My Mom and I got home from our trip to Michigan on Sunday evening. We were away for about ten days, and had a wonderful balance of doing some sightseeing, antiquing and thrift shopping, and relaxing.
We headed out the Thursday before last, heading out from Minnesota at about 7:30 in the morning, and made the 10 hour drive in one day. Fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the Midwest mid-winter, with some rain, no snow and periods of sun. Traffic through Chicago was light; way better than what I generally experience going through Seattle in the mid-afternoon! Other than rest areas, gas and a drive-through for lunch, we basically just cruised all day and arrived in Michigan around 7 pm, in time for a delicious chili dinner at my aunt, uncle and cousin’s house!
The next week we kept busy, but not busy at my usual travel pace. We checked out some antique stores, some thrift stores, and a new rock shop in town. The rock shop was huge and had so many cool rocks! It was hard to control myself.
My cousin and I went to breakfast with her coworker and went to the beach at Lake Michigan to look for rocks. We were there for about an hour before we were completely freezing, but it was a worthwhile trip. I found an amazing agate!
We had lunch and dinner with another aunt, uncle and cousin. I took some walks out in the neighborhood, and one day it was even too warm for my coat. It is unheard of to be wandering around in the winter in just a fleece!
One afternoon we went to a local high school play and that evening we ate seven layer dip with tortilla chips and watched the Superbowl. Wow! The game was mostly boring with a lot of spice thrown in right at the end! I thought the half-time show was rather meh…
We checked out a local museum in Kalamazoo, which had a small exhibit on the history of the mental asylum in the area. It originally opened in 1859, and was known as the Michigan Asylum for the Insane. The hospital is still in operation, celebrating 165 years this year. Malcolm X’s mother and the inventor of the Gibson guitar were both institutionalized there. It was an interesting exhibit, and they showed several books that have been written about the asylum and the asylum system. Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t have a gift shop!
I got lots of reading done, and some writing, and it was nice to spend time with family. One evening, we watched Oppenheimer. I know it got mixed reviews even though it has been nominated for 13 Oscars. For sure, it’s long, and it’s hard to sit for that much time without your butt falling asleep. Plus it is a complicated story, so you have to pay attention, and it helps if you know at least some of the background for the development of the atom bomb. But I thought it was a really good movie! Better than Killers of the Flower Moon, which I saw a few months ago.
On the way home, mom and I did a two day drive and diverted to Galena, Illinois. Galena is one of the most historic cities in the Midwest, with white settlement going back to the 1820s. Plus, the Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant lived there for a time! In fact, nine Civil War Generals are from Galena. There is too much there for Galena to not get its own post, so watch for that in the future! It was also frigidly cold while we were there, and some things were closed for the winter, so this is certainly a little town I will want to visit again.
We drove a bit of the historic Route 20 (the longest road in the United States), and the Great River Road (which goes along the Mississippi River) on the way home as well. We were able to travel through small towns and farmland, and get off the main highways. Most of the attractions were closed, as we headed through on a winter Sunday morning, but it was a beautiful scenic route!
All in all, it was a fun family visit, with a bit of sightseeing, and well worth the trip. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to see my family on the other side of the state as well!
Wine and History Visited 