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(Revisit) Season 3 - The Michigan Exploration Challenge
134 Plays6 months ago
Are you ready for the ultimate Michigan adventure challenge?! Imagine embarking on a journey through picturesque towns, where you can immerse yourself in the artsy atmosphere and savor delectable local cuisine. Make a pitstop in Detroit for a blend of history and modern allure. The landscape is a captivating sight, with rolling fields and charming barns – Michigan's rural charm is truly unique. And let's not forget about the exhilarating adventures at Mackinac Island! Exploring the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn? Absolutely legendary. With each mile, you'll weave together Michigan's rich tapestry of cultures, breathtaking scenery, and captivating narratives. This road trip is all about creating lasting memories and soaking in the unique vibes of Michigan.
Also, remember, we have the entire comprehensive Michigan Exploration Challenge article live on OnlyInYourState!
Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about Michigan.
Essential Michigan Road Trip Stops We Cover This Episode:
- Cross in the Woods
- Ludington State Park Beach
- Beaver Island
- Mackinac Island
- - Colonial Michilimackinac
- Henry Ford Museum
- Porcupine Mountains
- The Detroit Institute of Arts
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
- Tahquamenon Falls State Park
- Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
- Tunnel of Trees
- Belle Isle Park (and included attractions)
- Kitch-iti-Kipi spring
- Motown Historical Museum
Podcast Timestamps:
[00:9:1] The first stop on this essentials list for Michigan.
[00:20:45] Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
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https://zen.ai/notyouraveragebucketlist3
Get In Touch!
If you have personal experiences with any of the above attractions, call or text 805-298-1420! We’d love to hear your thoughts on these Michigan spots and maybe even share your clip on the show! You can also reach out to us via email at [email protected].
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Transcript
Introduction and Season 3 Teaser
00:00:06
Speaker
This is Not Your Average Bucket List by Only In Your State, a podcast about exploring the hidden gems right in your own backyard. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Not Your Average Bucket List by Only In Your State. We are kicking off season three with a bang, with our second exploration challenge. This time we're heading up to Michigan. I'm here with my co-host, Sarah. Hi, Sarah. Hey, Marissa. How are you?
00:00:35
Speaker
Good. How are you? I'm doing okay. I see you have windows open, which I'm kind of jealous actually. I don't want to look at 70s and sunny and I don't want to talk about it just for your sanity.
Autumn in Michigan
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes.
00:00:53
Speaker
First day of autumn. You are absolutely right. I mean, yes. Yeah. I didn't even realize. But yeah, it is like we've had a few days of that crisp fall, kind of like gloomy, wearing hoodies and beanies. I swear the first time I stepped on a leaf and it crunched, I threw on a beanie. I'm like, yeah, this is it. It's time. I'm not going back. So jealous because here today it is probably going to hit 90 degrees.
00:01:22
Speaker
scorching hot heat, so gotta love it.
Fascinating Michigan Facts
00:01:26
Speaker
But with that said, so we're talking about Michigan this episode, and I just wanted to do a quick icebreaker. Nothing to do with sandwiches this episode, but I just wanted to drop some fun facts about Michigan, brought to you by Only In Your State. This is an article that we have on our website. 13 things you probably didn't know about the state of Michigan,
00:01:52
Speaker
I'm not going to go through all of them, but let me know if you know some of these. Shout it out. If not, don't worry because I did not know either. Okay. So kicking it off, Gerald Ford, the 38th president, was from Grand Rapids. Did not know that. Nope. Did not also know that he was a football star. Really?
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, we have a picture of him playing football. OK, did not know that either. Yeah, very interesting. Another one, the Detroit Zoo was the first in the United States to feature cageless open spaces for the animals. Really? Yeah. What year was that? I know it's going to make me very sad just to hear that. Last year. No. I'm not sure. That's actually a really good question. But yeah, I thought that was a fun fact.
00:02:46
Speaker
And then I know that we're going to talk about Petoskey?
Michigan's Unique Symbols
00:02:50
Speaker
Yes. OK. So the Petoskey is Michigan's state stone, and it can be found along Lake Michigan. But that's also the name of a town, right? Yeah. And the area that we highlighted on our exclusive map is the Petoskey area, which is like a natural area, so not specifically about the rock. I don't think so. OK.
00:03:14
Speaker
And do you know the most common nickname that people use when referring to Michigan? So, okay. Do you mean like a Michigan person living in Michigan or the state? Yeah, like the state, like how in Florida would be the Sunshine State?
