Even though we visited the UP (Upper Peninsula) and other parts of the mitten shaped state, Michigan will always be remembered as Checkpoint Greiner for us. We stopped at Mike’s sister and brother-in-law’s house near Detroit for several days and enjoyed some sightseeing and a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the trip.
Here are some highlights from our week in Michigan:
Most Beautiful Spot: Mackinac Island
. Arriving by ferry, we stepped off the boat and felt like we had gone through a time warp. There are no cars allowed on the island because they were banned over one hundred years ago. The only methods of transportation are the horse and bicycle. Mackinac Island boasts a bustling Main Street with shops, restaurants, hotels, and their famous fudge makers. It’s so quaint on Mackinac that we loved it, well everything except the manure piles and accompanying unpleasant odor!Best Tourist Spot: Frankenmuth, or Frankenberry as we affectionately call it, is a cute, little Bavarian town. When in Bavaria, we did as the Bavarians and took a pretzel rolling class, of course. We experienced all aspects of pretzel making, including wearing the required hair net, much to the kids’ humiliation. While rolling our own pretzels, we learned their history. Finally, when the knot finished baking, we were able to eat the fruit of our labor. I hate to say this, but they weren’t as good as we anticipated. We all desired a good dunking in a vat of runny cheese, or even better, frosting!
We didn’t eat one of the infamous chicken dinners in town, since they were a little beyond our budget, but we did play mini golf at the Bavarian Inn. It was a fun indoor course. What was neat about this course was they let you pick a ball from their unusual selection of sports themed balls and then keep it! We also rented an Aqua Cycle, and all 4 of us pedaled up and back on the Cass River. It was good exercise with a nice view!
Worst Tourist Spot: St. Ignace. Our hotel advertised they’re beachfront. Maybe years ago this was true but not anymore. There is no beach. In addition, we found service to be lacking at the restaurant downtown. Zak’s fudge shop was the only happy place we found. Their fudge was delicious and their friendliness a welcome change! That night we sat in our spider web laden hotel room and frantically looked for a new town to move on to…maybe this one with a beach.
Best Meal: Union Woodshop in Clarkston. This hip restaurant is famous for its mac and cheese. While I enjoyed the mac and cheese, I thought the woodshop should be known for its variety of BBQ sauces from all over the country, which were sitting on the table to sample and enjoy. The pulled pork, served in a small jelly roll pan, became an adventure in dining across the United States without ever leaving our table!
Worst Meal: Bentley's B-N-L Café, St. Ignace. We went there to try a highly recommended pasty. A pasty is sort of like a calzone, except much lighter and filled with beef, potato, and onion, and then baked. The pasty was tasty, but the service and temperature were polar opposites. The server was cool, to the point of being rude, while the temperature in the restaurant was exceedingly warm, even for someone who usually brings a sweater along to wear. We’d eat a pasty again from somewhere else in the UP.
New Foods: a pasty, Vernor's ginger ale - It's really gingery!
A First for the Trip: Cleaning out the van. After 110 days on the trip and a pound of sand from Acme beach, I cleaned the van for the first time, completely emptying it, washing, vacuuming, and organizing it, in between 6 loads of laundry. That pretty much took an entire day. The kids were entertained playing a hockey game using plastic sticks and laundry baskets for goals.
Biggest Revelation: This is going to sound horrible, but the animals at the zoo just aren’t as exciting after seeing them in the wild. We did visit the Detroit Zoo on a hot and humid August day, and the animals were lazy as a result. In addition, this was our first zoo we visited since viewing the animals in the wild at our nation’s great national parks out West. It was just a little lame seeing them lying down inside a caged area as opposed to stopping traffic on the side of the road.
Having said that, the river otters were very active and cute swimming around their habitat. They alone made the zoo trip worthwhile, besides the fact that it was just nice hanging out with Mike’s sister. Chloe even bought a stuffed otter to remind her of our trip to the Detroit Zoo with her aunt.
Biggest Surprise: Having the same debate now that we had in the late 1800’s! You know you’re getting old when automobile history is interesting. At the Ford Museum, we were surprised to learn that they experimented with gas, electric, and steam cars way back in the early days of the automobile. Here we are returning to the same debate all these years later!
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Seeing Levi and Chloe playing with the kids next door. While staying with Mike’s sister, it was so sweet of her neighbor to invite our kids over to swim and play with hers. They had fun swimming and climbing trees, but it made me a little sad that Levi and Chloe are missing those simple, every day pleasures with their friends back in Illinois.
Best Drive: The drive from the UP down to Traverse City. It was mostly two lane scenic highway. We went through Petosky and Charlevoix, both of which are charming, harbor towns. We wished we had more time to get out and explore.
Worst Drive: It could have been a horrible drive in Detroit had it not been for Mike’s sister leading the way around the notorious summer road construction clogging traffic. As it was, it wasn’t bad at all.
Biggest Disappointment: Missing the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum & Library because we didn’t realize there were TWO Ford museums in Michigan! One is for Gerald, the President, and one for Henry, creator of the automobile assembly line. We’ve been trying to visit all the presidential museums in the United States, partially for their great history, so we were thoroughly disappointed to miss one because of something so silly.
