Michigan Family Reunion - Michigan: Coloma

Chicago to Coloma, Michigan

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Today we picked up a rental car and drove to Coloma, Michigan where we have rented a house for the week.  My Aunt Judy lives in Coloma so we thought that would be a good base for our activities this week.  Originally my brother Doug, sister-in-law Janis, and my nieces Becky and Mandy were going to join us, but now it will only be Doug and Janis.

As usual, I have to provide some maps in my blog post so here is one showing Chicago and Coloma.  The large lake between Chicago and Coloma is Lake Michigan.

Since it is only about a two-hour drive from Chicago to Coloma, we slept in a bit and then had breakfast at the hotel.  On the ground floor of the hotel there is a restaurant called the Land & Lake Kitchen, so we decided to eat there.  They have both indoor and outdoor seating and since it was such a nice morning, we chose to eat outdoors adjacent to Wacker Driver.  Breakfast was very good, and we could watch the people walking by while we ate.  We also had a street level view of downtown Chicago and the Chicago River.  The temperature was very pleasant, and we had a very nice time.

We had a very pleasant breakfast in Chicago.

By the time we finished breakfast it was time to go pick up our rental car, so we finished packing, got a taxi and were off to the Alamo Car Rental.  Although it was too far to walk with our luggage, Alamo was very near the hotel, so it didn’t take long to get there.  Picking up the car was very easy; the staff was very friendly and helpful, and I don’t think we’ve ever had an easier time picking up a car rental.

It was a little stressful navigating the Chicago traffic to get to the freeway, but once we were on the highway, traffic wasn’t too bad.  One thing very different here from the west is the toll roads.  On the way to Michigan, we had to pay a toll for the Chicago Skyway and then twice on the Indiana Toll Road (I90) before getting off and heading north into Michigan.  It was a bit annoying to have to stop and pay tolls, but there are quite a few toll roads in the east and I’m sure the locals have routes to avoid them, but we had little choice.

It took us just a little over two hours to get to the rental house in Coloma and we easily found it and got settled in.  It is right on the Paw Paw River and is a very large and very nice log house with two floors and a basement.  It had three bedrooms and bathrooms with couch beds in the basement, so there was plenty of room especially since Becky and Mandy weren’t coming.  Coloma seems like a very nice little town on the Paw Paw River and the nearby Paw Paw Lake.  

Our home for the week in Coloma.

 

A nice front verandah and ...

one in the back overlooking the Paw Paw River.

The Paw Paw River.  Actually this is a backwater of the river and the actual river can barely be seen past the far trees.  With the stagnant water, we were worried about mosquitos, but we were never bothered.  For us Californians the dense foliage seemed like a jungle.

The first order of business was to get some breakfast items, drinks and snacks for our stay.  We don’t intend to cook any meals during while we're here.  Coloma has a population of only 1500, so everything is pretty close by.  By the time we got back from the store, Doug and Janis had arrived.  They had flown in today and had rented a car at the airport.

Once we were all settled in, we called my Aunt Judy and decided we would have a pizza party tonight at the rental house with Judy, her daughter (my cousin) Ann Marie and Ann Marie's son James and daughter Jasmine.  We had a great time catching up and after Ann Marie and her kids left, we stayed up late talking to Aunt Judy.  It was a very nice way to start our stay in Michigan.

A very old picture of Judy and I.  She liked to play dress up and I was the victim.