This year's road trip was a drive through Michigan. We got up early on the 4th of July (like 3:30 in the morning early) to get to the airport. Gary was good enough to come pick us up and drive us in (the perks of an UBER driver in the family:)
We flew into Chicago Midway where we rented a car for the trip and headed out on our journey.
We stopped at a Bob Evans Restaurant (not to be confused with Tim Hortons Restaurant😉) to have a late breakfast. While the food was yummy we had to ask to change seats because of the profane manner of our neighbors.
We enjoyed our time there, excited of being in a new area and the adventures ahead.
Right from the beginning we altered our plans. Instead of going right into Michigan we made a little detour and drove over to South Bend, IN to see the Notre Dame Campus. For many years I have wanted to see this campus. I think it must have stemmed from all those years watching Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. Regis was a huge fan of Notre Dame and always commented on how much he loved it there. So thus my interest was peaked.
It did not disappoint. The grounds were beautiful and we enjoyed our time walking around.
We walked through the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and enjoyed its majesty.
This gold dome topped building was an anchor on the campus. Someone mentioned it might be a commons area for the students but another mentioned it was for the staff so...not sure but it was really beautiful.
Not every campus has a statue of Jesus.
We passed this cool Beechwood tree.
It was a perfect umbrella with plenty of space underneath to get out of the sun.
The campus was filled with many giant oaks and maple trees and just down from the basilica was a beautiful lake.
We wanted to see the stadium but couldn't find close enough parking. I hopped out to get a picture of this statue of Lou Holtz and Rick thought he's join in:)
While Rick went back to the car (because we were parked illegally) I walked around the arena. A nice fellow joined me and gave me some facts about the area. I didn't know that Knute Rockne died in an airplane crash. I had to look the details up later that night.
While I couldn't get down into the stadium. This gave me a little glimpse of the football field. You can't see the grass in this picture but trust me. It was the beautiful green of a grass football field.
Knute Rockne Statue
That night we stayed in Elkhart, Indiana. It was close to some Amish villages and shops so we stayed there. We got to have dinner in an Amish owned restaurant that night.
It was called Das Dutchman Essenhaus. We were disappointed to find that they were not serving family style (I'm sure because of lingering cover restrictions) so we had our own table and enjoyed some home cooked food. Rick had a beef dish and I had a chicken and noodles dish served over mashed potatoes. It was quite tasty. Bummer I didn't get a picture:( We both ordered dessert but I was super full and waited till the next day to eat my banana cream. Rick ate his right then and there!
Down the street from the restaurant was a bridge built buy the Amish.
After a good nights sleep at the Fairfield Inn we had to pick up our Indiana souvenirs. We couldn't find any bells so we both picked up a Notre Dame ball cap. We wore them proudly throughout our whole trip.
Before leaving the area we had to stop at an Amish donut shop called Rise and Roll.
Our desk clerk had raved about how good they were.
Not gonna lie.....while cake donuts have always been my favorite this particular doughnut was
THE BEST DOUGHNUT I'D EVER EATEN!!
It was a raised donut with caramel topping with an abundant amount of crushed heath bar on top. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it!
Rick chose a powdered lemon jelly roll. It was super delish too!
We were a sight to behold in the car....powdered sugar EVERYWHERE!😂
After our morning treat we drove towards our destination of Saugatuk, MI. What a beautiful drive! Where Utah is in a drought right now and pretty much everything is drying up and dying, there is PLENTY of water in Michigan. I can See why Michigan is called the "land of a thousand lakes" because there are little lakes everywhere. It's such a beautiful area!
Saugatuk is a pretty little river town. The Kalamazoo River runs right through it. It is a summer destination place for many people. There were lots of tourists enjoying the area. The homes there are so picturesque with lush landscaping...some expensive mansions and some little homes but they all seemed well cared for with lots of grass, shrubbery and flowers.
After our drive we were ready for some lunch. We stopped on Saugutuck's Main Street and wandered down to Baldy's BBQ restaurant. It was yummy!
While we were so excited to explore Saugatuck, we knew we needed to get over to a point of interest that we didn't want to miss. The Felt Mansion. It was scheduled to close at 4:00 so we headed that direction and luckily it was just a ten minute drive from Saugatuk.
