MICHIGAN trip
May 22-23 2022
PART 1
"Say yes to Michigan!" Remember that ad campaign? The commercial tried to draw vacationers to Michigan, yet all it showed was snow everywhere. This was around the same time as "Ohio's for you! You, you, you! Pow!" My fact-finding mission focused on northwestern Michigan but had some Indiana Dunes goodies too!
I-75 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. We actually went on a family vacation to Wapakoneta when I was 5. This is the exit to what is now labeled as "First on the Moon", but the sign used to call it Bellefontaine Street. Google Maps labels it as OH 501, but considerable doubt has been cast on this.
You may know that US 23 is almost like an Interstate from Toledo to Flint. Almost. Perhaps the main reason why it's not designated as an Interstate is rail bridges like this one near Milan, Mich., that have low clearances.
US 23 in Milan. This is one of the first parts of the freeway to be built. This was built as a 2-lane freeway in 1951 or 1952. It became 4 lanes by 1961. It goes under another rail bridge up ahead.
Cooooooooookies! This is US 23 in Milan again.
US 23 on the north side of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor was a textbook example of the failures in the early 2020s by academia and its partners in crime who commandeer everything in the area. Some of the area's major establishments are controlled by rotten, rotten people. The same collapse was seen in Madison, Wis. Cities that were once at the forefront of innovation became a smoldering heap. But this stretch of US 23 uses an electronic system that controls a temporary lane during rush hour, a system that received positive recognition by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in 2018.
Still US 23 near Ann Arbor.
US 23 nears I-96.
I-496/US 127 in East Lansing. This exit has a very tight ramp.
Webster Road near Bath.
Walnut Street in Bath.
This could be Wood Road near Bath, but that's a very wild guess.
These are more wild guesses. This could be north on Pioneer Road near Thompsonville - which forms from Kurick Road. Not Couric (like Katie Couric), but Kurick.
This could be Pioneer Road at Lindy Road.
I have no idea what this road is, but it looks like the hill in the background is blowing a bubble.
Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Part of this protected area was designated a wilderness under a 2014 law.
This appears to be just before the scenic road splits into a beautiful one-way loop.
The amazing scenic loop!
This surprising covered bridge graced the loop. The original bridge was built in the 1960s, but it had to be rebuilt in 1986 because porcupines ate the sides of it.
This has to be looking out over Glen Lake. MI 22 crosses the lake at center.
I'm going to make some guesses here. Glen Lake is probably on the right. MI 109 is probably to the left of that. The huge body of water in the background would of course be Lake Michigan. Also in the background is likely one or both of the Manitou Islands. The islands have no human inhabitants, though they once had some farming. Wikipedia says of South Manitou Island that "most of its buildings lie in ruins." The magic word!