More about Michigan - Grand Rapids

On that 2004 cross-country one-way road trip I'm always talking about (just mentioned again in my January 20th blog), after we left our disposable car in Omaha, Nebraska, we raced across Iowa to the Bridges of Madison County - trying to get there before sundown. (Again - a story for another time.)

 

With that theme in mind, I was happy to find out about the Bridge of Kent County, the Ada Covered Bridge, built in 1867, across the Thornapple River. It's 14 feet wide, and 125 feet long.

 

I'm not sure why I'm drawn to covered bridges, but I'm not alone. There is a "National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges", which publishes a World Guide to Covered Bridges, a quarterly magazine, and a newsletter
(http://www.coveredbridgesociety.org/).

And, for me, it's not because of the movie ("Bridges of Madison County"), which I haven't seen...but I do confess - I did read the book...a devastatinglty romantic story.. BUT, I read the book AFTER I'd been to Madison County in Iowa...sigh....

Technically, it seems, the Ada Bridge is a replica - the original being destroyed by fire in 1979 - but this one is so great! it looks old and weathered... I guess 1979 is on the "older side", but compared to 1867, it's brand new!

 

According to this website (http://my.net-link.net/~michaelf/mapmich.htm) there are 7 in Michigan, and ANOTHER one really near by that I didn't know about... will have to check it out next time...

We got to go "Root Root Root for the Home Team" at a hockey game - Grand Rapids Griffins vs. Toronto Marlies...

 

The Griffins are the farm-team for the Detroit Red Wings. Being from Calgary, I can't really offer an opinion about the Red Wings, but since Abbotsford Heat wasn't playing (apparently, they are the farm-team for the Flames), I could feel perfectly fine about rooting for the Griffins! (Marlies are the farm team for Toronto Maple Leafs.)

 

The game was FUN!!! So much energy - the crowd was good, the players were good...

 

The only moment of tenseness came when Peter stood up, cheering loudly for Toronto's score. He was the only one in the stadium. So funny!  I laughed until I could barely see the game!

 

AND THE HOME TEAM WON!!! WOO HOO!! (Sorry Peter.)

Grand Rapids, which, according to the 2010 Census has a population of 188,040, and a lot to do there. The http://www.experiencegr.com/ website talks about beaches, and parks, and art. Golf, historic sites, nightlife, and family fun.

 

As discussed, January 20th blog, we did see frozen beach on Lake Michigan, and we have experienced all kinds of family fun!!
____

 

It's tricky to blog about a trip that was mostly about visiting friends, and less about sight-seeing... I mean - if my blog was ABOUT visiting friends, that'd be easier... but since it's primarily about places we've been, I'm finding it...well - difficult.

 

We were in Michigan for about a week and did so many things! But mostly visit-y stuff.

 

On our last night in Michigan, Shannan invited over our closest Michigan friends. (Yes, this was our first real visit to Michigan, but surprisingly, we'd accumulated a good social group, mostly while we all happened to be visiting Alaska!)

 

So, two of the girls at our Going Away Party, were Rachel and Kate. (To avoid confusion between me and the other Rachel, we had to find her a nickname...which we did... but only after I vetoed ME being called "Big Rachel" and "Old Rachel".)

 

These two are probably in my Top 5 FUNNIEST people I've ever known in my entire life. (I would say they were THE funniest (along with Shannan, of course), but I don't want to be in trouble with the others who would make the list.)

 

Kate (who, by the way, is an avid traveller and has many, many adventures - In fact, judging from her Facebook status updates, she can have adventures driving from her house to work each day) made me laugh SO HARD at the party, that I couldn't even talk to say "I can't breathe - someone get my inhaler." It was completely worth it.

And, what did she do that made me laugh that hard? She was doing an impression of ME, of something that happened in Alaska. A million times, I've told this story (of her doing the impression), and I can't do an impression of me, as funny as she can.

 

It goes something like this (this is the background/setting): We were out on a lake, in the freeeeeeezing cold, waiting for the dog sled teams & mushers to go racing by (during the Iditarod - topic coming up very quickly in my future blogs). The Iditarod 2 years before, I was SO COLD the only thing that warmed me up was Peach Schnapps. So, this year, we came prepared (although it turned out to be much warmer anyway.)

 

Back to the story - Kate (being me) says: "Peter...." (Peter was standing about...20 feet from me, from what I can remember.) No answer. "Peter." No answer.  "PETER!!" No answer. FINALLY "PEEEEEEEEEEEETERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" Peter says, "What?" and Kate, with my best, whiny, hair twirling voice: "I'm thirrrrrrrsteeeey!!"

 

... SEE?? It is not NEAR AS FUNNY when I tell it!!!!
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Speaking of "thirsty", we had drinks at The B.O.B. Brewery, before the Hockey Game. "B.O.B." is an acronym for Big Old Building, which is surprisingly more original than I thought! (It IS big - 70,000 square feet (21336 square meters) - and it IS old - built in 1903!) http://www.thebob.com/

It was originally built as the Judson's grocery warehouse ~ now, there's an array of lounges, a brewery and a restaurant.

We also went to San Chez Tapas Bistro. I can't remember - it sort of seems like that was the same day, too. That was my first time with Tapas, and I'm happy to have been initiated into the Tapa World there! http://www.sanchezbistro.com/

And, at some point, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same day, we had SUPER YUMMY and very picturesque sushi at Seoul Garden.

After a lovely time, which always seems to be too short, we eventually had to leave. Sometimes, you have to go home, just to have a chance to sleep!

Besides, our puppies were at home, waiting patiently for us. (Not so much - they always have puppy sitters, and I imagine that, though I miss them terribly, they miss us for..maybe a day... It takes us 3 days to break the good habits that they've developed while we're away!! :D

 

Sunday, I think we'll be talking about something Calgary.

