MICHIGAN TRAVEL TIPS
FROM
THE HOLOGLOBE PRESS
(The 29th Edition)by
Victor Edward Swanson,
Publisherwww.hologlobepress.com
RULES OF USE
The reports and stories contained on this Web page have been put together with information taken from "The Victor Swanson Fabulous Files of Places to See in Michigan and Wisconsin" and with information obtained from operators and staffers of tourist attractions and from press releases, Web sites, and other sources. The reports and stories are provided as a public service by Victor Swanson and The Hologlobe Press. Almost all persons and entities, such as staffers of radio stations, may freely use the materials; neither AAA Michigan nor any employee of AAA Michigan may use, distribute, download, transmit, copy, or duplicate any of the material presented on this page in any way or through any means
. - - - Travel Thoughts for Everyone - - -
Over the summer, I took several trips to the Hammond Bay area of the Lower Peninsula, and during the trips, one of which lasted about three weeks, much of the time was devoted to my doing work on a residence in the Huron Beach portion of Hammond Bay, but I did fun things, too. I moved piles of logs, put a new roof and vinyl siding on a small building, repaired a copper water line (there was a one-inch split in pipe that fed an outside faucet), installed new extension springs for a garage-door type door of another small building, painted, cut down trees, gathered up trash and old things (such as old well pipe and an old pump for a well), and did much more. One day was used to cut up and remove trees that had fallen at a neighbor's residence; the trees had been knocked down by strong rain storm. One day was used to take a trip to the Whitefish Point area (of Chippewa County of the Upper Peninsula) and Tahquamenon Falls (of Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Chippewa County and Luce County of the Upper Peninsula). On five days, I was a volunteer at Forty Mile Point Lighthouse (of the Rogers City area of Presque Isle County); some information about my experiences at the lighthouse can be seen by reading edition number twenty-eight of Michigan Travel Tips (which can be reached now by clicking on this link: Travel #28). I was able to go out in to the water of Lake Huron numerous times, which was great to do when there was big heat wave on in July. From time to time, I looked for rocks along the beach of Huron Beach, hoping to find what people in the area call a "pudding stone," which, as described through a small sign next to a pudding stone on display in the kitchen of Forty Mile Point Lighthouse, is a stone that reminded settlers of "...boiled suet pudding with currents and cherries..." (such a stone is a conglomerate of materials and has, for one, little pieces of red rock in it). And that is not all that I will say about what I did on my summer vacation--or summer vacations--through this edition of Michigan Travel Tips.
In the early 1970s, I was attending Wayne State University (Detroit, Wayne County, the Lower Peinsula), and while there, I spent a lot of time at the student-run radio station, WAYN-AM, and I was spending time working to gain a BA in radio-television-film, and at some point, because of several classes that I was taking, I was able to be do work at the Bonstelle Theatre in Detroit (and for one production I was the lighting captain), and I was able to explore the theatre from top to bottom, which included going to hidden places or places that the general public never sees, and, recently, I was given a tour of a theatre in Rogers City that made me remember my Bonstelle Theatre experiences, and that theatre of Rogers City is the Rogers City Theatre, which is the main subject of this part of this Michigan Travel Tips. My guide through the theatre was the owner, Karl Heidemann, who has owned and operated the theatre since January 1, 2003. Generally speaking, the theatre is used to show theatrical movies or motion pictures throughout the year and is used periodically for live stage productions throughout the year, maybe by high schoolers. The history of the theatre goes back to 1939 when it was built. In 1947, a fire destroyed the building, but it was rebuilt and and reopened in 1948. The only parts of the theatre that most people see are the lobby and theatre proper (or the seating area or the auditorium area), which has 422 seats, one of which is always filled by a guy named "Art." (I will say no more about Art, since my saying more would give away some fun.) Karl Heidemann showed me one of the lighting boards, which is at the back of the theatre and behind seats at the left--if viewed from the lobby. It seems to me I had better call the seating area the "house," and if you were on the stage and were looking out to the seats, you would find the lighting board out to the right at the back of the house. The stage, which was added to the theatre in 2002, is officially called a "raised platform," and there is no curtain; in essence, the stage thrusts out from the bottom of the movie screen, which is a single fairly big screen (much bigger than those mini-screens that you can find at the movie houses with many, many screens). (If the stage were officially called a "stage" and if there were a curtain, Karl Heidemann would have to pay a lot of money for additional insurance on the building and would be subject to other local building-code regulations.) Of course, at the back of the house and up from the house-floor level is the projection room, which I gained access to by walking up a flight of about fifteen stairs; at the top of the stairs is really a "cry room," a room that over the years has been used for parents to take crying babies