MICHIGAN TRAVEL TIPS
FROM
THE HOLOGLOBE PRESS
(The 52nd 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 - - -
At this moment, the summer tourism season is about half gone, and, up to this point, I have noticed a few things about the summer torurism season. In the Hammond Bay area of Lake Huron, which can be considered part of the northeast quarter of the lower peninsula of Michigan, I have noticed more sailboats out on the water than I had for roughly the first half of the 2007 summer tourism season and the first half of the 2006 summer tourism season. Really, my facts come from what has been happening mostly in the Huron Beach area of Hammond Bay. I have noticed there have been fewer people using the beach this year over last year and the year before. I guess I can say that sailboat traffic is up and beach traffic is down, and I have no idea why that is the case, but I note it here. (Remember: In the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips, I noted that the vehicle traffic is down at the world-famous Mackinac Bridge over that of last year.) And through informal surveys of tourism operators, I can say that fewer people seem to be making vacation trips than did last year and that some people are missing out on seeing things around the state, such as the things that are listed in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips.
Because I was involved with other matters over the last two months or so, I am finally getting the chance to list some new things to see in Michigan in my files--things that did not exist last summer. Since the start of the summer tourist season, Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park, which is at Muskegon (of Muskegon County in the Lower Peninsula), has a new ride. The ride is called the "Thunderhawk," and it is a "suspended looping roller coaster," and one of the drops of the roller coaster is 86-feet. I have come across a new tourist attraction at Mackinaw City (of Cheboygan County in the Lower Peninsula); I first discovered it by passing by it while using US-23. The tourist attraction is called the "Jack Pine Lumberjack Shows," and it opened for business on June 14, 2008, and the season ends on Labor Day. The Jack Pine Lumberjack Shows, which involve lumberjack events, such as pole climbing for speed, are given at 7:00 p.m. on a Monday-through-Saturday basis and at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday. The attraction is associated with The Original Mackinaw Trolley Company, which is open for business this tourist season till mid-October. In essence, the trolley company offers tours of the St. Ignace/Mackinaw City/Mackinac Bridge area (which can be called the Straits of Mackinac area).
The other day, I decided to skim through my electronic files containing information about places to see in Michigan, and I came across the Alberta Village Museum. Without reading any of the text related to the place, the name of the place made me think about "hybrids" or the "hybrid," which is a fairly new category of car or like vehicle. (Editorial comment: I wonder if all the big expensive batteries that will have to be used and replaced every so many years in "hybrids" or electric cars will be a problem for the used-car marketplace--today, a used car can be gotten fairly inexpensively and run inexpensively for years (especially if the owner does almost all the necessary maintenance or preventive maintenance), allowing families to have second cars or third cars, but if a used car of the near future will have to have new batteries--costing many thousands of dollars--people may not be able to buy the car to have a second car or a third car or may not see the car as worthwhile to buy when it becomes available in the used-car marketplace.) Before "hybrid" became a regularly used term for a category of car and such, wood was used in cars. The Alberta Village Museum, which is also known--at least informally--as the "Ford Forestry Center," is where Henry Ford set up a saw mill that could provide wood for vehicles made by Ford Motor Company in, for instance, the late 1930s. Alberta is located in Baraga County of the Upper Peninsula, and the museum is open through the color season of the Alberta area, which runs through about mid-October, and that means there is still time to see it this year. In fact, the Alberta Village Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on a Tuesday-through-Saturday basis.
Here I am going to talk about a place that I have not thought about in quite a while, and that could be true for you, too. Hanover is a place near Jackson, and both Jackson and Hanover are in Jackson County of the Lower Peninsula. At Hanover is a museum called the Lee Conklin Antique Organ and History Museum, and the featured items of the museum are reed organs and melodeons, and, today, a little over one-thousand items make up the collection of this museum, the formation of which can be traced back to a man named Lee Conklin, who collected musical instruments--in 1977, he donated 73 instruments to the local historical society that became the basis of the museum. By the way, one of the instruments of the collection is an organ--called a "circuit rider organ"--that was used by a traveling minister. The Lee Conklin Antique Organ and History Museum is open through the color season for regular tours, but a person should contact the museum ahead of time to see what the open hours are. The museum is located along Hanover Road--a little west of Moscow Road.
By the way, if you go to see the Alberta Village Museum, you might pass through Marquette County to get there, and if you do, you could think about seeing the Open Pit Iron Mine that is in the Republic area (of Marquette County).
Since it seems fewer people are traveling in Michigan this year than were traveling last year, people could be staying home and watching more television, such as television travel shows, maybe the Michigan-produced Michigan Magazine, which is shown on PBS-affiliated television stations in Michigan and is related to the museum called the Michigan Magazine Museum, which is located in the Comins area (of Oscoda County in the Lower Peninsula and along M-33 between Comins and Fairview). Recently, you may have seen a lot of promotional announcements on television about the transition from the analog television age to the digital television age, which takes place for full-power television stations at the end on February 17, 2009. I take this time to say that you should see several on my editions of T.H.A.T., which I have put on the Internet and have information about digital-to-analog converter boxes, and, in fact, you should see at least T.H.A.T. #50 (which can be found through this link: T.H.A.T. #50), T.H.A.T #51 (which can be found through this link: T.H.A.T. #51), and T.H.A.T. #52 (which can be found through this link: T.H.A.T. #52).
