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I wanted to write about my trip to the northern most part of Michigan. We started on Saturday morning to go to Traverse City which is 250 Miles from Detroit. Our intention in this trip is to see the Fall colors.
I think I have tell about the Fall colors first. Here in the USA during September and October all the trees except for Evergreen trees shed their leaves. That is why the season is called Fall. Usually for us the leaves turn yellow and dry and fall off but here the leaves are orange, crimson red, yellow, violet etc. and for some colors I don’t know the names. So when some hundred trees are in a group and their leaves are of different colors it is very beautiful to see them. It seems as if the trees are on fire. That is the reason many people tend to go northward during this season to see the colors.
Instead of taking the express way which directly leads to the Northern part we went through the country roads which have more forests and lakes all through them. The sight of trees with all colors with the lakes was very beautiful. We stopped where ever we wanted on the way and took photos. We have to give them for developing. We have to see how they come up. We reached Traverse City in the evening. Traverse City is a tourist resort. It is on the banks of Michigan lake. It has many hotels and basically a Honey Mooner's paradise just like ooty in India. In traverse city there was the lake to see then there was a light house which was built exactly on the 45th parallel which divides the area between the Equator and the North Pole in to two equal parts.
We stayed back there for the night and in the morning we started to go to Macinaw Island. If we see the Michigan Map there are 4 islands on the top most part of Michigan. (St. Ignace, Macinaw Island, Round Island and Bois Blanc Island). There is a bridge which connects to St. Ignace to the main land but for Mackinaw Island we have to travel by water. There are a lot of motor boats available. The other two islands are not inhabited. On our way we stopped in the city of Charlevoix. This city had a bridge which would lift up to allow the boats to pass by and alight house. The wind was very strong and the temp was very low. It was very difficult to bear the chill wind blowing.
We reached Mackinaw city in the afternoon then we took a boat to go to the island. The wind was very strong and very chill. The temperature was 1 degree celsius. This is the lowest temperature I have seen so far. I don’t how it is going to be when it starts snowing. There on the Island we have 80% land occupied by Michigan State Park, 10% land occupied by Grand hotel and the other 10 % by the inhabitants. This state park is the first state park started way back in 1831. Grand hotel employs 630 people and is the biggest summer resort in the world. There are 500 permanent residents in the island and boat is the only connection for them. There is a small airstrip which they use when the lake freezes in winter. Then there was an arch which was very beautiful, Macinaw fort. We had hired a horse drawn carriage which takes visitors all round the island for 1 1/2 hours. The carriage can accommodate 24 people. They had supplied rugs to cover our legs but it was not sufficient for the chill winds. There is a special candy which they sell on the Island. Its called Fudge and is of different tastes (vanilla, chocolate, Maple, Peanut etc).
While coming we came by the expressway. The trees all along the way had
already shed their leaves. It was a good decision to go along the country
roads.