California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Mackinac Island Day 1

Today was the day we travel to Mackinac Island.  We were up early and were on the road by eight o’clock.  Val and I rode with Judy in her car and my brother and his family were in another car.  We headed north to the city of Battle Creek where my brother Doug and his wife Janis had lived for three years after he passed the bar exam and went to work as an attorney. They wanted to see the home they lived in, and it was much the same as it was when they lived there.  From there we continued our drive north until we stopped for lunch in the little town of Clare and had an excellent meal at the Mullberry Cafe. 

Mackinac Island is located in the Straits of Mackinac accessed by ferry from the towns of Mackinaw City in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, and St. Ignace from the Upper Peninsula.  The Strait of Mackinac is where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meet.  When I was young and still lived in Michigan, if you wanted to go from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula or vice versa, you had to take a car ferry across.  In 1957, just before we moved to California, Michigan completed a bridge across the strait which made it much easier to travel, but not as much fun as the ferry, at least for us kids.

The Mackinac Bridge from the St. Ignace side.

 

After we left Clare we continued north and crossed the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace where we would leave our cars behind and catch the ferry to Mackinac Island.  The Island does not allow motorized vehicles, and the only mode of transportation is on foot, bicycle, horses or horse drawn vehicles.  Mackinac Island is also the home of the Grand Hotel, which is an old and famous hotel.  We parked our vehicles, checked our luggage and waited for our ferry to leave.  The boats are hydrofoils and make the trip in about a half an hour.  We were soon on our way with views of the Mackinac Bridge on one side and the Island on the other.  We arrived on the Island and were happy to hear that our luggage would be sent on to our hotel so all we had to do was walk down to our hotel.

Mandy, Becky, Janis, Doug, Me and Judy waiting to board the ferry.

Mandy, Becky, Doug and Janis on the top deck waiting to go.

The boat shoots out a wake of spray (rooster tail) as we leave the mainland.

The Grand Hotel

The Mackinac Bridge is in the background as we arrive at the Island.

The streets were very busy with pedestrians, bicycles and horse drawn carriages, and is a very busy tourist destination during the summer months.  We were staying at the Chippewa Hotel, which turned out to be very nice.  We had booked a suite so there would be a place where we all could gather and it turned out to be very nice with a great view of the harbor.  After getting unpacked and settled in, we walked around town a bit and then gathered for dinner at the hotel dining room, which we all enjoyed.  After that we called it a night as we had a big day planned for our only full day on the island.

The view from our balcony overlooking the harbor.

 

California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Sturgis, Michigan

Sturgis Day 1

I was born in Lansing, Michigan and moved to California when I was ten years old so I am more Californian than Michigander, but my parents were both born in Sturgis Michigan so most of my relatives are there.  Today we are going to visit a couple of my cousins and drive around Sturgis and the surrounding area.  Judy picked us up around 10:00 and our first stop was to visit the farm started by my great grandfather many years ago and is still in the family.  Although they no longer farm it themselves, my cousin Mark has his cement business located on it and there is a barn over a hundred years old that Mark’s wife Kelly has renovated and made available for special events.  

After visiting with Mark we drove into Sturgis and visited Kelly’s store "So Vintage" and talked to her for a while.  Then it was off to my cousin Cheryl’s home for lunch with her and her husband Chuck.  They have a small farm which Chuck farms.  We had a great lunch and good conversation and then we were off to continue our tour.  There are many Amish farms in the area and we stopped at an Amish store which was interesting.  By late afternoon we had finished our tour and Judy dropped us off at the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.   

 Judy is taking us to a place called Cowboy Up which is a restaurant / bar / line dancing place that is very popular in the area.  To be honest, line dancing is the last thing I wanted to do, but Judy loves to dance and wanted us to see the place and do a little dancing herself.  We met Cheryl and Chuck there and had dinner and the then the four of us watched Judy dance.  It was interesting and we had a good time, but definitely not my cup of tea.  After that it was back to the hotel to call it a night.  My brother and his family who were flying into Chicago would be arriving in Sturgis late, and we would be seeing them in the morning before the big cousins reunion.

Sturgis Day 2

Today is the day of the cousin’s reunion.  We went down to breakfast and my brother and his family were already there, as were Judy’s children Joe and Ann Marie and their families.  We chatted for a while and then it was time to get cleaned up and leave for the reunion.  Judy had reserved a large table for 28 at the Sturgis Civic Auditorium where they have a breakfast / brunch / lunch buffet every Sunday.  Besides all of my cousins from my mother’s side, there were some family friends there also.  I hadn’t seen most of them in quite a while so we had a great time getting reacquainted and catching up on what was happening in our lives.  We lingered for most of the afternoon, but finally we had to leave and we said our goodbyes to everyone.  Since we moved to California when I was only ten years old I haven’t seen most of my relatives for a long time, and don’t visit very often, but this gathering made me realize that I have to make more of an effort to stay in contact and visit more often.  We had a great time; it was a really special day.  Thanks Judy for setting it up and generously paying for everything.  Here are a few group pictures from the reunion.

All of my cousins on my mother's side with Aunt Judy in the middle in front.

My cousins with their spouses and some of their children.