I talked about things that are new in Michigan in the beginning of this edition of Michigan Travel Tips, and I end with another new thing, though on this date--August 10, 2008--the place has not had a "Grand Opening" yet. I report that I have added the "Boardman Nature Center" to my files. The place is listed as being at Traverse City, and, for one, it has about six miles of hiking trails. And I note that the Grand Opening was set for Saturday, August 16, 2008, and Sunday, August 17, 2008, and it was set to be open on those dates from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The location of the nature center is near the Sabin Pond Trailhead, which is near Cass Road.
Your travel tips of Michigan in this edition of Michigan Travel Tips are:
The Alberta Village Museum, Alberta, Baraga County, the Upper Peninsula.
Boardman Nature Center, Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, the Lower Peninsula.
The Jack Pine Lumberjack Shows, Mackinaw City, Cheboygan County, the Lower Peninsula.
The Lee Conklin Antique Organ and History Museum, Hanover, Jackson County, the Lower Peninsula.
The Michigan Magazine Museum, Comins, Oscoda County, the Lower Peninsula.
Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park, Muskegon, Muskegon County, the Lower Peninsula.
Open Pit Iron Mine, Republic, Marquette County, the Upper Peninsula.
The Original Mackinaw Trolley Company, the Straits of Mackinac area, the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula.
- - - Public Service Copy for Broadcasters (four pieces) - - -
Number One:
Talking about "hybrids" is all the rage these days it seems.
Maybe, you are thinking about spending a lot of money on a "hybrid"
soon, hoping to save the environment and trees. Well, long before
anybody began to attach the term "hybrid" to a car or like vehicle,
trees were used to make cars and such. In the Upper Peninsula,
there is a museum at Alberta, and the museum is called the Alberta
Village Museum, which is made up of about a dozen buildings, one of
which is a sawmill. This place was used years ago, such as in the late
1930s, by Henry Ford to provide wood for cars and such made by
Ford Motor Company, and, today, the place is informally thought of
as the "Ford Forestry Center" and is a highlight of Baraga County.
This year, the museum is open through the color season of the Alberta
area, which ends in early October or so. Alberta is along US-41, and
when you travel that route, watch out deer and enjoy your safe traveling
in Michigan.
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Number Two:
Driving in the city can be different from driving the country--or in a
rural area. Consider this thought from Victor Swanson, the publisher at
The Hologlobe Press, which publishes Internet-only publications about
places in see in Michigan every month. If you are in a rural area and are
about to get on to a two-lane main road, like a portion of US-23 or US-2,
you have to be sure the road is clear of traffic before you get on. Since
motorists on such a main road can often be traveling at more than 55 miles
an hour, a traveler heading out on to the road must be sure other motorists
using the road are far down the way before pulling out, and the traveler has
to look carefully to make sure there is no possibility that a vehicle that can
be see down the way is followed closely by another, which might try to
pass, especially if the traveler is going to head in their direction. When you
travel in rural areas, be patient and alert and enjoy your safe traveling.
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Number Three:
On hot summer days or summer-like days, indoor tourist attractions
can be forgotten by vacationers, and the main idea of such days for
vacationers is often--head to the beach. When it is rainy, operators
of indoor tourist attractions can have busy days. Hanover is located in
Jackson County, and one popular indoor tourist attraction at Hanover
is the Lee Conklin Antique Organ and History Museum. Certainly,
if it were rainy at Hanover, the Lee Conklin Antique Organ and History
Museum would be a place to go to get out of the rain, and a person
who visited the place would learn a lot about, for instance, reed organs.
The museum has about 95 instruments on display, most of which once
belonged to a farmer named Lee Conklin. In truth, the museum has a
collection of over one-thousand items. Should you find yourself at
Hanover, maybe on a rainy day, think about this museum, and on wet
roads, keep your speed down and enjoy safe traveling.
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Number Four:
If you were to plan a vacation that had you visiting places along Lake
Michigan in relation to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Grand Haven
is one of the places that you would have to plan to be for at least one day.
The place has the Tri-Cities Historical Museum, and Grand Haven is the
site of a musical fountain, which is a gathering spot for people each
evening. If a person wanted to find a popular beach at Grand Haven,
the person could head to P.J. Hoffmaster State Park--it has more than
two miles of beach. While at this state park, a person might visit the
E. Genevieve Gillette Visitors Center, which, for one, has information
about sand dunes of Michigan. If the weather is predicted to be good
for several days, a person could end up spending several days at the
beach of P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. In essence, the park is open
throughout the year. Beach time is still here! Enjoy your safe traveling
to P.J. Hoffmaster State Park and Grand Haven.
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- - - Contact Information - - -
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 20551
Ferndale, Michigan 48220-0551
The United States of Americacopyright c. 2008
File date: 10 August 2008To see the next edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #53.
To see the previous edition of Michigan Travel Tips,
click on: Travel #51.
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.
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