00:03:37
Speaker
I just know that people refer to the mitten of where they live. No, I don't know. So it's the Wolverine state. Oh, yeah. And I did not know that. But when you think about Wolverines, it's not Hugh Jackman in a bodysuit. It's a dual animal. No, very vicious, ferocious animal. Yeah.
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, but then it's interesting because they don't really live in Michigan, these Wolverines, which that was interesting. I'm getting mixed messages. I mean, I know that the Michigan State
00:04:18
Speaker
or University of Michigan, they're the Wolverines and they're, you know, the Buckeyes natural enemy. So I knew that. Really? So it's a college feud. Yeah. Oh, I did not know that. Interesting. Yeah. Well, yeah. So I'll drop that if anybody else wants to read about some fun Michigan facts. I'll drop that in the show notes so we can have a link to it. Absolutely.
Michigan Road Trip Planning
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah. So we're
00:04:47
Speaker
Taking an adventure through Michigan this episode, season three, we are talking about essential, quintessential road trip stops.
00:04:58
Speaker
And we've already featured Ohio, which was our last episode. Now we're traveling to Michigan. And before we are coming out with these episodes and our companion articles, we're asking readers on our Facebook page, only in Michigan Facebook page, to let us know what they think are like the quintessential road trip stops. Yeah.
00:05:24
Speaker
We have over I think maybe 2,200, 2,300 comments. People are coming out with their recommendations. I love it. I love it too. I think it's so great that people get so passionate about their home state or the state that they live in. Did you have any just like off the top of your head or without researching first any places that you knew that you wanted to add to this episode?
00:05:48
Speaker
So there were a lot of places that I think we've even talked about in the past and other episodes. So, you know, like obviously Sagatug, Michigan, which I think is beautiful. And I saw on a lot of comments, Sleeping Bear Dunes, like Pictured Rocks, National Lakeshore.
00:06:08
Speaker
of Royal Isle or Isle Royale. I don't know. I think, yeah, there's some spots like natural spots. I knew that would be beautiful. And I'm not surprised. We saw a lot of mentions of them. Yeah. So we're going to cover a decent chunk of these reader suggestions. We're going to talk about it this episode. Hopefully inspire people to travel to Michigan. Now, I feel like it's the perfect time to be going to Michigan. Absolutely. Yeah, it'll be beautiful. Gorgeous. Yeah.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah. So we're not going to cover everything in this episode. So we are going to include the article link in the show notes. Again, it's going to be an article linking back to onlyinyourstate.com. And from there, you'll be able to see our main road trip stops. Sarah's coming up with a Michigan playlist that her Ohio playlist was fantastic. And so you can see that on your road trip.
00:07:08
Speaker
And we're gonna have a little passport too that people can download, print out, use it as just like your bucket list, checklist. These are the places I've been to, these are the places I wanna go to kind of thing. I will say that the playlist should be epic because, I mean, the home of Motown. So there's gonna be a lot of big names on that list that I think is gonna be really fun.
00:07:34
Speaker
You know, I was very, very much impressed with your Ohio playlist because so many surprises for me on that list. I did not know so many people hailed from Ohio or were just like representative of Ohio. You know what? I feel like we're a sleeper state in that kind of way because a lot of them, you know, go off to be big famous musicians or astronauts or presidents, but they just get the heck out of town and then make us look good. So that's great.
00:08:07
Speaker
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00:08:34
Speaker
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00:09:12
Speaker
I think, do you want to just jump right in and get started on some of these main road trip stops that we're going to be adding to our map?
Must-Visit Destinations in Michigan
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it. All right, cool. So this one also pronunciation-wise surprised me. Mackinaw Island, and it ends in a C, but it's not Mackinac.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely have called it Mackinac my entire life and even doing this research. And I think in previous episodes. Whoops. Yeah, I got very confused whenever I was going through, I was doing some research and I saw a thread with people fighting about it. And I'm like, well, I bet went right over my head. I had no idea. I was also seeing it spelled N-A-W at the end.
00:10:01
Speaker
Yes, yes. We'll just go with Mackinac Island. This is probably one of the most popular places that people were recommending. Make this, if it's your first time in Michigan, if you've never been, go to Mackinac Island.
00:10:17
Speaker
uh it's basically picture just rugged cliffs, shoreline, um it's on Lake Michigan and but then also it has these little weird curve balls like it's known for having homemade fudge which
00:10:32
Speaker
I feel like that's so cool. I know. Love me some fudge. Also, I wanted to add on to this because they also have Fort Mackinac or Colonial, I think, Machilimackinac. It is their, basically, a historic frontier town, kind of like history town.
