Meandering in Michigan

Paula and I spent eight days in Michigan Aug. 4-12. We put 1,641.6 miles on my van.

We stopped in Detroit for a day and visited the Motown Museum, also known as Hitsville U.S.A., where founder Berry Gordy Jr. created his empire, using a garage converted into a recording studio. Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and others endured the cramped quarters to record No. 1 songs.

We visited Bob Kasper, my friend since we were in first grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Monongah, West Virginia (population 939). Bob has a summer home on Grand Lake, which is two miles from Lake Huron and 76 miles southeast of Mackinac Island.

Bob and I played twice at Rogers City Golf Club. The second time, Bob used a homemade utility club that subs for a 5-iron on a 142-yard drive for his first hole-in-one ever. It was my first time to watch a ball go from tee to cup in one stroke. We celebrated.

We attended two Polish festivals, in Rogers City and in Boyne Falls. It was buttonbox Heaven. The food brought back memories of my childhood and my Polish grandmother’s cooking. The Rogers City adventure included watching Ottawa and Chippewa do tribal dances.

The three of us took a ferry on Lake Huron to Mackinac Island, where autos are prohibited. You either walk, pedal a bike or use a horse. The 1887 Grand Hotel really is grand. We strolled around Mackinac Fort and watched reenactors play soldier.

After we left Bob, we drove the 20-mile “Tunnel of Trees” from Cross Village to Harbor Springs. The curves-filled road, which has no center line, is barely wide enough for cars to pass each other while going in opposite directions. Overhead, the trees form a solid canopy that blocks your view of sky and countryside beyond the trees.

We used Traverse City as a base while we drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore and climbed a dune that was 1,000 feet plus above sea level. The sandy reward was a view of Glen Lake.

We drove through the grounds of Interlochen’s School of the Arts, where Paula’s nephew once studied music.

It was my 55th trip since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal.

Click on the headline to see photos of our trip.