Back row from the left: my brother Doug, his wife Janis, me, Val, Barb and Scott.  My parents had been friends with Scott's parents since high school so we have known him all of our lives.  The front row from the left are my brother's daughters Becky and Mandy.

Judy drove us back to the hotel where we rested a while and then we all went out to visit my Uncle Bob who is my dad’s brother.  My cousin Jim and his wife Theresa were also there so we had a good time catching up on everything.  All too soon it was time to go as we were leaving for Mackinac Island in the morning and wanted to get an early start.  The end of a wonderful day.

California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Chicago to Michigan

Today is a travel day so we packed everything up and got ready to go.  Our stay in one of the corporate suites in the Aqua Building was great; the view, the location, the amenities and the comfort made our stay truly wonderful, we would come gladly come back and stay there again and I would highly recommend it.   

We had to be out of our suite by 11:00 AM so around 10:30 we grabbed a cab and made our way to Union Station in Chicago where we would catch the Amtrak Wolverine to Battle Creek, Michigan where Judy had her car parked.  From there we would make our way to Sturgis in Southern Michigan where Judy lived.  Our train didn’t leave until 2:50 so we had about a three hour wait, but since we had business class tickets we were able to wait in the Metropolitan Lounge, which has nice comfortable seating, all the free sodas and coffee you want, and the noise level is a lot less than the regular waiting room.  After getting some sandwiches at a Deli in the train station it was soon time to leave.  After our positive experience with a porter when we arrived in Chicago, we found one and loaded up our luggage and were driven to our train car.  It was well worth traveling business class, first because of the use of the Metropolitan Lounge, but also the business class cars are much roomier and comfortable than coach. 

We arrived in Battle Creek just after 7:00 PM, and after loading our luggage into Judy’s car, we were off to Sturgis.  We stopped for dinner and then Judy dropped us off at the hotel, and we called it a day.

California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Chicago Day 2

When we got up and looked out the window this morning we saw a welcome sight – the sun was shining and there was clear blue sky, it was a beautiful day.  Our plan for today was to buy tickets for the Hop On-Hop Off Bus and tour Chicago.  The Hop-On Hop-Off Bus has thirteen designated stops in downtown Chicago and you can get on or off whenever you like.  In between stops there is a guide who narrates the various highlights.

We wait for the bus to arrive at the entrance to the Riverwalk.

Here are some pictures we shot from the bus as we traveled through Chicago.

The water taxi.

The Trump Building (they were putting up the name while we were there).  Could that be a halo around it?

The historic Soldier Field.  They built a new stadium inside it, but kept the facade.

 

The Chicago Skyline.

 

Our first stop was the museum campus which has the Shedd Aquarium, the Fields Natural History Museum and the Planetarium.  Because we had limited time we decided to visit the Shedd Aquarium which was interesting, but not the best aquarium I’ve ever been too.  We only bought tickets to see one floor so I might have had a better impression if we had seen the entire aquarium.  

Val and I outside the Shedd Aquarium

After the aquarium we “hopped” back on the bus and went on to our next stop which was Navy Pier.  Navy Pier was originally used by the Navy, but is now an amusement area built on a pier that extends out into Lake Michigan.  There is a large Ferris wheel, a children’s museum, a Shakespeare Theater and a multitude of shops, arcades and restaurants.  There is also a number of concessions that offer various boat trips around the harbor and lake.  The reason I was interested in Navy Pier was because my dad was trained here during World War II and actually stayed in the barracks on Navy Pier.  After hearing him talk about it I just had to see it so it was on my list for Chicago. It was obviously totally different, but it was still interesting to imagine how it must have been when my dad was there.  The Pier was very busy today as there were a lot of kids there taking excursions on the boats for an end of school trip.  After a quick lunch we walked down towards the end of the pier where it was quieter and found a place to sit and watch the boats go by for a while and then made our way back to the bus stop.

The entrance to Navy Pier.

Judy, Val and I enjoying the day on Navy Pier.

 

The Chicago skyline from Navy Pier.

Our next stop was the John Hancock building where we had tickets to go up to what they call the Observatory, which is a viewing deck on the 94^th floor, but first a few more pictures from the bus.

It was a clear day so we had a great 360 degree view of Lake Michigan, Chicago and the surrounding area.  Supposedly you can see Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, but we couldn’t really tell.  

 

Looking south from the Hancock Building.

Navy Pier.

Looking north.

 

After that it was back on the bus and since it was getting late in the afternoon we just decided to ride the bus to Millennium Park and walk back to our condo as we had tickets to a show that night.

One of the things on our list of things to do in Chicago was to try the deep dish pizza they are famous for, but by the time we got back it was late and we were tired so we decided to skip the pizza (we’ll save that for another visit) and have a snack before we left for the show. After getting cleaned up and having something to eat, we grabbed a cab and we were off to the show. The show we were going to see was called the Million Dollar Quartet which was based on a true story of a gathering back in 1955 of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley at Sun Records.  We all really enjoyed the show, the actors were great and portrayed their characters very well and the music was excellent, we all agreed we would see that show again if given the opportunity.  After the show it was back to the condo, and after some conversation we called it a night, but not before I shot some pictures of Chicago at night out the window.  What an excellent view!