 

It is the Ice Sculpting Festival at Lake Louise, still, this week/weekend. I'm not sure if we are going or not, but I might have that to talk about!!

Michigan

Once upon a time (2004), we went on a roadtrip from Calgary to Nova Scotia, one way, through the States. Our plan was to drive a "disposable car" there, and fly home. Which, we did.. except that the disposable car only made it to Omaha, Nebraska, and we had to rent a car for the rest of the trip. (I did mention this before, if it sounds familiar, in my October 17, 2012 blog about the Jolly Green Giant.)

 

But that's a story for another time. The reason I brought it up now, is because, that trip, we drove passed three of the Great Lakes. I took a picture out of the window as we passed Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

 

I had NO idea how immense they were, until the trip we took to visit Richard and Shannan (mentioned often in previous blogs), in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

I met Shannan and her family, when I was 15 years old, and they moved to our little tiny town, in Montana. (Also briefly mentioned in my September 19, 2012 blog). Shannan's family moved to Montana, from Michigan.

 

In fact, in her lifetime, Shannan has lived in almost every state in the United States. (And, she's still quite young! :D ) But, between States, she often moves back to Michigan. It's her hub.

 

Which brings us to this trip. After she & Richard moved back to Michigan from Alaska (an upcoming blog segment), we decided to go visit. And, they took us for a weekend at the Family Cottage on the Lake.

 

And, by "Lake", I mean the second Greatest Lake, Lake Michigan. (Don't roll your eyes, like that's obvious - the state of Michigan also borders Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and a tiny section of Lake Erie.) Having never really spent any time staring at the Great Lakes, and since this one is especially great, I actually had to remind myself and convince myself that this was "just" a Lake, and not an Ocean. I was in complete and total awe!

 

Located along the US and Canadian border, the Great Lakes provide 21% of the world's surface fresh water supply! and are connected by The St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

I think we were even looking from East to West across the water, which is the narrower view - and I still couldn't see the other shore! It's so huge, you can see the curvature of the earth. There are waves I'm sure you can surf on. Over and over, I had to remind myself that the water is "fresh water", not salt. I kept imagining that there must be a tide. But there isn't. (If you think I'm crazy, it can only be because you haven't been there - go there, and you will see what I mean!!)

We spent the weekend at the Family Cottage playing Settlers of Catan...at which...I'm terrible... For one thing: I feel bad about wrecking someone else's goal...and I build my "walls" or whatever, based on patterns and designs. Needless to say, I lost.

 

One of the days, we spent the entire day making Boeuf Bourguignon, from Julia Childs' cookbook on French Cooking. It was delicious! and worth the hours dedicated. In fact, I make it regularly now, and even though I've found a faster "cheater" way, I won't do it - the original way is, in fact, the best way. ("Boeuf" means "Beef", and "Bourguignon" means "Burgundy." I guess that's for the bottle of wine that goes into the meal... And that's not including the wine you drink!) (http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-recipe/1/)

 

Did I mention that we were there in December? It was COLD! Not Alaska cold, but cold. It was the first time I'd ever seen frozen sand. Again, with the ridiculousness, I collected frozen sand, and for some reason was expected to bring home dry, yes - frozen - sand.. I got home with a bag of really wet sand in a puddle. (I know, its not that frozen sand is rare... just normally when we travel in winter to a place with sand - it's Hawaii.)

 

Speaking of shorelines, though - It turns out that Michigan has the longest freshwater coast line in the world! and its borders, as I mentioned, touch 4 of the Great Lakes! (Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie.) And! it has almost 65,000 lakes and ponds...(what qualifies as a pond, I wonder? that is ALOT of water!)

 

Also, the state is cut in half by Lake Michigan, and it's two halves (the Upper and Lower peninsulas) are attached by way of the Mackinac Bridge.
 

The word "Michigan" comes from an Ojibwa word "Mishigamaa" and then adapted by the French. "Mishigamaa" means "large lake." That makes sense!!! (More sense to me than "Saskatchewan" meaning "fast flowing river", running through an almost completely flat province...as per my September 26, 2012 blog.)

 

During our stay at The Cottage on the Lake, we spent a day going wine tasting and to a little town called Saugatuck.

 

Wine tasting was, of course, delicious, and we all came out with some new favorites! Since we can't get the options here, I only can dream about my favorite, which was the Vignoles Reserve. http://www.fennvalley.com/

The little town of Saugatuck is one of those little towns you just walk around and around and up and down. It's right on the water - a marina and beach, I guess. I think it'd be amazing, high energy, and super busy there in the summer, but since we were there in December, we really had almost the entire town to ourselves!! (According to the 2010 Census, less than 1000 people live there, and (including water) covers 1.47 square miles!)

Not knowing, at the time, that I would be starting a travel blog sometime in the future, I didn't really take careful notes of what we did and what we saw...

Here's what I remember:

~ there is a DELICIOUS candy store - chocolates, candied apples, chocolate...

~ I remember a wine accessory store, where Shannan bought the most beautiful wine glass, which I (in a funnier-than-it-sounds story) promptly broke...

~ a quirky little clothing store for children-it could've been a toy store, but I definitely remember some little tiny hand crafted clothing

~ and we ate at the Butler Restaurant, which, it turns out, is famous for its Butler Burger! I had a super YUMMY burger there-I'm pretty sure I didn't have the Butler Burger, though! But, where's my picture!!? I can't find it..I hope I didn't delete it...
http://www.butlerrestaurant.com/index.html

On Wednesday, we will be back in Grand Rapids,
for more Adventures with Richard and Shannan.

http://www.saugatuck.com/index.asp