MGoEscape: Trip report
Because some of you may be wondering what lies beyond the "lockdown bubble" most of us have been living in the past few months, I thought I'd let people know what happened after my post a few weeks ago.
First of all, people were very good with mask wearing and distancing everywhere we went. Mind you, the wife and I aren't young and looking for bars to hang out in, but all the restaurants we ate at in the Traverse City area were enforcing rules and people were complying. Had lunch at The Filling Station and dinners at Apache Trout Grill and Trattoria Stella. I highly recommend all of them.
After much thought, I decided to go the AirBnB route to avoid hotel lobbies and other spaces that could get a bit crowded with people. Found a nice place on the east bay side that had access to what's left of the nearby beach. 30-40' of beach was reduced to about 10', but hey, it was still a beach. Got to enjoy a restful morning out there with a nice breeze off the water.
Visited some vineyards to do some wine tasting and some were better equipped than others at moving their tasting operation outdoors. Beautiful indoor tasting rooms aren't very useful right now. The patio at Chateau Chantal was nice. Many are stressing reservations to insure service and seating, but we did fine just walking up and going with what was available. We had bag chairs to setup if we relegated to lawn seating.
We did some hiking around Sleeping Bear Dunes and every parking area we went by was full. Hiking with the kids, the dogs, and everyone else is a popular activity right now. We had to park along the road and walk into the trail head for Lake Bluff Trail, but that's not a problem. We did the Dunes Trail when the kids were young and it wasn't 90 degrees with 100% sunshine . Yesterday was not the day for a frontal assault on the big dune.
Finally, we mixed up the trip by driving from the Chicago area to Milwaukee and taking the Lake Express car ferry across the lake to Muskegon. It was a nice trip on a beautiful day. They were also doing a good job with mask rules and enforcement.
Thanks for those that helped with suggestions. Applied many of them to this brief but much needed change of scenery to retain our sanity. Now, we are back in our bubble. This is a totally weird experience.
pictures, or it didn't happen...
(glad you had a good time)
I’m still waiting for pics with your family at Crisler ... i’m thinking your better half doesn’t care for your “MGoFriends”.
phone died literally the next week after we were down for that hoops game and so did many of the pics that couldn't get stored before the power went out.
that said, my screen saver is the pic you took of all of us with dear wife's phone/cam. thank you again for that. and you are held in high regard at the XM house, no doubt about that.
We took a day trip up to Leelanau when we came up to visit family last week and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to do everything we wanted to do. Every place we went to that required masks was courteous about it except one, and their competitor happily took our money instead.
Went to Hoffmaster as well, and I have to say it's startling how much of the beach is gone. I can't wait until the cycle returns to the low ebb.
I have to say in general, after hearing the militant howls from this board for the last few months, I was pleasantly surprised West Michigan was pretty much like down here in how everyone handles things. Social distancing rules over everything else. Mask if the business requires it, and don't be assholes.
I'm delighted you and your wife had a great time and had a chance to get away.
I drove from California to Ann Arbor the middle of March just as CV19 was exploding. My wife and I stayed two nights in hotels and ate out one night in a restaurant. The rest of the trip, which took three days, we did fast food. I was much less cautious then than I am now. While it was enjoyable driving the American West, as it always is, it was a very different experience than trips I had taken in the past, and one that I will never repeat again.
These days, particularly with CV again exploding and now the possibility of a more infectious strain, and with an international airport not far away and significant interstate travel, Michigan will undoubted spike up, We now limit ourselves to curbside pickup in Ann Arbor and the minimum of indoor shopping.and the great outdoors and that will be the case until there is a vaccine.
Where I am the most comfortable is day trips to parks where you can hike and isolate yourself from masses of people. I never thought I'd say this as someone living in Michigan, but I have come to enjoy breezy days as I believe wind dispersion reduces risk.
If I could go on vacation, it would be the Traverse City/Leelandau County area.
Where would Shea go?
I highly recommend everyone get out and enjoy some rv'ing. Been away for almost two weeks now after visiting glacier national park (kind of a bust due to it mostly being closed) and almost a week boondocking on the Wall in the Badlands of South Dakota. Beautiful country we live in.
Chomping at the bit to head up to TC this weekend for some swimming and boating, staying with friends at their place...Summer’s in full swing ☀️
Don't forget Moomers which not too long ago won an award for the best ice cream in America.
Now you tell me about the ice cream.....
We went there last year. It was good.
Ray's in Royal Oak is better.
We're going up in August. I'm wondering what the outdoor dining situation is. Seems like it would be safer than indoors.
Can vouch for Cherry Moobilee & Michigan Pothole.
My air conditioner broke three days ago.
i hear this guy was seen around your place vlady...
Probably.
Covid has kept a lot of the Fudgies at home, but there's still way more people walking around TC mingling than there should be.
This weekend will be a good test. Being outdoors is very helpful for reducing spread. We did a mid-week getaway to avoid the weekend crowds for a variety of reasons. When you’re retired, you don’t need to be a weekend warrior.
COVID cancelled our VA trip to see my wife's brother and his family. Plus we were going to bring her parents out and they are in their 80s. There was suppose to be a big fireworks show but that got canceled. So we are just hanging around the house. Since I work for the Federal Government, I have to always get down to 240 hours by the end of the year, so I just kept my leave.
Thanks OP!
I completely forgot about your trip to TC. Thanks for the update. I was wondering how it went. I’m so happy you and the family had a great time. Really good information here...
If the bubble is around the state of Michigan then we pierced that bubble. We are spending the next week in the Detroit area visiting family and friends. Did the ~11 hour drive from Durham, NC and got here today. Wore masks at all rest areas and stops. We are wearing masks anytime we go out into public.
I also plan to bring my wife and 3 year old daughter to Ann Arbor to see my old stomping (and studying) grounds. Probably walk a little around central campus and perhaps north campus. Any good drive thru food that comes highly recommended? I haven't been to AA in years so I am essentially "new" to the area.
Honestly, I bet Cottage Inn on Packard is doing curbside. Eating a Cottage Inn Pizza in your car is infinitely better than not eating a Cottage Inn Pizza
Our camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park with the grandsons got cancelled...we will do a week of in-state (Kansas) instead. Kansas struggles to offer anything-here, July certainly compounds its struggles.
We have also had our September trip to the Superior Hiking Trail cancelled. This was to be a prelude to a larger vacation to the Southwest Coast Path (England). Both have been put on hold-hopefully next year.
My boss cancelled a trip to Sleeping Bear because he said half of everything was closed, including a driving tour? Why would a driving tour be closed?
I didn’t see much of anything closed. You can’t get to Manitou island because the docks were damaged due to high water and storms this past winter. Maybe the road closing to the ferry location is what he’s referring to.