MICHIGAN TRAVEL TIPS
FROM
THE HOLOGLOBE PRESS
(The 36th 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 - - -
While traveling in Michigan, you could end up--at sometime--talking with the members of a family from Korea, a gal from England, a couple from Australia, et cetera, all of whom are vacationing in Michigan for a short time, and, certainly, while traveling in Michigan, you will see, meet, and talk with people who live in Michigan, though, probably, you will have time to talk with only a few of them really. Several weeks ago, I ended up in a locksmith shop at Cheboygan (in Cheboygan County of the Lower Peninsula) called Merle's Lock & Trophy Shop, and I ended up talking for a short while Cathy Berden about a variety of subjects (Cathy Berden is married to Steve Berden, and it was last year that Steve and Cathy Berden and their children were able to release a new board game for children to the marketplace that the four Berdens created called "Cross Over," and to learn more about Cross Over, you should see the Web site identified as www.crossovergame.com). One subject that Cathy Berden and I talked about was "geocaching," which I had been unfamiliar with when we met, and she mentioned she and her family have been involved in geocaching for several years. Since I Iearned from Cathy that geocaching is related to traveling, I knew--after leaving the locksmith shop--I had to do research about geocaching, and what you have before you is an edition of T.H.A.T. that has geocaching as the underlying theme or the linking element.
Here, I explain what geocaching is, using information that I got from Cathy, a Web site known as "www.geocaching.com," and other sources. I can say that, in essence, geocaching combines traveling to places, hunting for treasure boxes, giving gifts to treasures boxes for others to find, and using "global positioning satellite" equipment and satellites to help find such treasure boxes, and one person can be involved in geocaching or a couple can be involved in geocaching or a family can be involved in geocaching or any group. Before I talk about "www.geocaching.com," I say that, when a person gets involved in geocaching, the person learns the coordinates of a "geocaching" treasure box, which could be anywhere in the world or in the United States of America--particularly, as far as I care for now, Michigan--and goes to the coordinates to find a treasure box related to the coordinates, examines the things in the treasure box and chooses one thing within the box to take, makes an offering to the treasure box (gives something in return for taking something), adds information to the logbook contained with the treasure box, and leaves the treasure box as it was found. Also before talking about "www.geoaching.com," I say that some people get involved in placing a treasure box somewhere (and caring for it) and some people do not get involved in placing a treasure box somewhere, and the things that are in a treasure box can be anything from pins or buttons (such as a "smiley" button or a button with a slogan) to whatever, and if a person gets involved in placing a treasure box at a place, the person gets permission to place the box at the place (if permission should be obtained). The Web site "www.geocaching.com" is operated by an entity known as Groundspeak (which was created in late 2000 and is based in Seattle, Washington), and the Web site gives information about "geocaching," such as how people can get involved in "geocaching"--either hunting for geocaching treasure boxes (or, maybe, geocaching treasure chests) or placing geocaching treasure boxes somewhere for other people to find; using information from the Web site, I will note that "geocaching" was made possible when, on May 2, 2000, a new set of twenty-four global positioning satellites (or GPSs) were made useable, and geocaching really got started when a man named Dave Ulmer created his "Great American GPS Stash Hunt" (an Internet-associated game) and hid his first GPS treasure near Beaver Creek, Oregon (Beaver Creek is near Portland).
If a person were to decide to hide a treasure box at or near a house in Michigan--particularly an historic house--the person would have a lot of choices at which or near which to place a treasure box, from the Harsha House Museum at Charlevoix (in Charlevoix County of the Lower Peninsula) to the Settlers House at Holland (in Ottawa County of the Lower Peninsula), and the range would include, of course, the Quimby House. The Quimby House is in Arcadia (of Manistee County of the Lower Peninsula), and, officially, it is located along Erdman Road between Steffans Road and Lumley Road. If a geocaching treasure chest were to exist at or near the Quimby House or, really, on or near the property related to the Quimby House, the person who placed the treasure chest at or near the Quimby House would have had to get permission to place the treasure chest where it would be from someone, such as the group who watches over the Arcadia Area Historical Museum, which is located at 3340 Lake Street (near Third Street) in Arcadia. Whether or not you go to Arcadia looking for a geocaching treasure chest, you can expect the regular visiting hours for the Arcadia Area Historical Museum to be on only some days of the summer tourist season--at least Saturdays and Sundays, of course--and you can expect you can set up special times to see each place. When you are at the Arcadia Area Historical Museum ask about the Quimby House.
Since I have no idea whether or not, there is a geocaching treasure chest at Historic Charlton Park Village, Museum, and Recreation Area, which is at Hastings (of Barry County of the Lower Peninsula), I cannot say that you should go, there, to search for a geocaching treasure chest, and if there were a treasure chest, there, I would certainly not give way information to you that the place is the site of a geocaching treasure chest. If Historic Charlton Park Village, Museum, and Recreation Area were to end up for you as a potential location of a geocaching treasure chest, based on the information you were getting from your GPS equipment, you should learn Historic Charlton Park Village, Museum, and Recreation Area is a well-known tourist attraction in Michigan. Generally speaking, the tourist attraction is a turn-of-the-twentieth-century rural village, having, for instance, an old blacksmith shop, a hardware store, and a town hall. In addition, at this place you will find picnic tables and hiking trails. As a rule, Historic Charlton Park Village, Museum, and Recreation Area is open each day during the summer tourist season, and to find the entrance to the place, you have to go to 2545 South Charlton Park Road.