in to and has the original carpeting (that which was installed in 1939). Within the projection room is equipment that has existed in the theatre since the 1960s, and the projection system includes such items as a Xenex Lamp House and three large "platters," on which films can be set up so that they may be shown. (Here is an aside about the platters. Karl can edit together some promotional announcements on film and a movie into one string (of sorts) of film and have it stored on top of one of the platters, as if it were tape lying flat on a dinner plate. When Karl shows the string of film (that which is made up of short bits and a movie), the film goes through the projection system and ends up on one of the other platters, which acts like a "take-up" platter, likened to a take-up reel used with a tape recorder and recording tape. The third platter can be used to store nothing or another string of film and can be used in the process to, in essence, "rewind" the film that gets shown.) It is Karl who determines what movies are shown at the theatre and usually the movies are not movies that are in the initial few weeks of release, and, yes, it is Karl (once a regularly practicing attorney) who usually starts the show. In addition to owning and running the theatre, Karl owns and from time to time works in the ice-cream store that is attached to the theatre--"The Super-Scoop." I happened to see a movie at the theatre on another day, and I discovered the theatre was clean, especially the men's bathroom, and I can indeed recommend the theatre as a place to see a movie. The Rogers City Theatre is located at 253 North Third Street in downtown Rogers City (North Third Street is also known as "Business US-23").
If you are a new reader of Michigan Travel Tips or if you are not, you may be unaware you will find I put four PSAs (or public service announcements) about places to see in Michigan or about driving safely in Michigan for broadcasters to use--for free--in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips (the previous twenty-eight editions have four PSAs), and the four PSAs follow the general-feature section of this edition, which you are reading now. You need not read the PSAs if you are not a broadcaster, but I encourage to read the PSAs, since sometimes a PSA will not be associated with anything that has been talked about in the general-feature section. At this point in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips, I am going to pass along a bit of information about the "Hammond Bay Biological Station," which is along US-23 and Lake Huron and located in what was once a real lifesaving station in the Hammond Bay area, and in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips, you will find no PSA about it, and I am not going to feature it in any forthcoming PSA, because it is a place to see in Michigan, but it is a place to see that should not get too much publicity, since it is run by a small staff. The Hammond Bay Biological Station is a place where people can learn some information about sea lamprey eels and what is being done to keep the population of sea lamprey eels as low as possible in the Great Lakes. Generally speaking, a person can visit the Hammond Bay Biological Station on weekdays between May and mid-October at some time between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. If you really want to learn about the Hammond Bay Biological Station, you may go see it, but understand I am only promoting it as a place to see by a person who really, really wants to see it and I am not promoting it as a place for the general public, as if it were a tourist attraction, especially a tourist attraction that can handle big crowds. If you go to the Hammond Bay Biological Station, one of the staffers will talk to you a while about the research being done at the station and how rivers are treated to retard the development of eels and will show you examples of the different life stages of eels and even show you live eels. Your visit will be short, less than a half-hour long, since tours begin on the hour and half-hour (if any visitors happen to be at the place to take a tour). By the way, generally speaking, the regular staff at the place is made up of three technicians, two professional biologists, and an administrator, and then there can be a few others there, such as a few university students. To get to the Hammond Bay Biological Station, you use US-23 to get to the access road that is listed on a sign as "Hammond Bay Public Access," which is about thirteen miles north of Rogers City.
Let me present a little bit of news here. This summer I discovered a new park now exists in the Copper Harbor area of the Upper Peninsula, and, of course, I have put information about the park--"Hunter's Point Park"--into my files of places to see in the state. Officially, on Saturday, August 12, 2006, people in the Copper Harbor area were able to attend the dedication for Hunter's Point Park, which can be described as being on a thin strip of land that is like a tiny peninsula, and the dedication took place at Copper Harbor, which is really south of the park, which can be reached through, for instance, a hiking trail that begins at the Copper Harbor Marina. If you get a map of the Copper Harbor area, you can find the park by looking for the downtown area of Copper Harbor first and then looking for a thin peninsula that is across the water from the west-side portion of Copper Harbor (you probably will not have a map with the park listed, of course, since the park is new, and you should look for the peninsula on the left not the peninsula on the right). The Web site associated with the park is www.hunters-point.org.