00:10:52
Speaker
Basically, it is an 18th century fort and trading village that they've, you know, recreated based on historic maps and archaeological excavations. And it's like a really fun learning opportunity on the island. And you can explore the fort and also fire a cannon, which I'm a child. And I'm like, Oh, that sign me up. I'll get up at nine in the morning and fire the ceremonial cannon. I think he has to like sign up for it. The kid just walk up and do it. However,
00:11:20
Speaker
Cool. Not just like random firings of cannons.
00:11:25
Speaker
Like, hey, let me get that cannon. I'm ready. Bring your own cannon ball. That's really cool. They're like, ma'am, please leave. Yeah, right? It's really neat. But I do think that having those sort of historic farms and forts and all those things that we can learn about the past while actually seeing it is a really neat experience. Yeah, definitely. Yes, because I feel we're adding this as a road trip stop. But essentially, it could be a weekend. It could be a week.
00:11:53
Speaker
this could be its own experience day trip wise between the historic sites, the hiking trails, the fudge, the cannons. So yeah. So let's add that one into the mix. And so I know that you have a good mix of stops of your own that maybe are outside of the natural. Do you want to throw some of those in?
00:12:21
Speaker
Yeah, so a couple of the ones that I thought were really interesting was, first, the Frederick Meyer Gardens and Sculpture Park. So it's not just a giant park. It's, I mean, 150 acres. It's a botanical garden, an art museum, an outdoor sculpture park, and it's in Grand Rapids, opened in 95.
00:12:42
Speaker
And basically, it's just this awesome place that you can go and explore and see tons of rotating art exhibits. And what I like about it is it's not just like an inside drab museum, you can go outside and enjoy the park and see all of these like really neat installations. So, you know,
00:13:00
Speaker
all sorts. Like, there's little statues of cows and farmers, but then also like surrealist art and then also like different kinds of moving sculptures. So it's really neat. And I think that would be a great stop. And that's in Grand Rapids.
00:13:14
Speaker
Nice. I love a good museum. I feel like that's whenever I'm traveling to some place new. Museum Botanical Garden. It's just such a great way to, you know, see something entirely new. So what kind of museum goer are you? Are you a I'm going to walk in, hit a couple of things. This is great. I'm out. Or do you like meticulously go through every exhibit and room and you just want to see everything?
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, I would be definitely the latter because actually I just went to the Perez Art Museum in Miami for the first time last weekend and I stopped in every single room. They had a Joan Didion exhibit that was three or four rooms and I do like to stop and read all the placards
00:14:00
Speaker
You know, like, yeah, I guess that yes, how nerdy of me that I can't break the rules. No, that's great. What about you? What time for you?
00:14:10
Speaker
Uh, I mean, I think I've evolved through my life, like, which I really regret some of the art exhibits I went to as a teen. So like going to the Louvre and like not taking time to see everything and just kind of like going in and out. And then now I lean towards, you know, the ladder, like where I want to canvas everything. And especially if there's like an exhibit that I love, the artist or anything like that, I could spend an entire like half day in a room because I'm just really excited to see Salvador Dali paintings, you know, stuff like that.
00:14:39
Speaker
No, definitely. That is a good point. I do feel like the older you get, the more you really appreciate and want to immerse yourself. You want to read a placard. Yeah. Maybe even twice. No. Get the audio tour. Yeah. Heck yes. I would do that.
00:14:56
Speaker
Okay, back to Michigan. So I'm going to throw in another, so just reading the nickname of this place. I don't know why it cracks me up. I really, I would love to know if Michigan residents call Porcupine Mountains the porkies.
00:15:10
Speaker
Is that a thing? I hope so. I saw that too. It's adorable. Like, oh, we're going to head up to the porkies this weekend. Right. I was like, please. I really hope this is true. Because it's like, you know, the Rockies, but it's that, you know, yeah, then porcupines, porcupine mountains. This is another natural stop. And this is
00:15:35
Speaker
classified as ancient mountains, which I also think was very cool, and basically the perfect place to go hiking, backpacking, camping, you have old-growth forests, there are waterfalls, Lake Superior is right there, and I just feel like this is another great way to see outdoors in Michigan, quintessential place.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like we might have talked about the porkies in our Things To Do playlist on the podcast. I feel like because we were talking about autumn and leaf peeping and trails, it's like, yeah, I got to head up to I didn't I did not refer to them as the porkies. I was not cool enough to know that yet. I will never again call them porkified mountains. But yeah, I think they look like a gorgeous place to visit. Yeah, great.