If I were to get involved in searching for geocaching treasure chests, I would hope the people who place such treasure chests to find choose places that are not the regular places that everyone knows about--Traverse City and Frankenmuth, for example--and choose places that might take me to unexpected places, such as Bad Axe. Let me give you an idea where Bad Axe is. Look at your right palm--that is a simple representation of Michigan (the Lower Peninsula of Michigan). Look at the upper part of the Thumb--the part that has the nail. In that general part of the Thumb is sort of like where in the real Michigan you will find Bad Axe. If you were to have a magnifying glass to look at your Thumb, I might be able to give you a pretty good look at where the Bad Axe Museum of Local History is located. Of course, the museum is in Bad Axe, which is in Huron County. Some of the materials that this museum has are things from World War I and items associated with a man who was once the governor of Michigan and had lived in the general Bad Axe area--Governor Albert E. Sleeper (who was the governor of Michigan from 1917 to 1921 and whose name is part of the title of a state park in Michigan, which is Albert E. Sleeper State Park, which is located at Caseville, which is in Huron County). To find the Bad Axe Museum of Local History, you will have to go to 103 South Heisterman Street. To find a geocaching treasure chest at or near the Bad Axe Museum of Local History, if such a treasure chest should exist there, you will have to do some hunting. Look near a bush or something.
What might happen if a person goes looking for a geocaching treasure chest is the person could end at a place that could be defined as a nondescript place, such as a spot on a farmer's field, but the place could be near something that the person could then visit. For example, maybe someone has hidden a geocaching treasure chest near Marquette (of Marquette County of the Upper Peninsula), and that place could be a place that would be described as a non-tourist attraction place. However, near that non-tourist attraction place would be Presque Isle Park, which is a park in Marquette County. After a person finds or does not find the geocaching treasure chest, the person could go to Presque Isle Park, which was established in 1896, and have lunch. At the time the person is at Presque Isle Park, there might be a concert taking place in the band shell. Besides a band shell, Presque Isle Park has a pool, hiking trails, and more things. Incidentally, if there is a concert of some type going on, it will mostly likely take place on a Sunday during the summer tourist season, and, by the way, the pool is called Shiras Pool. Since the park has 328 acres, it could be possible a geocaching treasure chest exists at the park.
My hope is, if I were going to search for a geocaching treasure chest in the Upper Peninsula that I would be able to search for more than one geocaching treasure chest in the Upper Peninsula on a single day, but my getting to several geocaching treasure chests in one day could be difficult if there is a lot of distance between any one and another. For example, there might be a geocaching treasure near the Mackinac Bay Scenic Lookout, which is along M-134 in the Les Cheneaux Islands area of the Upper Peninsula, which is, in essence, in the far east of the region. In the far west of the Upper Peninsula is the Porcupine Mountains, and if there is a geocaching treasure chest at or near Presque Isle Falls, which is one place within the Porcupine Mountains, I would have to be at one of the geocaching treasure chests early in the morning so that I would have enough time to drive across the Upper Peninsula to get to the other. To add to the problem, there could be a geocaching treasure chest near the Au Train Song Bird Trail, which is near a place called Au Train and which is part the Hiawatha National Forest. Au Train is, in essence, in the middle of the Upper Peninsula and near Lake Superior. To find the three geocaching treasure chests, I would have very little time to stop in at other places with things to see along the drive--unless I got an early start.
I know one place at which I cannot place a geocaching treasure chest, if I wanted to put a geocaching treasure chest somewhere. In the nineteenth edition of Michigan Travel Tips (published on October 10, 2005), I talked about sculptures put together by Moran Iron Works Inc. (of Onaway in Presque Isle County of the Lower Peninsula), and I reported that a statue of an eagle was on display at the courthouse in Onaway. A few weeks ago, the sculpture was removed (when I went through Onaway about two weeks ago, it was gone), and I have information that hints it was removed for repair (vandals had done some damage to it, as I had noticed late last year when I had gotten up close to it and had had the urge to repair it, using my automobile dinging hammer and dolly). However, the sculpture of Atlas holding up the World of Steel, which was given a premiere at the Fourth of July Parade at Onaway last year, is still on display in Onaway, but where that sculpture is located is a poor location for a geocaching treasure box. Hiding a treasure chest near the eagle when it was at the Onaway Courthouse would have been a good idea.
