It's time to get off the crowded expressway and throw the GPS out the window. get out and explore Michigan's back roads, towns and trails.
A guy, a camera, and a Jeep, and sometimes a black lab named Cooper
A while ago I posted about a big old forgotten building I saw in the secluded town of Idlewild HERE Someone posted in the comments that it was the old Casa Blanca Hotel. I did a little digging around on the internets and found an old photo of the hotel. Judging from the cars I
If you have followed me for a while on my journey around the Mitten State you know the I love taking dam photos. I had to stop and get a pic of the Croton Dam east of Newaygo. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has a Michigan Historical marker nearby that
These deteriorating brick walls not far from Lake Michigan are slowly crumbling, but a reminder of Michigan’s past. They are the ruins of the Frankfort Iron Works built in 1870 that smelted iron ore mined from the Escanaba region in the Upper Peninsula. They are named the Frankfort Ironworks but they are actually in Elberta
In southeastern Michigan is the small town of Maybee located somewhere between Milan and Monroe. With a name like Maybe I hade to drive through it on one of my road trips. I looked up the history hoping there was a funny story to the town’s name but it was named after Abram Maybe who
I love hanging out in downtown Boyne City. It has some wonderful bars and restaurants and nice gift shops to explore. A few blocks north of Downtown I saw this old building which I am safe to assume was a school. It is strange how there are no windows in the front other than the
Time to reveal the answer to the clues of the secret location and announce the winner of the book giveaway from my post HERE Above the hand and below the brown river is a place where smoke once rose. It is where the boys worked in the land of the great Indian chief. They guarded the
So I am hanging out at home flipping through the five hundred channels of nothing on TV. I get to ESPN2 and they were showing the World Championships of Cherry Pit Spitting. Living in Michigan I have spit a few cherry pits in my lifetime so I had to check it out. I figured it
Hidden a few feet under the surface of the water in Lake Superior is Stannard Rock. It is about 24 miles offshore and somewhere between the Keweenaw Peninsula and Marquette. After the hulls of several ships were cut open by this submerged “can opener” a lighthouse was built in 1883 to warn ships of the
Surrounded by tall pine trees, and tucked away among the remaining houses in the resort community of Idlewild, I saw this big old two-story building. I am not sure if it was a hotel, school or some sort of community center but it was intriguing. Near the town of Baldwin in the Manistee National Forest,
It’s been a long time since I have done a book giveaway and I needed something to take my mind off of everyday life. I have come up with what I hope is a fun way to give away a book. Inspired by Byron Preiss and his book The Secret I have devised a plan.
