse that was built in 1875 – White River Light Station & Museum. We didn’t take the tour, but we did enjoy its channel and the lake views.

We stopped at a great shop in Whitehall, Colby’s Hokey Pokey, as well as the town’s General Store, which had souvenirs and so much beautiful fabric. We had lunch at Colby’s Cafe and Brew in Whitehall and shared a really great strawberry lemonade cupcake. On the way back through Muskegon, we stopped at the pop-up shops in the downtown area. One of the spots we stopped was Jeremy Church‘s photography, and he gave us both a free print and signed them. We had a great day!

On my third trip to Muskegon, I was finally able to tour the Muskegon Art Museum. Now, I will bore you with some of the art that I loved while I was there.

(L to R) Bow of Ulysses by Richard Hunt (the picture doesn’t do its form justice); The Road Through the Common by Jose Weiss; there was a whole room of glass art that was all unique and lovely to wander through.

(L to R) I didn’t grab a close-up of the title card for this one, but it’s so striking I had to include it; Nassau Beach by Leon Cabo; Tea Cup by Lee Price.

The primary reason for my visit to the Muskegon Art Museum was to see the Julia Child exhibit. There were many artifacts from her life, and I enjoyed taking a peek at those items. I didn’t appreciate how it was organized – more like things were put to fit a space instead of any kind of order. Nonetheless, it was worth it to spend some time amongst her things and her history.

For lunch, I asked the person running the gift shop for a recommendation for a great burger place. She recommended Hamburger Mikey’s, which was a short walk from the museum. It was a really delicious burger and French fries. I enjoyed the burger and fries on the pier at Heritage Landing. And, even though it was Bike Time in Muskegon, the pier was fairly empty other than seagulls and a few fishermen.

I really enjoyed spending time in Muskegon and would go back for another burger in a heartbeat.

I will also make time to check out their beautiful Hackley Library. This is the Shakespeare garden outside of the library.

A Rainy Day Adventure

In mid-June, we had some rain, and it was that kind of rain when the world just feels fresh after – not the kind of rain where it feels like a sauna. On one of those rainy days, I had the chance to drive to see a couple more Frank Lloyd Wright houses northwest of Detroit.

The first tour was at the Affleck House in Bloomfield Hills. There were a lot of unique features to this property that I enjoyed.

Under one of the cantilevers there was this shaded lounge area that had a small stream running through it. The bathroom and office area featured these unique windows to aid with the cross breeze and added to the aesthetic. The living room and dining room featured this beautiful planked ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows/doors. The natural light was stunning even on that overcast day.

One of my favorite parts of the FLW houses are the locations. They are almost always set in treed and lush properties – so naturally part of the landscape.

The Smith House was associated with the Cranbrook in Bloomfield Township. I had no idea how big the campus was, and I missed an opportunity to tour the Cranbrook House, but I did have a chance to wander around the Art Museum on the campus before the Smith house tour. I’m on the fence, in general, about midcentury modern design. The museum featured work done at the Cranbrook in support of that design style with different furniture and textiles and art pieces. The Eames exhibit was very interesting. I had lunch in their downstairs cafe and walked around some of the gardens as well.

The Smiths were art enthusiasts and had art in their home and on the property, which backed up to a small pond. Because of all the personal effects still in the home, it felt more “lived in” than some of the other FLW houses I’ve toured.

The Smiths also re-appropriated some of the spaces as well, which probably had FLW rolling in his grave, but a house only works when it fits what its dwellers need, so I could appreciate the changes they made to make it work for them. Isn’t that office just so great? Proving that a small room can be a functional retreat for work and rest.

I really do love the windows that utilize the mitered glass to create an invisible corner for a better view of the outdoors. Like Thoreau wrote: “We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features….” Another beautiful property that I am grateful to have gotten to explore.

When you tour more than one FLW home in the same day, you often run into the same people. This time, I met a couple from Ohio and a young man at the Affleck House and then again at the Smith House. It was fun to compare notes with them about the different houses and about my travel plans. I wish I had more time and energy to spend, but I was ready to head back home after the Smith tour.

Back in Grand Rapids, Arthur had extra time for cuddles and cuteness and helped me most days at work from his perch.

Return to The Mitten

After all our Chicagoland adventures, it was time to depart for our next stop, Grand Rapids, MI. My original plan had been to stay in Ann Arbor, but the universe had other plans for me and Arthur. I booked multiple AirBnBs in Michigan – two in Ann Arbor, one north of Ann Arbor on Whitmore Lake, and another in Grand Rapids. All of them, for one reason or no reason, cancelled. 🍫 A big part of all the travel is learning that plans aren’t permanent, and change can be for the better.

We ended up booking a studio apartment in Grand Rapids off of Michigan Street. My friend who lives in Grand Rapids drove by before I booked to make sure it was in a safe neighborhood, and the hosts were very communicative and fully understood my need for central A/C in June and July.

