2014 Tour Finale: Rock & Roll HOF in Cleveland

Departed Fenton, Michigan early to allow as much time as possible at the Rock & Roll HOF in Cleveland. Arrived at the downtown Residence Inn about noon and, possibly due to our early check-in, Marriott upgraded us to a massive two-bedroom suite in the Euclid Tower. This 1800 sq ft area encompassed a huge living area and kitchen with full-size appliances and 2 bathrooms--quite the place!

Upper level walkway to the Euclid Tower at Residence Inn

Downtown Cleveland Skyline

Lakefront adjacent to the R&R HOF

After dropping our stuff, we walked the 6 blocks down E. 9th Street towards the Lake Erie waterfront arriving at the Rock & Roll HOF just after 1pm. In recent years, downtown Cleveland has undergone quite a renaissance of downtown renovation. Aside from panhandlers working each city block, the area surrounding the R&R HOF is quite attractive.

Preparing to get "wrist-banded" at the HOF

Main atrium of the R&R HOF

The R&R HOF is located inside a glass pyramid designed by I.M Pei that opened September 1, 1995--my R&R HOF Wiki link contains some interesting background info on the HOF. Although the main visitor entrance is on the third floor, the exhibit galleries are distributed among 7 floors that can be accessed by stairs, escalator or elevator. And the main gallery on the lowest level is where most visitors begin and then work their way upwards thru the building.

Large Elvis gallery with costumes and his 3-wheel motorcycle

Rolling Stones pinball machine???

We checked our coats on the lowest level and began the tour with the "Roots of R&R"...gospel, R&B, folk, country and bluegrass. There are small galleries for the notable individual artists/groups and quite a large exhibit of costumes worn by various performers. The butterfly-sleeved "Electric Ladyland" outfit worn byJimi Hendrix and a somewhat uncomfortable "suit of armor" full metal outfit worn by Beyoncé were standouts.

Jimi Hendrix "Electric Ladyland" costume

"The Wall" by Pink Floyd

We had a late lunch in the nice cafe on the fourth floor overlooking the lake. Then we headed up to exhibits of R&R innovators, like guitar-maker Les Paul, whose invention of the electric guitar created a new wave of R&R music. On the topmost floor was an exhibition on the greatest R&R concerts of all time and a 4-walled wraparound video stage with clips from multiple mega-concerts.

Yasgur Farm...hmmm, something happened there...oh yeah, Woodstock!

Janis Joplin wailing away on the R&R video soundstage!

Checkout registers at the R&R HOF gift shop

Vinyl LPs for sale...brings back those memories of the '60s & '70s!

For R&R gift shop fans there is a huge buying opportunity for LP records, posters, framed album covers and all the typical hats, jackets, sweatshirts, key chains, etc. Kenny bought a nice HOF jacket and I went for the amazing magnetic electric guitar bottle opener!

City building art

E. 4th Street restaurant mall

Our choice of hotel location was awesome as we were just a half block from the "E. 4th Street" restaurant district. Between Euclid and Prospect streets, E. 4th Street has been blocked from auto traffic and converted into a sweet little haven for a wide variety of restaurants. We met friends, Brian & Cristen, for dinner at Chinato and had a great dinner and a wonderful ending to our two week road trip!

 

 

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Michigan Shoreline 2014 Tour: Day Ten

After a leisurely morning, we departed the Huron House and continued south along M-23 towards Bay City. This would be our last full day in Michigan and we are encountering our first rain since the brief storm on Day One in Grand Rapids. Fortunately, our only planned stop today will be in Frankenmuth, Michigan's "Little Bavaria". The city's name is a combination of two words. "Franken" represents the Province of Franconia in Bavaria, where the original settlers were from. The German word "Mut" means courage; thus, the name Frankenmuth means "courage of the Franconians." The area was settled and named in 1845 by conservative Lutheran immigrants from Franconia (now Bavaria) in Germany. It is safe to say that tourism is the main industry as this town of less than 5,000 residents draws over 3 million tourists annually!