Let me make an aside now. In the twenty-seventh edition of Michigan Travel Tips, I talked about some fairs that take place in Michigan, and on the weekend of Friday, September 8, 2006, through Sunday, September 10, 2006, Posen (Presque Isle County of the Lower Peninsula) held an annual "Potato Festival," and on Friday evening (September 8), I happened to see the team of eight Budweiser Clydesdales get set up to pull a wagon down the main street (M-65) in Posen and then pull the wagon down that main street, which was a trip designed to deliver cases of Budweiser beer to bars in the town. I am not promoting Budweiser beer--I simply note that, at one of the festivals in Michigan this summer, I saw and was within thirty feet of the horses that have become famous in television commercials (a topic of which might be better used in an edition of T.H.A.T. (the catalog to the editions of T.H.A.T. can be reached by hitting this link: T.H.A.T.).
Here is more news, which is news that increases the number of things to see in my files by one--since I have only recently added the news about the thing to my files. Many people visit the Copper Harbor area of the Upper Peninsula and are probably unaware a little town called Kearsarge, which is in Houghton County, has a stone monument of sorts that depicts in rough form one of the versions of the U.S. ships that have had the name "Kearsarge--particularly, the stone structure depicts the USS Kearsarge of from 1900 to 1930. The ship that is depicted was used, for one, as a training vessel for engineers during World War I, and the stone ship was put together at Kearsarge in 1933-1934, and it is as long as at least several cars or SUVs parked in a row and has guns mounted on it. In my files, this something to see is simply listed as the "USS Kearsarge (a stone monument)." (Incidentally, I learned recently--within the last month--that a woman I know has ties to the stone monument--her father helped build the stone ship, and her name is Isabella Ferguson, and her father was Gabrial Silva.)
This summer, I have learned about a few different types of wildflowers that exist in Michigan, especially in the northeastern region of the Lower Peninsula, and my learning about the few different wildflowers was made possible through the urging of a friend to see the wildflowers (I have not had time to learn much about wildflowers over the years and have not had an interest in trying to identify wildflowers that can be found in the woods or forests of Michigan). Early in the summer, I was introduced to the "lady slipper" while it was in bloom; I was shown a number of pink lady slippers and a number of yellow lady slippers, both types of which have a bloom that is about an inch long and looks like a baby booty (or a wooden shoe associated with the Dutch or a "klompen," which a person can see at Holland (Ottawa County and Allegan County of the Lower Peninsula), which is a city in Michigan that has a Dutch flavor or theme). In early August, I was introduced to "Indian pipes"; these plants stand about four-inches tall, and each that I saw was made up of a single stem and a bell-like end or flower and was translucent white, and the bell-like end was usually turned down toward the ground. In mid-August, I was shown what a "Giant bird's nest" looks like; one that I saw was redish-brown, had a single stem that was about a foot tall, and had a number of buds going up the stem (each bud or pod-like thing was about the size of a pea (from a pea pod).
Another new thing that I have added to my files recently is the "Crow's Nest" at Woodward Avenue and Nine Mile Road in Ferndale (in Oakland County). I am in the process of moving what is "The Hologlobe Press" from Dearborn (Wayne County of the Lower Peninsula) to Ferndale (Oakland County of the Lower Peninsula), and on a day or so around the day that I opened up the new postal-box address for The Hologlobe Press in Ferndale in mid-August, the city of Ferndale dedicated as a new art object or statue or whatever you wish to call it at Woodward Avenue and Nine Mile Road, and that thing is the "Crow's Nest." In the much of the 1920s, police officers directed traffic at Woodward Avenue and Nine Mile in Ferndale from a platform at the intersection--a covered platform thought of as a "crow's nest." The new Crow's Nest is a salute to the old Crow's Nest, and if you see it, you will see that within the Crow's Nest is a man (or what appears to be a man); generally speaking, the Crow's Nest was made by Shan Sutherland, and the man was made by Shan Sutherland's mother, Anne Sutherland. Officially, the Crow's Nest was dedicated on August 11, 2006, and the new address for The Hologlobe Press is: The Hologlobe Press, Postal Box 20551, Ferndale, Michigan 48220-0551. (The old address in Dearborn for The Hologlobe Press, which has been active since 1991, is being kept active through at least July 2007.)