The Felt Mansion
The Felt Mansion is a summer home that was built back in 1927 for Dorr Felt and his family. Dorr Felt gained his wealth by inventing the first adding machine and patenting it. He was from Chicago but built this home for his family's summer holidays. The sad part was that his wife died just 2 months after it was built and then 2 years later he died. Their home was left to their three daughters who kept it until 1949. It then became a seminary school building. Dorr's wife had been a devout Catholic. Interestingly enough it later became part of a prison built on the grounds. Later, after being abandoned and in disrepair the land was purchased and then restoration of the house started. While it is not fully furnished, as you walk through it you can see just how state of the art and grand it was in it's day.
After visiting the Mansion we drove back to Saugutuck for a riverboat tour on the "Star Of Saugatuck".
It took us up the Kalamazoo River close to the mouth of Kalamazoo Lake then turned around and cruised past Saugatuck into Lake Michigan. The River was lined with expensive summer homes. What a sight they were. It's amazing to think of the wealth that some people must acquire to have a giant home to visit for just a few months out of the year. But boy, they sure were beautiful.
When we got onto Lake Michigan the muddy river water turned into a beautiful blue. I could not believe how blue and clear the water was. Just magnificent! We were humbled and in awe of this beautiful lake. As we cruised over the water we were taught (by our guide) just how big this lake is. It's amazing to really understand how large the Great Lakes are and how much water is in them. To us desert people its just fascinating! It sure would be nice to have some of that water down our direction but I guess that's the majesty of the United States. EVERY area is so unique. While we have our wonderful and awe inspiring Red Rock Desert National Parks and huge mountains.....Michigan has a lot of water!!
You can see in this picture the difference of the muddy river water and the clear lake water.
Lake Michigan is lined with sandy dunes. They make for some great beaches. One of my regrets of this trip was that we did not have time to get down onto the beach.
That would have been fun to get in the water:)
After our boat trip we tried to find a place to have dinner in Saugatuck but everything was so full. We ended driving to our hotel in Holland and just getting some food at a nearby Panera. It was nice. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the cool air of the area.
After a good night's rest we drove over to Holland's Farmer's Market. Rick and I are suckers for a good farmer's market. They are just so fun to go to during the short summer months.
Lots of fresh flowers.....
...and some cool looking mushrooms:)
I learned a bit about how people farm mushrooms. Pretty cool, indeed!
Random picture of some wild turkeys we came across on a drive to the lighthouse.
A lighthouse we never got to see:( It was on the other side of a gated community and we would have to walk quite a distance to get there. Rick was all up for that but me, not so much, so we headed up north toward the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore Park.
It was about a three hour drive to get to the park. We stopped a number of times for bathroom breaks and one stop at a fruit market. Like I said... we like that kind of stuff!
We stopped at the Sleeping Bear Park Visitors Center and enjoyed seeing a few things. We picked up a map and found a hike that wasn't too far away.
So here's the deal..... I have decided that I do not love hiking. It's been coming on for some time now but on this hike it was officially declared, "I do not like hiking." Maybe having to dodge the poison ivy had something to do with it. Wait, no. Actually, I think it was the really steep terrain and me being terribly out of shape that made me feel that way:( Yup, I'm sure that was the reason.
I know, I'm a killjoy. I like lots of things but hiking is not my favorite!😐
Despite my new declaration, I did enjoy the view at the top of the hill.
The grand Michigan Lake off in the distance. So nice.
We drove around the park a little more and enjoyed the wonderful scenery then headed over to our abode for the night. We stayed in Traverse City. It rained quite a bit that night and into the next day. We had plans to ride bikes along the riverfront but decided to instead make the drive up to Sault Sainte Marie.
Traverse City.....we'll have to catch you next time.
Our time in Sault St. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie, who knew?) was nice. We stopped for lunch at a nice cafe and then made our way to the river. We had tickets to ride on a boat through the locks. This was a really neat and interesting experience. The St Mary's River had a twenty one foot drop over three miles of rapids. It was decided for shipping purposes during WWII to build the locks to be able to get goods where they needed to be in a faster time. The locks were built in a little over a year when normally it would take ten years.
The boat we were in got in on the low side of the locks and were raised up the twenty one feet to the high side. Such an amazing thing to be able to harness waters like that. Normally we would go through the American locks and then return through the Canadian locks but with Covid we couldn't get into Canada. So we went in and out of the same locks. That's ok. It was still SUPER cool!
(Literally. We weren't just wearing our hoodies for a fashion statement.)
So amazing!
Afterwards we wandered through town through the shops and then enjoyed a dinner at Applebees.
Our room had a huge jacuzzi tub which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was a nice way to warm up in the cold damp area. Thank goodness for the Marriott Hotels on this trip. They always provided us with a good nights stay after a long day of driving and/or sightseeing.
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