Unlike the Evanston apartment, this place had a full kitchen. The closet picture is basically all the clothes that I have with me on this journey – about half as much as I was able to bring in the RV. The bed was cozy, but I did end up buying a set of sheets because I need cotton sheets – microfiber is not my jam. If you look closely at the picture on the right, there’s a lump in the middle of the bed. That’s Arthur. His midday nap includes putting himself to bed under the covers.

The transition from IL to MI for Arthur was rough. We hit a little traffic leaving Evanston, but when we reached Lake Shore Driver, Arthur’s breakfast re-appeared three times…. 🍫🍫 After that, he settled down by my feet. I know, not ideal, but he rarely cried for the next three hours after he got comfy and resigned himself to the trip. I did make a few notes for our next drive, which will be about 7.5 hours – unlike this trip that was only 3.5 hours. I did not set him up for success on this one – we left too late in the day, and he was a bit traumatized by how I ended up getting him into the car. He did settle in, and because this place was smaller than the last, I felt more comfortable having him roam on his own.

I had a couple of days to myself, and then we had a small work meeting. My friends came over, got to meet Arthur, and worked with me for a few days. It wasn’t all work though. We did have a chance to get to the zoo and went out to eat a couple times.

We were able to see the annual lantern festival at the John Ball Zoo while they were there, and another co-worker joined us for dinner at New Holland Brewery and walking around the zoo. It stays light pretty late in June in Michigan, and my bedtime is early, so we avoided the bugs and really enjoyed seeing the lights glow more as we walked out. If you know Michigan, you probably know Meijer; they “powered” the displays and were my preferred grocery store when I was in Michigan; I even bought a dress there.

We also celebrated National Donut Day with Farmhaus Farms donuts, had dinner at Mr. Burger, and spent time on one of the many MI lakes. I also had a chance to do some baking again – gluten-free blueberry muffins, and gluten-free “crack” brownies. I’m definitely a fan of gluten, but I can bake without when needs must. It was a great first week in Grand Rapids.

I also ran over to Ann Arbor after work on Friday to catch Sarah Millican on her Late Bloomer tour. She was an absolute delight. The Michigan Theater was packed, and everyone seemed to be there to laugh, which always makes comedy shows so much better. I did a very “old lady” thing and left at intermission. Why would I leave when I was having a great time? Three Reasons: People / traffic / a long drive back to where I was staying near Lansing. I had a seat relatively close to the stage, and I found a great parking spot in the parking ramp, but it was 9PM by the time we reached intermission, and I just didn’t want to deal with the people / traffic / drive after 10PM. If the line to the bathroom was any indicator, it would’ve probably been midnight before my head hit the pillow.

Arthur settled in pretty easily in Grand Rapids and really enjoyed meeting my friends from work and getting all the pets and treats from them.

Next post: Two more Frank Lloyd Wright houses outside of Detroit!

The Rest of Michigan

It really flew by. Before we left Jenison, we made a stop by Speed Wrench to get our sensors checked out and fixed. We had a great tech who had stopped out to see us at the campground and offered to work after his workday to get us back on the road. The service was fantastic, and we were back on the road for another night before leaving Jenison. And we’re back with no threat of limp mode!

We made our way to the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Bellevue, MI, next. This fairgrounds had GREAT shower facilities.

From time to time, I have to travel for work, and it’s really convenient to work with a cat sitter from Rover.com. In July, I had about 2 hours to get checked in, set-up the RV, meet the Rover sitter, and get to the airport. I did it, but it was not ideal.

Our spot at the campground was in full sun, so I left the AC running while I was gone to try to keep it as cool as possible. While I was in Florida, I received daily updates from the sitter, and Arthur did so well. It definitely gives me peace of mind, knowing someone is taking good care of him while I’m away. The AC did not like being on 24/7 while I was away, so I had to deal with some condensation and dripping water when I got back. 🍫🍫

After FL, I was able to head into Ann Arbor to do some exploring. It just happened to be the art fair weekend and walking around had me reminiscing about the Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis. While busy, it was a lovely late afternoon to walk around and get a sense of the downtown area. The campus feels integrated into the town, and the community is lively and involved. I had a nice cupcake at a newly opened bakery – Molly’s Cupcakes – on Liberty Street.

After my dinner cupcake, I headed over to the Majestic Theater. I am a sucker for an older movie theater, especially one with real butter for the popcorn. I saw Twisters, which was a summer delight – especially after making it through the early days tornado season in Kansas.

I also had time to head back to Grand Rapids to tour the Meyer May House – another beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright home.

A local company bought the home and restored it. They are sourcing the pieces of the home that were sold off and then found and restored. Just beautiful.

I did have to leave the fairgrounds since they were prepping for their county fair. I headed over to a Sun Outdoors campground – Kensington Valley. It was a really lovely property with a couple of small lakes and lovely sites. The bathroom facilities could use some updating, but the location gave me the opportunity to meet up with a friend and her family. They rented a house in Ann Arbor, so we had a lovely dinner, dessert, and conversation – so fun to be around a family and enjoy a meal together.