00:16:23
Speaker
Okay, let's see. I think I'm going to go... You know what? I still want to talk about something natural, but it's something that I have always wanted to see ever since we covered it on Only Near State. And it's the Kachidiki spring, the largest natural spring, and Michigan's largest natural freshwater spring
00:16:45
Speaker
40 feet deep, 200 feet across, and 10,000 gallons of water is being fed into the spring from the limestone below. And it's just gorgeous. You would not expect it to be in Michigan when you see this thing. It just seems otherworldly. And there's no swimming, kayaking, fishing, anything like that. But you can get on a hand crank raft and
00:17:08
Speaker
you might need to wait in line during the busy season, but basically just get like cranked out into the middle of the spring on this raft ferry and be able to see down to the bottom and it just looks like such a cool experience. That's really cool. I've never heard of a hand cranked raft before. Yeah, it looks great. Yeah, there are a lot of natural springs in Florida that you can swim in
00:17:33
Speaker
a lot that you can dive in, but you also have to be careful with alligators. I'm assuming there are no alligators in this one. I don't think so. No, no, no, no.
00:17:46
Speaker
And I have a feeling that they're just trying to preserve it because it's not an overly large spring. So I just think they're trying to keep it as, you know, safe and clean as possible. And the, um, the raft is ADA accessible. So no matter who you are, you can go and enjoy the cool little raft. Cool. And yeah, I love that. That, yeah, I would definitely do that for sure.
00:18:09
Speaker
Okay, so jumping a little bit, just to let people know, our map that we've created for this exploration challenge is going to be customizable. So you can add your own stops, you can remove stops, and we're also creating little subsections.
00:18:28
Speaker
which I think is fun for people that maybe, you know, like if we're including lodging options, you can choose one or two that you really want to check out. Or in this particular episode for Michigan, we're featuring the Lake Michigan shore wine trail. And this I think has about 15 or 16 stops.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty lengthy. I know that you said you drink local wine in Ohio. Have you ever been to Michigan to any of their wineries or anything? No, but I would love to. I've had Michigan wine and Michigan cider and everything I've tried has been great, but I've never actually went up there to try any local wine while I'm there. I feel like this sounds like just any sort of wine trail
00:19:15
Speaker
You know, I don't know. Me personally, I wouldn't have expected to find it in the Midwest. Yeah. I didn't even know that Michigan had any benefit, like regional benefits for their grapes in terms of climate. I guess just, you know, naively, I thought it was just very cold up there a lot of the time.
00:19:34
Speaker
But a lot of the popular grapes groan, the Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, and some of the best parts about this trail, you're going to these vineyards and it's beautiful in terms of scenery. I feel like that makes the experience even better. Rolling hills and, you know, lush landscapes, and then you just, you're tasting wine.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah, the perfect activity for fall. And they do seem to be pretty close together too. So it's not like you're driving hours and hours between each one. So you could pick, I mean, you're not going to survive 15 wineries in a day. Let's just like be reasonable here. Pick five. Yeah, right. But yeah, it does seem like a really fun way to spend an afternoon. And maybe I'll have to do that sometime soon. Looks gorgeous there. Yeah.
00:20:27
Speaker
All right. Okay. So I think the next one I want to talk about is this almost didn't make it on the list. I was waffling a little bit, but it's one that I think you actually unearthed and it is the Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. And it is
00:20:50
Speaker
bizarre. It's like going to a vintage sign museum or a neon sign museum. And it's just like all of these oddities together in this 5000 square foot building. So coin operated machines, like oddities, pinball, like just any kind of automaton that you can think of that just like wind up and go are in this museum and the admissions free. But I will say, if you have, what is it? So robophobia or
00:21:21
Speaker
Pediophobia, which is dolls. So robots are dolls. You will not like this place. It would terrify you. So keep that in mind because there are just tons of these like, you know, like as Zoltar and you know, like these like, basically little robot guys that you wind up and see go and it does look like a lot of fun and just a completely unique museum that I have never come across anywhere else. So I think it's definitely worth a visit.