Your travel tips about Michigan in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips are:
"The Crow's Nest," Ferndale, Oakland County, the Lower Peninsula.
The Hammond Bay Biological Station, Hammond Bay, Presque Isle County, the Lower Peninsula.
Hunter's Point Park, near Copper Harbor, Keweenaw County, the Upper Peninsula.
The Rogers City Theatre, Rogers City, Presque Isle County, the Lower Peninsula.
USS Kearsarge (a stone monument), Kearsarge, Houghton County, the Upper Peninsula.
- - - Public Service Copy for Broadcasters (four pieces) - - -
Number One:
The fall color season is here in Michigan again. In late September
and early October, most of the best places to find good color in
the trees in Michigan are in the Upper Peninsula, especially in the
Keweenaw Peninsula, where you can find Copper Harbor. People
who go to the Copper Harbor area this year will find there is a new
park to visit near Copper Harbor, and that park is a township park
called Hunter's Point Park, which is associated with Grant Township.
The township had a dedication ceremony for the park on August
12. Hunter's Point Park, which is on land that can be called a tiny
peninsula, is north of and across a bit of water from downtown
Copper Harbor, and, for one, the park can be reached by taking
a hiking trail from the marina of Copper Harbor. If you want to
see good color in trees in late September or early October, see
the trees at Hunter's Point Park, and enjoy your safe traveling
buckled up.
###
Number Two:
Let me see. If you go vacationing in Michigan, you might go
to a county park, a beach, an amusement park, a water park, a
ski lodge, or a famous tourist attraction, and if you go to Rogers
City in particular, you might do a bunch of things during the day
and then wonder what to do in the evening. The publisher of The
Hologlobe Press--Victor Swanson--says that, in the evening, you
might think about seeing a movie at the Rogers City Theatre,
which is an example of a good small-town movie theatre in
Michigan--a theatre with one big screen, a theatre that is clean,
a theatre that is very likely to have a well-behaved audience.
Every evening, a movie is shown, chosen by the owner Karl
Heidemann, who also runs the ice-cream shop next door. By the
way, the Rogers City Theatre is also used for live shows throughout
the year. You will have no trouble finding the Rogers City
Theatre--it is downtown along North Third Street or Business
US-23.
###
Number Three:
When you travel in Michigan, you are very likely to see vehicles
pulling trailers or other vehicles, and, by the way, the trailers might
be trailers carrying wood or something else or trailers that are
campers. People who pull trailers or vehicles on roads in Michigan
are required to obey and meet certain traffic laws about pulling
trailers or vehicles. Of course, trailers must be licensed. A person
who wants to pull a trailer or vehicle may only pull one trailer or
vehicle at a time. When a person pulls a vehicle, the tow bar or
other connecting device may not be more than fifteen feet in length.
"Safety chains" or like devices must be used, and one chain or like
device must be attached to "each side of the coupling and at the
extreme outer edge of the vehicle or trailer." In addition, a person
who pulls a trailer or vehicle must abide by the speed limits. Those
are some of the rules to help you enjoy safe traveling in Michigan.
###
Number Four:
Four Great Lakes touch Michigan, and within Michigan are
thousands of inland lakes, and on any given day, someone in
Michigan is very likely to walk along a beach and hope to find
something great, such as a good piece of drift wood or a rock
of some type. To find a special rock, a person cannot use a metal
detector, even if that rock is a "pudding stone." A "pudding stone"
is a mixture of rocky materials, such as quartz, and, for one, it is
often identified through red globules embedded within it. It is
easy to misidentify a rock with a conglomerate of things as
"pudding stone." For example, a novice rock hunter might find
a chunk of worn-down concrete and think it is a "pudding stone,"
or a novice might find a stone with splotches of brown
rock--which look red when wet--and think it is a pudding stone.
In Michigan, it is easy to find museums, parks, and various types
of tourist attractions, but it is not so easy to find a "pudding
stone."
###
- - - Contact Information - - -
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 20551
Ferndale, Michigan 48220-0551
The United States of Americacopyright c. 2006
File date: 10 September 2006To see the next edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #30.
To see the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #28.
To see the catalog page for Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel.
To go to the main page of The Hologlobe Press,
click on: www.hologlobepress.com.
###