Hard to believe that I’m putting a bow on Michigan already. It was a great time, and we will be back in 2025.

More Michigan!

14 starts left after a stop for gas and another at Target to get more supplies for the coming week. After our errands, we headed up to Muskegon to tour the historic Hume and Hackley homes.

There were two really nice family stories that went with these two homes. They were both enormous old homes, but very different on the inside. The tour was informative but the decor really stole the show for me.

The transom windows and lovely fireplaces were just some of the highlights.

12 starts left when we left Muskegon for our campground outside of Jenison and after we checked in. The Steamboat Park Campground was a beautiful location on the shores of the Grand River. It had come highly recommended from my co-worker’s parents, and they weren’t kidding. Our site was close to the center of the park but very quiet and private. It’s great when you’re a short walk to the amenities, and when I say amenities – I mean the showers and the garbage. 🙂

Glamour shot of the Grand River. We did get a good amount of rain while we were there, so I was glad that we weren’t at one of the sites on the river. Really beautiful to walk by, but felt safer off the river bank. Our check-in experience was really great, and we were able to get deliveries, so stocking up on the supplies was easy. The showers were great and the laundry facilities were sparse but accessible.

I didn’t rent a car in Michigan, so I took a few Uber/Lyft rides to get into town and meet up with a college friend and her friends who were in town for a concert. We had a very delicious breakfast in downtown Grand Rapids at Social Misfits before we headed to the Ford Presidential Library. My friend is a real history buff, so she spent a good deal more time actually reading all of the displays.

In addition to the pretty dish ware and the Oval Office re-creation, there was a beautiful garden and walking area around the museum, which is on the banks of the Grand River.

I also got some more quality time with my co-worker and her family while I was closer to Grand Rapids. We had a lovely family dinner where I actually ate vegetables and a fun girls night out at a local cider joint – Farmhouse Cider Co. They had a food truck and flights of cider that were delightful – a lot like my first weeks in Michigan.

Also, I did try some things to see if I could clear the limp mode from Estella, but they were all to no avail. We’re down to 3 starts. 🍫🍫 🍫🍫 Time to call in the reinforcements.

On To The Mitten

(I’ve been on a break from blogging as we finished up 2024 with a lot of travel and some rest. Hope to keep a more regular schedule in the New Year.)

So long Illinois! After a month in IL, Arthur, Estella, and I were ready to make our move further east into Michigan. Our first stop was outside of Holland. We stayed at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds, which was very, very empty, but we did have some squirrel friends that kept Arthur entertained. RV camping at fairgrounds around the country has been hit or miss. This was kinda a miss. 🍫 Certain stays make you grateful for newer bathroom facilities and the safety of just having other campers around – this was one of them. We felt safe the whole time we were there, but it was definitely not the best fairgrounds for a week-long stay.

A lovely part of our location was its proximity to Lake Michigan. A co-worker who lives in the area drove over for dinner one night with her family. We had dinner at The Curragh in downtown Holland, which was a great Irish meal. We also ventured over to Kilwins for dessert. It was so lovely to hang out with their family as we drove around and took a trip out to the lake before they dropped me off. I had forgotten how fun conversation can be with two young boys!

On the Fourth of July, I walked to Holland State Park. For this part of our trip I went without a rental car, and my legs felt it. It was about 3.5 miles each way to the park, but it wasn’t too warm, and I made some stops along the mostly shaded walk and mostly overcast day. The park was packed! There were also numerous boats going through the channel and a lot of people taking in the lake and some beach time. The traffic into the park was unreal. I definitely beat many, many cars on foot.

I also made a pitstop at the Ottawa Beach General Store , which was very busy, but they had everything from ice cream to souvenirs to wine and beer. I picked up some post cards and a magnet and walked a little further down the sidewalk for a snack at Reservoir. I ended up having a Pina Colada, some broccolini, and garlic bread, but it was just want I needed to make it the last 2.5 miles back to the RV.

We spent the rest of the week just working and relaxing during our downtime. (Arthur demonstrating how relaxed he felt.)

A fun surprise greeted us when I started up Estella to head over to our next location. We had the dreaded you-only-have-so-many-starts-til-the-engine-goes-into-limp-mode message that Mercedes kindly provides when something is wrong. 🍫🍫🍫 We’d seen the message before when we were short on DEF fluid, but then it cleared when I put more fluid in. This time, I knew we were good on DEF, so no bueno.

I had already planned to check out of our campsite and drive up to the Hackley & Hume Historic Site in Muskegon, and since we still had 16 starts to go, we made the trip up.

Stay tuned…Did we make it to the next campsite without going into limp mode? Was the Hackley & Hume Historic Site cool? Did Arthur ever manage to catch any fish on the iPad?