Posted on 06/19/2021 8:43:19 AM PDT by gnarledmaw
Come to Grand Rapids and visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum aka Van Andel Museum Center; take in a show in the Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium (even the bad ones are pretty good, especially with the pre-teens); take a ride on the restored carousel.
Go up to the Mackinac Straits; stay in the cabins at Mill Creek campground (bathrooms and kitchen areas), take in the tour of the Mill Creek sawmill, tour Fort Mackinaw west of the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge and the kitschy souvenir shops but don't buy the fudge; take the ferry to Mackinac Island and spend the day wandering a tourist area so old that you can visit the building where Edward Everett Hale wrote "The Man Without a Country" and also where the movie "Somewhere In Time" was filmed (Christopher Reeve's car was one of only three or four allowed on the island for the shoot); buy the fudge ON the island as it might have been made ten minutes ago and you might see another batch being made; visit the TWO old forts, the obvious one and the other one, on the island.
Cross the bridge which is so long it can be seen from space into the Upper Peninsula, and see Tahquamenon Falls, the Soo Locks in operation, the Delaware Copper mine and Fort Wilkins and Pictured Rocks and the Miner's Castle on the Keewenaw Peninsula (if you're observant, walking along the beach at low tide, you can spot two or three recognizable but quite flat shipwrecks near the shore).
Come back down along the Lake Huron shore ("The Sunrise Side" and relax at any of the little cabin resorts most of which have been run by the same families for 80 years or more on Tawas Bay, a protected bit of Lake Huron, with public beaches and (in July through September) cool but swimmable water that only occasionally has completely non-harmful plant matter in it, usually after a storm.
Many COVID restriction have already been lifted, and the rest of them are to be cast aside this coming Tuesday.
When I lived in northern VA I liked to nip across to Harper's Ferry.
My first kiss was in Harper’s Ferry.
West Virginia is beautiful. I wouldn’t like those mountain roads in winter, though.
Stay out of Hellinois. There’s nothing here but death and taxes.
Gulf Shores was nice when the Hangout was a snackbar with pinball machines and the Florabama was where you bought beer on Sunday.
If you go through Wisconsin, stick to small towns. You no doubt know about the capitol Madison, and Milwaukee. I’d avoid them. If you are primarily going through southern WI, our favorite little town is New Glarus. A historical Swiss-settled town. Lovely to walk through. If you’re lucky, 2 old guys will be playing Alp Horns in the shopping district. They were there last time I visited. Try one of the Swiss restaurants. The one called The New Glarus Hotel Restaurant is a memorable place to order Swiss food.
Mt. Mitchell, NC is the tallest east of the Mississippi at 6684, Mt. Washington is the highest in the Northeast at 6288.
Yes, everyone should stay out of WV..
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