Funniest Memory: Chloe’s tree climbing. There was one large tree that divided the neighbor’s yard from Mike’s sister’s yard, and Chloe decided this was the tree to climb. She climbed so close to the top of the tree that it actually frightened us all, and then she dared the neighbor boys to climb as high! Note to the neighbors: I’m so sorry!
Worst Memory: Saying good-bye to Mike’s sister and brother-in-law. It was sad to be leaving Checkpoint Greiner. It was fun and refreshing seeing family…and a great opportunity to clean our clothes, blankets, coats, pretty much everything we have, including our van!
Best Memory: Mike’s sister really hooked us up with a table near the cafeteria in her busy work place to sign up donors over the lunch hours. I was very impressed by not only her enthusiasm and advocacy in setting up the table but also her encouraging coworkers to register. We had people signing up online right there at the table, while others took cards to sign up later. Some people stopped and asked questions; some talked about loved ones who had passed away and donated; and others talked about the excitement of knowing someone who has received the gift of life through a transplant. It was a great experience.
A First for the Trip: Cleaning out the van. After 110 days on the trip and a pound of sand from Acme beach, I cleaned the van for the first time, completely emptying it, washing, vacuuming, and organizing it, in between 6 loads of laundry. That pretty much took an entire day. The kids were entertained playing a hockey game using plastic sticks and laundry baskets for goals.
Biggest Revelation: This is going to sound horrible, but the animals at the zoo just aren’t as exciting after seeing them in the wild. We did visit the Detroit Zoo on a hot and humid August day, and the animals were lazy as a result. In addition, this was our first zoo we visited since viewing the animals in the wild at our nation’s great national parks out West. It was just a little lame seeing them lying down inside a caged area as opposed to stopping traffic on the side of the road.
Having said that, the river otters were very active and cute swimming around their habitat. They alone made the zoo trip worthwhile, besides the fact that it was just nice hanging out with Mike’s sister. Chloe even bought a stuffed otter to remind her of our trip to the Detroit Zoo with her aunt.
Biggest Surprise: Having the same debate now that we had in the late 1800’s! You know you’re getting old when automobile history is interesting. At the Ford Museum, we were surprised to learn that they experimented with gas, electric, and steam cars way back in the early days of the automobile. Here we are returning to the same debate all these years later!
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Seeing Levi and Chloe playing with the kids next door. While staying with Mike’s sister, it was so sweet of her neighbor to invite our kids over to swim and play with hers. They had fun swimming and climbing trees, but it made me a little sad that Levi and Chloe are missing those simple, every day pleasures with their friends back in Illinois.
Best Drive: The drive from the UP down to Traverse City. It was mostly two lane scenic highway. We went through Petosky and Charlevoix, both of which are charming, harbor towns. We wished we had more time to get out and explore.
Worst Drive: It could have been a horrible drive in Detroit had it not been for Mike’s sister leading the way around the notorious summer road construction clogging traffic. As it was, it wasn’t bad at all.
Biggest Disappointment: Missing the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum & Library because we didn’t realize there were TWO Ford museums in Michigan! One is for Gerald, the President, and one for Henry, creator of the automobile assembly line. We’ve been trying to visit all the presidential museums in the United States, partially for their great history, so we were thoroughly disappointed to miss one because of something so silly.
Funniest Memory: Chloe’s tree climbing. There was one large tree that divided the neighbor’s yard from Mike’s sister’s yard, and Chloe decided this was the tree to climb. She climbed so close to the top of the tree that it actually frightened us all, and then she dared the neighbor boys to climb as high! Note to the neighbors: I’m so sorry!
Worst Memory: Saying good-bye to Mike’s sister and brother-in-law. It was sad to be leaving Checkpoint Greiner. It was fun and refreshing seeing family…and a great opportunity to clean our clothes, blankets, coats, pretty much everything we have, including our van!
Best Memory: Mike’s sister really hooked us up with a table near the cafeteria in her busy work place to sign up donors over the lunch hours. I was very impressed by not only her enthusiasm and advocacy in setting up the table but also her encouraging coworkers to register. We had people signing up online right there at the table, while others took cards to sign up later. Some people stopped and asked questions; some talked about loved ones who had passed away and donated; and others talked about the excitement of knowing someone who has received the gift of life through a transplant. It was a great experience.
My MI Hike…err, Bike: We rented bikes on Mackinac Island and rode around the island. It was a fun ride on the carless highway, dodging only piles of manure and other bikers.
What We Did Miss: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Greenfield Village, Gerald Ford Museum, and so much more all recommended to us.
In Summary: Michigan, we miss being spoiled at Checkpoint Greiner, but we’re glad we didn’t need mittens while we were there!
The Mom
What We Did Miss: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Greenfield Village, Gerald Ford Museum, and so much more all recommended to us.
In Summary: Michigan, we miss being spoiled at Checkpoint Greiner, but we’re glad we didn’t need mittens while we were there!
The Mom
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