Three Hundred miles on the bus today! We left the hotel at about 8:00am. The weather looks good and its still warm. First stop was to see the Holland Harbor Lighthouse and walk along the breakwater. A very unusual design for a lighthouse, but beautiful! Our search for official Holland Tulip bulbs was not successful.
We followed I-196 north, up through Grand Rapids, then rt 131 until it was time for lunch. Where to stop? Central Michigan is pretty sparsely populated and our guide Allen wasn't prepared. We finally found our way into Traverse City and a Burger King.
Soon after lunch we made a planned stop at the Music House Museum. Wow! This is a wonderful collection of rare "automated musical instruments". A young lady docent gave us a great tour and demonstrated many of the player pianos. It was fabulous! (This proves the value of a guided tour - had we just driven by on our own, we never would have seen it!)
We drove through some beautiful small towns along Lake Michigan today, notably Holland, Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petosky. Great looking parks, marinas and older mansions with views of the lake. (We bet its really cold here in the winter!) A short time later we stopped at the Friske Orchards store for coffee and apple fritters.
Finally, we drove across the Mackinac Bridge and, before going to our hotel, we stopped at our dinner place, the Mackinac Grill. A very popular place in town!
Hotel for two nights is a nice Holiday Inn Express. Our room even has a view! Tomorrow we spend the day over on Mackinaw Island.....the real reason for this trip. (There is confusion over the names Mackinac and Mackinaw - it seems there's no difference...its pronounced "aw")
A note about our bus driver - Taryn. She's become part of our group! She's funny, a great driver, and very accommodating.
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