It seems very likely to me I will never get around to placing a treasure chest at some location in Michigan, being busy with other matters and thoughts. If I were to place a treasure chest somewhere, I might use a waterproof storage box (something like those Tupperware-like containers in which you might keep leftovers or jellybeans or cookies), and on the cover of the treasure box might be the statement--"Enjoy your safe traveling in Michigan." If I were to place a treasure chest somewhere, within the treasure box--at the start--I might place several small rubber balls, several inexpensive miniature dolls, several hex wrenches (maybe some of the many that I have found while bicycling or walking in the Dearborn area), a variety of little charms that a gal might like, a logbook, a couple pens and pencils, and cards that have the address to the catalog page for Michigan Travel Tips on the Internet (which would give people more suggestions about places to see in Michigan).
Whether or not you come to Michigan on a geocaching trip, you should follow the rules of safe traveling, and enjoy your time in Michigan.
Your travel tips of Michigan in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips are:
Arcadia Area Historical Museum, Arcadia, Manistee County, the Lower Peninsula.
Au Train Song Bird Trail, near Au Train, Alger County, the Upper Peninsula.
Bad Axe Museum of Local History, Bad Axe, Huron County, the Lower Peninsula.
Charlton Park Village, Museum, and Recreation Area, Hastings, Barry County, the Lower Peninsula.
Mackinac Bay Scenic Lookout, the Les Cheneaux Islands area, the Upper Peninsula.
Presque Isle Falls, Gogebic County, the Porcupine Mountains, the Upper Peninsula.
Presque Isle Park, Marquette, Marquette County, the Upper Peninsula.
The Quimby House, Arcadia, Manistee County, the Lower Peninsula.
- - - Public Service Copy for Broadcasters (four pieces) - - -
Number One:
While traveling in Michigan this summer tourist season, you will
probably at sometime get the thought in your mind that it is time to stop
for lunch, and if you are in the Marquette area of the Upper Peninsula
when the thought occurs to you, you might choose to have lunch at a
park. The park could be Presque Isle Park, and you could buy lunch
from the store at the park or you could pick up bread and other stuff
from a store near the park. Besides being a the park to eat, you could
walk along the hiking trails or walk along the bog walk, which was
originally completed in 1988. If you go to the park, such as on a Sunday,
you might be delayed from leaving the park as you thought you might
because you become interested in a concert at the band shell. Before
you leave the park, you should throw away any trash you end up with
from lunch, and after you leave the park, be alert for other drivers'
making bad decisions, and enjoy your safe traveling.
###
Number Two:
Often, people need a reason to go some place in particular, and
the reason might be that they want to get away from where they are
for a while or they might want to see something that they have only
heard about and never seen. In the upper part of what can be called
the "Thumb area" of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is Huron County,
and in Huron County is a place called Bad Axe. One reason to go to
the Bad Axe area in the summer tourist season is to see the Sanilac
Petroglyphs, which have really old rock drawings. Another reason to
go to Bad Axe is to see the Bad Axe Museum of Local History, which
has, for instance, items related to former Michigan Governor Albert
Sleeper and materials related to the Civil War. Also in the Bad Axe
area is the Pioneer Log Cabin Village. Now that you have a number
of reasons to go to Bad Axe, start making plans for a real trip. And
plan to drive safely, and enjoy your traveling in Michigan.
###
Number Three:
One way in which a family could take a vacation in Michigan is
to go camping at a state park, and then during some of the days,
the family take day trips to nearby museums and other tourist attractions.
If a person were to take the family to a camping area in the general
Manistee area of the Lower Peninsula, the person might go to
Orchard Beach State Park, which is about two miles north of Manistee
along M-110. This state park has 175 campsites. On a day trip, the
person could plan to take the family to Arcadia, which is north of
Manistee along M-22. At Arcadia, one of the things to see is the
Arcadia Area Historical Museum, which is along Lake Street near
Street. Of course, the person should see to it that the Arcadia Area
Historical Museum is open on the day of the day trip. Then, on the
day of the trip, the person should make sure everyone is buckled up
so that everyone can enjoy safe traveling in Michigan.
###
Number Four:
In June, July, and August, the days are warm, and the days are long,
or on each day, it is a long time between sunrise and sunset, and given
those conditions, a person can set up a vacation trip in the Upper
Peninsula that has a theme devoted to sunrise and sunset. Really, a
trip could involve being in the far east of the Upper Peninsula in the
morning of a day, and a place to be could be Mackinac Bay Scenic
Lookout, which is along M-134 in the Les Cheneaux Islands area.
The time to be, there, is at sunrise. Then, the trip would involve
heading west, seeing what can be seen, and making it to the far west
of the Upper Peninsula around sunset. The real goal could be to get
to Presque Isle Falls a little before sunset. Presque Isle Falls is one
of the falls in the Porcupine Mountains. In the end, it is all a matter
of timing and--maybe luck. Lucky is having a clear sky all day. On
such as day, a traveler should drive the speed limits and enjoy safe
traveling.
###
- - - Contact Information - - -
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 20551
Ferndale, Michigan 48220-0551
The United States of Americacopyright c. 2007
File date: 10 April 2007To see the next edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #37.
To see the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #35.
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.
###