oh MI, it was a fun trip!

The hubs and I have wanted to explore Michigan, and the fall leaves were reason enough to get on the road!  We left on Thursday for the long 8 hour drive, and the hubs really wanted to see Detroit on our way.  We decided to drive through and check it out.

Michigan Central Station, deteriorating

On a Thursday at 11:00 am, Michigan Avenue in downtown Detroit was empty.  I know nothing about Detroit in its old glory, but I imagine this a far cry from that city.

Any Eminem fans?  Heck yes, this is the real "8 Mile Road."  No Eminem sightings either.

As the temperature plummeted, we made our way further north.  And then, finally in the town of Petoskey, we crested the hill and saw this - Lake Michigan.  It was stunning, and so much bigger than I could imagine.  A co-worker of mine is from upper Michigan (her father grew up in Petoskey), and she recommended this little town for our mainstay.  Boy did she nail it!  Petoskey is an incredible town, with an adorable downtown, plenty of top-notch restaurants, and of course, views of the water.

We spent Friday in neighboring Charlevoix, at their annual Apple Festival!  Another gorgeous town, of course.  We bought apples - Sweet Tango and Honey Crisp - Michigan syrup, and cherry salsa. And admired the view.

The lake water isn't salty, so it has no smell.  And it's so clear, you can see all the way to the bottom.

On the way back to Petoskey, we stopped at one of the many parks and got closer to the water.  

The beach is made of rocks, and the waves crash on the shore, dragging the rocks down.  It's a sound that is more calming than ocean waves, and if I miss nothing else about Michigan, I will miss that sound.  We collected the most beautiful rocks we could find, and bottled the lake water.  Later, after a stop-over at Hobby Lobby, I filled mason jars with the rocks and water for me and Britton - our own little personal Michigan beaches.

A geologist at work told me about the Petoskey stones, and the hubs searched the beach for them.  Petoskey stones are 350 million year old fossilized coral, and only found in Petoskey.  

That afternoon we took a drive through the "Tunnel of Trees."  The windy, sometimes one-lane, road runs along Lake Michigan, and is lined with trees and stunning houses.  The sheer amount of trees does create a tunnel, and we were maybe a couple of weeks early for the true fall colors.

The pierhead is the place to watch the world-famous Petoskey sunsets.  Unfortunately for us, the weather didn't cooperate and the sunsets were cloudy every night.

 

 I've got so much more to share - the Craftsman houses that made me swear to build one (preferably next to a lake), and our trip to Mackinac Island.