Miscellaneous musings on Michigan

We've left Michigan behind, but I have to say it was quite a revelation. I've never spent any time in Michigan but I can certainly see myself going back again. We spent over a month slowly working our way down the western coast of Michigan, both because we were interested to see it and because the rivers south of Lake Michigan were flooded and, therefore, not open to recreational traffic.

Michigan has beautiful, mostly uncrowded beaches. As a Southern California native and a frequent South Florida visitor, I am used to beaches where there is barely enough room to put down a beach towel without invading you neighbor's personal space. The Michigan beaches have beautiful, soft sand and the coastal communities work to keep them clean and attractive. I watched city employees groom the sand on the beaches in the early morning in more than one town. What does "grooming the sand" mean you ask? They have special little tractors specifically built for sand management that churn through the top couple in inches, remove any large rocks, trash, etc., and smooth out the top of the sand.

Every beach has clean restrooms, good parking and, usually, a concessionaire that rents umbrellas, beach chairs, water toys, and sells ice cream. Small picnic pavilions with grills are dotted along the beaches.  Beach volleyball courts are common. Many beaches also have campgrounds associated with them for RVs. They have special areas marked off for folks who want to bring their pets (usually but not always dogs) to the beach. Instead of a big sign with a whole set of don't instructions, the governments in Michigan have worked to find ways to compatibly accommodate all of the various interests of the folks who use their beaches.

Each little town along the water has its own character. There are certainly chain tourist shops that you see in every town, but there are also many local, one shop operations in each town. Everyone knows that you have to make the bulk of the year's money during the three months between Memorial Day and Labor Day so you don't get any of the tourist resentment you sometimes experience in resort areas with longer seasons. I don't think we met a single grumpy, unhappy person during the entire month we spent in Michigan.

Below are some of the Michigan pictures that didn't make it into the earlier blog posts. This is the only other Down Time boat we've ever run into. It was a fishing charter boat in Grand Haven. While we were there the fishermen were catching big salmon. Salmon is not native to Lake Michigan. According to our friend Ted Schwartz (an Endeavor Trawlercat 36 owner from Chicago), the salmon was introduced in the 1960s to address a problem with alewifes, an invasive species of fish that killed off many of the native Great Lakes fish in Lake Michigan.

This was the dockmaster's John Deere Gator in St. Joe. We enjoyed the fact that it was tricked out with a life ring, just in case someone fell in.

Marina Gator

Finally, this is Jim posing with a paper-mache menagerie we found walking to breakfast in Grand Haven. We took a town trolley tour while we were there, but no one could explain what the critters were used for. Parade float decorations maybe?

We're done with Michigan and on to Illinois, but if you are looking for a beachy, small towns getaway, give Michigan a thought, especially if you have an RV.