Rainy day on the main street in Frankenmuth

West entrance of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

Since 1945, one of the largest tourism attractions is Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. Although I had previously heard of a "Christmas store" being located in Frankenmuth, I was unprepared for the size and scope of Bronner's--it is almost disorienting. Open 12 months a year and with Alpine architectural design, the building footprint alone is nearly 7.5. acres. The parking lot holds over 1000 cars and 50 tour busses to accommodate over 2 millions visitors a year. Luckily, we visited on a "slow, rainy day" with perhaps 50 cars in the parking lot...the weekend after Thanksgiving alone brings 50,000 visitors!!!

Both the West and East Checkouts have more than 20 checkout lanes!

Christmas displays at Bronner's

Anything and everything........

As we walked through the store, I began to realize that Bronner's alone might be solely responsible for our annual trade deficit with China! Bronner's stocks multiple multiples of EVERY theme in EVERY color, size and shape. You cannot name a vocation, avocation, hobby, college, pet, state, country, landmark, religion, club, fraternity, organization, etc. that is not represented in every conceivable format--and then Bronner's has an entire department just for "customized decorations" for those who want their tchotchkes personalized!!!

This section is for aqua thru blue ball-shaped ornaments

Merchandise is presented in a variety of clusters by theme, then by shape, then by color. As an example, if one simply wanted to shop for the sub-group of ball-shaped Christmas ornaments which are displayed in the entire spectrum of colors...just the aqua/blue section (above) fills nearly 50 linear feet of display space! And Bronner's states their daily electric bill is over $1250! The 365 days of non-stop Christmas music alone would make me crazy......

Bavarian bye-bye!

After purchasing a few items for our optical display cabinets, we departed for Fenton to spend our final night in Michigan. Tomorrow we will visit the Rock & Roll HOF in Cleveland and have dinner with friends.

 

 

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Michigan Shoreline 2014 Tour: Day Nine

Since the 1950's, the Chuckwagon is where island locals go for breakfast on Mackinac Island. The Chuckwagon is truly a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant, open for only breakfast & lunch and closed on Mondays. Donny is the short-order grill virtuoso, skillfully preparing multiple breakfast orders without a single wasted motion in this throwback establishment.

Daybreak over Mackinac Island harbor

The Chuckwagon...or is this a time machine back to the 50's?

Keep my skillet good & greasy...this ain't my first Rodeo!

After a great breakfast, it was time say goodbye to Mackinac Island and catch the ferry back to the mainland. We checked out of the Chippewa and walked down to Sheplers dock. In short order, we were picking up our vehicle and crossing back over the Mackinac Bridge to return to the Lower Peninsula for more adventures on the eastern shore of Michigan.

No motor vehicles...so bag delivery is either by pedal or hoof!

One photo captures all 3 competing ferry services AND the Round Island Passage Light (1948)

Round Island Lighthouse (1895)

Over the Mackinac Bridge and back to the Lower Peninsula

From Mackinaw City, we headed east on M-23 towards Cheboygan, where we stopped at the Cheboygan Brewery. Then we continued southeast towards Alpena and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Alpena, with a stable population of just over 10,000, is considered, along with Traverse City, to be one of the anchor cities of the upper portion of Michigan.

Cheboygan Brewery

We missed the daily boat tour, but got this great photo!

Unfortunately, we were too late for their daily glass-bottom boat tour to view the many shipwrecks in Thunder Bay. However, the National Marine Sanctuary had many interesting displays and a theatre showing a very worthwhile 20-minute video on the maritime history of Thunder Bay.

The John Lau Saloon in Alpena

Then it was time for a late lunch at the Lau Saloon in downtown Alpena before continuing south towards Oscoda. In comparison with the western coast of Michigan, we found the eastern coast to be more low key with less dramatic scenery. We might give the east coast another look on a future road trip, but the west coast of Michigan certainly wins the preliminary round.

One of the two guest buildings at Huron House

Our Au Sable room at Huron House

Well-appointed bathrooms

The Huron House was the final place I booked before we left for Michigan. Once again, I was simply searching for a nice endpoint for our days travel and stumbled upon another winner. Located on the Lake Huron beach in Oscoda, Huron House attention to detail makes this a wonderful place for a couples escape and home for weary travelers!

