Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for michigan
Detroit’s Wall Street
By Linda Tancs
Touted as the Cathedral of Finance, the Art Deco style Guardian Building at Griswold Street in the financial district of Detroit, Michigan, is a testament to the city’s boom times in the 1920s. The 40-story orange brick façade, for instance, is graced with tile around the multistory windows. And it’s a good thing that The Sterling Group opened the building to non-employees when it acquired the premises in 2003. You wouldn’t want to miss the glorious detail inside—from three different kinds of exquisite (and in some cases, rare) quarried marble in the lobby to the stenciled colorful ceiling, gold leaf and stained glass that give this skyscraper its well-earned nickname. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, tours are free.
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The World’s Longest Porch
By Linda Tancs
A National Historic Landmark, Michigan’s Mackinac Island is a refuge from a bygone era, where bikes and horse drawn carriages rule the roads. Enjoy spectacular views of the Straits of Mackinac in a rocking chair at the Grand Hotel, another national landmark boasting the world’s longest porch. The island’s splendor is particularly striking in bloom season. Tomorrow through June 14 is the 66th Annual Lilac Festival, the largest summer event.
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A Shrine to Innovation
By Linda Tancs
If you think the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan is just a shrine for car enthusiasts, then think again. Sure, you’ll find the first Mustang and the last Model T among its collection, but you’ll also discover a world of innovation through amazing exhibits like Made in America, featuring a Newcomen engine, gothic steam engine and McCoy lubricator. The sprawling museum compound also celebrates pioneering in aviation, including a replica of the Wright Flyer. And don’t miss Greenfield Village. Founded in 1929 as an educational and historic landmark, it comprises seven districts chronicling 300 years of American industrialism in railroading, farming, handiworks, patentable inventions and, of course, automotive engineering.
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Railroading in Michigan
By Linda Tancs
Railroading has a venerable history in Michigan, beginning with the grant of a charter to the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad Company in 1833 to build the first railroad in what was then the Michigan Territory. When Michigan became a state in 1837, construction had already commenced on a branch line from Palmyra to Jacksonburgh, a line put into service during the Civil War. Numerous industry consolidations and a reduction in passenger and freight traffic nearly obliterated the branch line, but the Southern Michigan Railroad Society purchased the remaining track and transformed it into an operating railroad museum. The Society offers train tours over the remaining track of the early Palmyra and Jacksonburgh Railroad. Easily accessible from Toledo and Detroit, the route takes a nostalgic turn between Clinton and Tecumseh. Make your reservations now for the popular Fall Color Tours in October.
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National Cherry Festival
By Linda Tancs
The Grand Traverse region of Michigan is known for its world-record tart cherry harvest. So, of course, where else would you expect to find the nation’s preeminent cherry festival? This year’s event, from 2 – 9 July, has been named one of USA Today’s top ten festivals for several years. Promising more than 150 events along the shores of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay, the festival features an air show on 3 July over West Grand Traverse Bay–the location for Cherries D’Vine, where cherry creations from starters and entrees to cherry blended desserts will be paired with award winning wines from both the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas. Songbirds can vie for top honors in the Cherry Idol competition, a contest for all ages. For a bird’s-eye view of the festivities, consider an EasyRotor helicopter tour. It all sounds so cherry good.
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Michigan’s Asparagus Trail
By Linda Tancs
In West Michigan, the trails are so good you could practically taste them. Consider, for instance, the 22-mile Hart-Montague Trail State Park, Michigan’s first paved rail trail. Located mostly in Oceana County, this linear park travels through cherry and apple orchards, asparagus fields and ice cream stands. Originally part of the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad, the trail connects John Gurney Park and the city of Hart with the twin cities of Montague and Whitehall. Both ends of the trail have camping, lodging and places to eat.
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Hiawatha Lives in Ironwood
By Linda Tancs
At the door on summer evenings
Sat the little Hiawatha;
Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,
Heard the lapping of the waters,
Sounds of music, words of wonder;
‘Minne-wawa!” said the Pine-trees,
Mudway-aushka!” said the water. – “Hiawatha.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Hiawatha still hears the lapping of the waters–from his bird’s-eye view of Lake Superior–in Ironwood, Michigan. There, bearing an appellation that reads “World’s Tallest and Largest Indian,” stands an 18-meter high statue of Hiawatha, a chieftain credited with founding the Iroquois Confederacy. Fans of roadside americana such as this can get directions here.
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Thanksgiving Parades
By Linda Tancs
The best known Thanksgiving Day parade is arguably the venerated and nationally televised Macy’s production in New York City, stepping off at 77th and Central Park West each year at 9 am. This parade, originating in 1927, is not the country’s oldest, however. That honor goes to Philadelphia. They’ve been parading since 1910, stepping off at 20th and Market at 8:30 am. In second place is Detroit’s parade, originating in 1924 and stepping off at 9:25 am at Woodward and Mack. Everyone loves a parade, and now you have three good reasons to join in–from the couch or the bleachers.
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