00:21:46
Speaker
Yeah, I do agree. I think that section specifically that we're including on our road trip maps, the oddities and the roadside attractions is probably my favorite. Just because there's a lot of weird stuff, I think one of them we're including at the Henry Ford Museum is
00:22:06
Speaker
like Henry Ford's Last Breath or something in a jar. Yeah. By the way, let's go to this Henry Ford Museum, because this is on the list. OK. But I did not, whenever I read Henry Ford Museum and all my time, you know, working at a linear state, I just assumed it was a car museum. Right. Yeah. But it's like this Museum of American Innovation. And it just like just runs the gamut of like having so many interesting things like
00:22:34
Speaker
I'm not sure what that means, the last breath of Henry Ford, but I will find out. Also, how do we fact check that? Yeah. Who breathed into a cup and then just put it in there. But also, so yeah, race cars, modular houses, microprocessors, airplanes, just
00:22:56
Speaker
everything in the suburb of Dearborn in Detroit, it just looked like the coolest museum. Yeah, but it really caught me by surprise. Yeah, agreed. And yeah, speaking of Detroit, we do have a couple of spots on the list in that area in particular. A lot of people were recommending the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Yes, oh my goodness, that place looks amazing. Yeah.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah. Because I feel like it's like one massive, like 700,000 square feet for one. And if you've been to, I mean, I know we've already discussed museums, but if you're a museum lover, I feel like it's just one of those that you'd have to go to like the MoMA or the Guggenheim. It's just on the list, I think.
00:23:42
Speaker
It's crazy to me how many, you know, like exactly the two that you just referenced, you know, in New York, but having a place like this, the Troy Institute of Arts, that I didn't know existed before this particular episode, but it's such a gem that, you know, I think that's what's so fun about asking people from Michigan, like, what are the places that we need to talk about? And they know these places exist.
00:24:10
Speaker
But not too many people would be like, oh, I'm going to go to Michigan to go to museums. Right. And there's this world class, absolutely amazing museum right in your backyard. That's awesome. Let's see if there's any other notes I had about it. I think over, OK, over 700,000 square feet because they recently updated it in 2007 and over 100 galleries. Like Marissa, if you're hitting everyone, you might take the whole day.
00:24:38
Speaker
I can't even imagine that would be, yeah. I wonder how long that would take to be honest with you. Cause I feel like I hit at the laugh at the Perez was gosh, I don't know 10 to 15 and it took me, you know, so
00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, so 100 galleries, how many exhibits do you think are in a gallery like 50? Yeah, plus, that is crazy. So I think you have to split up your days to be honest. You have to bring a tent and camp out. Yeah, just sleep under an exhibit and make up. It'd be great. Um, yeah. What else did you have? Do you have any other like cool or weird places?
00:25:17
Speaker
So there are a couple other Detroit spots that I want to hit before we move on. But if you're a fan of the Supremes or Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, the list goes on. I really think you should take a visit to take a visit. OK.
00:25:35
Speaker
I really think that you should visit the Motown Historical Museum, you know, also known as Hitzville, USA. And it's just in a home in Detroit, and you can see rotating exhibits. Right now, I think they have one that's honoring the Motown Review, which is
00:25:55
Speaker
spanning a nearby Riverwalk. But basically in the 60s Motown's roster of stars basically all got on a bus. So it got on a bus and traveled across the country to perform. And during that time in the 60s, with you know, both black and white performers, it was like a really
00:26:15
Speaker
It's not a social experiment, but you know, there's a lot of stress and tension involved with these people going across the country and they just, you know, made history and made a name for themselves. And it's a really cool exhibit that basically you go along the riverwalk and there are stops for each little point so you can like learn as you walk, which is really neat. So that's very cool. So is this the exhibit, it changes, it's a rotating exhibit you said?
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah, so right, I think one or two times a year they change the exhibit in the Motown Museum. That's what's running right now. So yeah, that's really cool. So that is in 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. Awesome. Yeah, I didn't really realize how big of a music scene Michigan had, specifically Detroit, but
00:27:06
Speaker
You know, you picture Detroit and it's just more of automobiles or those stereotypes. But yeah, the music scene was really huge. Yeah, absolutely. So it's a really cool part of history to explore. Yeah, definitely. So I just want to throw back in the mix one more natural attraction that was mentioned a ton of times by our Michigan readers.
00:27:33
Speaker
It is the Taquamanen Falls State Park. So, Taquamanen. It is in the Upper Peninsula, which also a lot of people in Michigan, just when we were asking them, are throwing out Upper Peninsula as just like, that's the blanket statement. That's where you need to go, Upper Peninsula, period. Looks gorgeous. Did you also come across Youp? No.
00:28:02
Speaker
I continue. I will follow up on that very shortly. Okay, so this is just a majestic waterfall that it has the upper and lower Tukwamanen Falls. And what's cool about this waterfall is that it's not
00:28:19
Speaker
your typical dark blue, greenish water. It has an amber hue to it. Yeah, so a lot of these photos of this waterfall, people are taking in autumns, which is gorgeous. You have amber-hued water, and then all of these colors from the leaves.