Stars are born...Willie & Felesha doing publicity photos on the beach!

At check-in, we met another incoming couple, Willy & Felesha from Detroit, and we agreed to meet them out on the deck by the water. At the front desk, we had been informed Huron House had a photographer on the grounds updating their website. As we returned from a short walk along the beach, we noticed the photographer talking with Wille & Felesha asking if they would do some impromptu publicity shots. During the photo session, we chatted with the owner of the Huron House, Al Heminger. Afterwards, Willy & Felesha joined us for wine and conversation at our table by the water until it was nearly dark. Another great day exploring Michigan!

 

 

 

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Michigan Shoreline 2014 Tour: Day Eight

Awoke to another beautiful September day in Michigan--we have been exceedingly fortunate with clear weather to this point in our journey. Exiting the hotel, we discovered Mackinac Island streets are hosed down every morning to mitigate the accumulation of...horse poop! Horse-drawn carriages certainly are romantic, but they do create a certain residue. And, daily, a nearly invisible worker quietly patrols the streets to eradicate some of the larger deposits.

Freshly cleaned streets!

Doud's is the main supermarket with quite an impressive inventory

Our first choice for breakfast, the Chuckwagon, was closed on Mondays. So, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Pancake House instead. Thus fortified, we decided to try riding a tandem bike...for the first time ever....around the entire island! After helmeting up, we entertained the locals by taking off from the curb like an overloaded seaplane seeking to lift off a lake. Let's just say our first few takeoffs were...not very smooth!

M-185...the bike path around Mackinac Island

Stairs up to Arch Rock

Arch Rock as seen from the bike path

The 8.2 mile bike/walking trail around Mackinac Island is posted as M-185 and advertised as "the only state road in Michigan where cars are banned". Horses are also not allowed...perhaps due to that "residue" issue! There are several points of interest along the route, the first of which were the steps up to Arch Rock.

Kenny, Jim and Linda on M-185

Stack of 31 rocks....

Tandem bikers!

A bit further along, we saw a couple struggling to take a photo of themselves along with the stack of rocks they had just created. So, we stopped and offered to take their photo to only to learn their 31-rock cairn represents their 31st anniversary they were celebrating on Mackinac Island. Although Jim & Linda had flown their airplane into the Mackinac Island airport, Linda allowed she is not always the best passenger and wished a red "panic bar" could be installed near her seat in the cockpit...Jim just grinned.

Amazing clear waters of Lake Huron

M-185 mileage post at British Landing halfway around the island

As we rode, I was amazed at how clear the waters of Lake Huron were when so many U.S. waterways are brackish. Halfway around the island, at British Landing, we decided to turn inland and rode through the interior of Mackinac Island. There are several beautifully maintained historic homes--especially as we approached the Grand Hotel.

Carriage entrance to the Grand Hotel

All is grand at the Grand Hotel

Although the historic Grand Hotel has been in business since 1887, the more nuanced online reviews consistently indicate it is not the best hotel choice on Mackinac Island for a number of reasons: outdated infastructure, arrogant/impersonal staff, mediocre food, expensive ($600-1000/night--note their rates are quoted per person) and they are very "rules oriented". The rule that killed Kenny's interest in staying there was the "ladies must wear skirts/dresses after 6pm".

Our lunch at the waterside Pink Pony restaurant

Fudge making on marble-topped tables

Both our bodies and marriage survived the tandem bike test, so we had some lunch and then strolled along the Main Street tourist avenue. It is apparent that fudge is the primary tourist purchase, with 3 primary vendors each having 3-4 stores within the half mile tourist trail. Referencing the ancient "when in Rome" custom, we decided to sample the Kaluha fudge. Mistake! We left with a $40 bag of fudge and thus personally embraced the local vernacular for tourists..."fudgies".

Clouds rolled in just before sunset

Time to head back to our balcony overlooking the harbor for cocktail hour!

 

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