MELBOURNE TO DETROIT MICHIGAN


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July 11th 2022
Published: July 16th 2022
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NOVI DETROIT MICHIGANNOVI DETROIT MICHIGANNOVI DETROIT MICHIGAN

Tim and Debs front Garden love the flag
Well we finally made it to Michigan, set off early Saturday 9th July, United Business, flight was over one and a half hours late, they made up some time but we missed our connection in San Francisco, downgraded to coach on the next two legs, San Fran to Chicago, Chicago to Detroit. Our gorgeous friends Tim and Deb picked us up and it was such a relief to see them. Spent the night with Tim and Deb and had a couple of night caps and a pizza and then could not sleep....awake 2am.. up and showered 6am and took off to meet Blake and Suzy in Traverse City which was about a 4 hour drive north from Detroit on the lakes, stunning drive through green forests, cherry orchards and vineyards, it really was a beautiful drive. Blake and Suzy flew from Lafayette Louisiani to Traverse City so met up with them at lunchtime. Tim has a packed itinerary for us all wanting to showcase his beautiful state which we are very appreciative of. 2pm private winery tour, 3 very different wineries all stunning in their own way.... we had a great afternoon drinking wines and tasting plates of the region. Dinner at the Apache Trout Grill which was so beautiful, scenery and food... Sunday afternoon sitting on the shore of Traverse Bay with a musician playing whilst we waited for a table inside.....daylight hours are great from 5.30ish to around 9pm....the local grilled trout was delicious and then we had 3.8mile walk back to our condo. Don't know whats going on but Jetlag is bad...woken 2am each day so far. Were up at the crack of dawn on the Monday morning for coffee, breaky and be ready for a Sleep Bear Dunes tour at 10am, Matt was our guide and he is so passionate about what he does, works 5months a year up here on The Great Lakes and then down to Grand Canyon for the rest of his year. We have not seen a quarter of this ginormous lakes area but it is a huge expanse, Matt told us today that the lakes take up 20 percent of the worlds freshwater lakes.... just goes to show how big they are. We did a big walk on the Empire Bluff Trail, drove Scenic Pierce Stocking Drive, Glen Lake Overlook and the Sleeping Bear Dune Overlook, what an amazing carving of the
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Such a nice day to do the wineries
ice glaciers thousands of years ago such an interesting trip. We had a picnic lunch on the beach prepared by a local deli and it was delicious. Photos do not do the dunes justice coz they are long and steep. Weather is superb warm and around 25-28 degrees though today was a bit dull but was probably a good thing as we did walk quite a way.

Tues 12th July early start and got away before 8am for an over 2hr drive north to Mackinaw City to catch the ferry to Mackinac Island, what a beautiful place this is! Being the peak season it is pretty crowded but once you are off the Main Street and walking around the island it is very peaceful, beautiful and not many people around! Staying at the Lakeview Hotel which is right across the road from the ferry terminal which makes it very easy, checked in and left our bags and off we went for a long walk around the island. It is about 8 mile around the island. It blows your mind aware that this island is really only open for five months of the year as it is frozen in for
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Nice day to be outside
a while. There are no cars or vehicles on the island apart from horse drawn, even the horses get taken off the island for the winter, there are so many horses, during the day its tourist drays with probably 40 people onboard, then taxi horses, garbage truck horses and delivery horse drawn trays, it is a hive of activity first thing in the morning with all the deliveries to the shops and cafes etc. So it was great to get here early as we virtually had the whole day and night to explore. Gorgeous dinner at the Carriage House for Blake's birthday but you can imagine everything is top dollar here only been open for a short time, but then on the other hand you could not eat three courses as the servings are huge so it all works out.