00:28:39
Speaker
And just, so is it from like surrounding minerals in the water? Like, yeah. So it's basically sulfur. Okay. From the nearby cedar swamps.
00:28:52
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah, so that's kind of what is staining this water, but very rare color, which might be why it's so popular. Yeah, it does look beautiful. Although I will say whenever I'm out on a hike in Ohio, and I come across like a yellow crick, I'm like, No, that's not good. That's no good.
00:29:13
Speaker
That's the other way. Yeah, that's really cool. And I just wanted to confirm they also they the Upper Peninsula or the UP or the yup, which is now however, I'm going to refer to it because the porkies, the yup, this is great. They have so many great names. I thought it was like a mountain range you were going to talk about, but that's the nickname for the Upper Peninsula, yup.
00:29:39
Speaker
Got a head on up to the old yup. Is it just yup? No, it's y-o-o, I mean, yes. They do say just like yup, but also y-o-o-p, the yup. Interesting, because I was picturing in my brain, y-u-p-e. That's wrong. Yeah. Yeah, I got you. The yup. The quaminy falls in the yup.
00:30:04
Speaker
It looks, yeah, it looks beautiful. Um, I think my last, so I will say I have a few other runners up. So before I hit my last one, the Sioux locks boat tour, you can go through a tour of the locks on, uh, on the great lakes. And I think it's a really neat, um, kind of like learning experience because you probably don't think about how massive shipping boats and containers go through these like channels and they still have locks and operations. So that's, that's fascinating.
00:30:34
Speaker
Also, Turnip Rock, that is a site on the lake that I think a lot of kayakers visit, and it's just like really unique, has a lot of rock outcroppings, specifically at this one location. The Estevant Pines, Nature Sanctuary, the Petoskey area, but I'm going to finish my contributions with the Belle Isle Park, which is back in Detroit. I mean, I'm just given
00:30:58
Speaker
I know. The entire state is not just Detroit. It just so happens that there are a few things that we came across that were really, really cool. But Belle Isle Park is literally just an island in the middle of the river in Detroit. And it has so much stuff. So not only is it a park, but it has what? So it's almost 1,000 acres.
00:31:20
Speaker
It has an aquarium, a conservatory, a Great Lakes museum, a nature center, a giant slide, like all of these different things that you can do on the island. So it just seems like a really cool thing to see. And plus the conservatory is just beautiful, this big domed building that I know I've seen tons of pictures of on Facebook and on our site. So it's something that I feel like everyone should see at least once. You said a giant slide.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yes. To the water or like. Oh, no. But like a like a slide. Imagine a like a state fair. And you know how you get this little slides where you sit on a burlap sack and you go down. Yes. Something like that. Yeah. OK. How interesting. Random. Interesting. Maybe it was a limited time exhibition. But hey, go back and check for the slide. You never know. Oh, OK. I used to love the slide when I would go to the carnival.
00:32:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Unless you like hit a seam in it and then not as fun. Yeah. So we have so many places on our map that we are going to share with everybody. We have a whole slew of restaurants. I think 10 to 12 restaurants. We have
00:32:41
Speaker
So many cool places to stay outside your normal hotel option.
00:32:52
Speaker
Yeah. And I will say that I personally have been, I love this feature of having this custom map with different sections because they're all color coded and have different symbols and stuff.
Road Trip Resources and Tools
00:33:03
Speaker
So you can start planning your trip a little bit easier and it's not just a wealth of information, but you can start seeing like if things are in the Upe or if it's down near Detroit and how you can plan these things out and how many wineries you can hit in one day, you'll be able to figure it out. Yes.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, I do think it's a very cool resource that I would love for people to use, not just visiting Michigan for the first time, but also if they live there and maybe they, you know, if you need some inspiration to go out and explore for a weekend and you don't know where to go, maybe use this map, create a customizable itinerary. And, you know, I feel like we're doing a lot of the legwork in order to promote these adventures. So.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a fun aspect of this season in particular. Absolutely. So yeah, it's the first day of autumn as we record this and get out there and enjoy Michigan. It's going to be beautiful. If you're up for an audio adventure, we will be exploring the best stops in your state through season three's exploration challenge.
00:34:15
Speaker
We'll be trucking across the United States with some quintessential stops in your home state. So make sure to like, follow, or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever listening platform you use.