Wed 13th up and at em early! We wanted to go for a walk, get a decent latte and some breaky before boarding the ferry at 9.30. All runs like clockwork the ferry system and we were on the road by 10am, over the Mackinaw Bridge, what a structure this is and is 8klm long. Not far along we
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Catch ups are so much fun
enter Michigan's Upper Peninsula, they did try to become a separate state at times but are still under Michigan, lovingly named Yooper people. Beautiful countryside and this is our falls day today, first stop Tahquamenon Falls, lower and upper, magnificent! second stop Sable Falls. and then onto Miners Castle to look at the Pictured Rocks... another beautiful stop, all this being on Lake Superior which is the largest of the Great Lakes, so we have been to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron also, it is unbelievable as they are all freshwater you may think we have been at the beach but these are all freshwater lakes!!! Tim has done a lot of driving to get us to all these fantastic places, both Tim and Deb have planned, booked trips and hotels.... we are so lucky we have not had to think too much about where we are going in Michigan! Our overnight stop at Munising which is a quaint town but went to a nearby town called Christmas for dinner at Foggy's Steakhouse, which was packed at 6.00pm, very bogan type of place but everyone had great food except me, picked the wrong thing!

Thurs 14th On road early again.... we really are packing it in... which we love as seeing the absolute maximum... glad we only came to Michigan and didn't try to see another state. We have a few hours to get to Petosky today. Stopped off at Harbour Springs for a look around, a beautiful place right on the lake and then onto Petoskey where we spent the night and last night with Blake and Suzy, great dinner at the City Park Grill. Were very lucky to see the gorgeous sunset here on our way back from dinner. Petoskey very much a resort town on the northern end of the Lower Peninsula.

Friday 15th bit a sleep in and heading back to Detroit, it is so lovely being both passengers as we both have had a great look around whilst Tim has done all the driving. We stopped off to buy fresh cherries and then headed to Midland, where we visited the Dow Gardens such a fantastic place to see with 48 acres of streams, waterfalls, sculptures, vege gardens, fruit orchards, flower gardens.... this land belonged to the Dow family of DOW CHEMICALS, Dow factory is still in town. Last stop before Detroit was Frankenmuth
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Lovely spot to enjoy a couple of drinks under the big trees
a German town where German missionaries settled in the 1800s, buzzing with activity and a band playing in the town square, lovely shops and we had a superb lunch of german sausages and a chicken dish. Got into Novi in Detroit to Tim and Debs at 5.30pm after the most scenic and wonderful trip all over Michigan, very lucky ducks we are to experience this. It is now Day 7 in Michigan and we have no access to our Qantas money card, though the expiry is 2023 Qantas money have it already expired. As you can imagine there is a roaring bull onboard, after multiple emails and phone calls eventually this morning the Qantas money people were able to send the money to a Western Union place here in Novi....disaster! Now we just have to get our pounds and Euros out of it when we get to Europe.


Additional photos below
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BOWERS HARBOR WINERY

Too long between drinks, have a great time with our beautiful US of A friends
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Yummy platters
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BRYS VINEYARDS

Loved the frose, refreshing on a warm Michigan arvo
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BRYS VINEYARDS

Great up on the balcony
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BRYS VINEYARD

Balcony good spot to be
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APACHE TROUT GRILL

What a great place this was right on the lake
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APACHE TROUT GRILL

So many boats on the lake
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APACHE TROUT RETAURANT

Great entertainment
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SLEEPING BEAR DUNE TOUR

Snacks on the way, these jalopeno chips were the bomb
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The forests are beautiful
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This tiny little lighthouse was so cute
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These sand dunes were so steep


18th July 2022

Missed your travel blogs so much
So great to have your travel blogs again Glorsy........and you have started back with a bang!!! So lovely of Tim & Deb to reduce your coach time and pick you guys up after missing the connection. And just fantastic for you to catch up with Suzy and Blake. Maybe it has taken a little while to get over the jet lag as it has been so long for you both to get back into flying, when you were doing it so so often. I am sure you are sorted now :) Loved your photos and never heard of MackKinac Island.....it sounds amazing!! Keep enjoying and I look forward to your next blog. Love Rhonda xxxxx Oh....and PS I would hate to be working at Qantas Money Card
18th July 2022

Hi Ron and Grazey
Yes it's been an amazing time in Michigan ...not a state we would probably have gone to only for Tim and Deb, it's such a pretty place. Still haven't sorted about Q card for UK and Europe...lucky we have plenty on our credit cards! We are so lucky to have seen so much and also a few days living like a local in Novi at Tim and Deb's, they have lovely friends and family! Xx

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