Part One-Our Mini Michigan Vacation

A few weeks ago we were noticing all the beautiful pictures appearing on TV and Facebook of all the beautiful fall color.  I wanted to take a little road trip to view the colors.  We made arrangements to meet with my sister and her husband this past weekend.  They have a second home in Traverse City Michigan.  We watched the color map of Wisconsin and Michigan and decided that mid October would be prime viewing time in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin and the Traverse City area.  We left early Friday morning, October 16th.  We headed north through Green Bay, Escanaba Michigan, and on to the Mackinac Bridge.  At first we saw very little fall color and thought we may have made a big mistake.  In fact, we ran into many bouts of snow showers and rain and the temperature was falling into the mid-30's.

This was a pretty view of Lake Michigan, but not the fall color we were expecting.

Then a few miles from the Mackinac Bridge, we started to see some pretty foliage.  We saw a bunch of cars at a scenic overlook and pulled in.  It was gorgeous, although because of the lighting these photos don't do it justice.  The colors were much more brilliant.

On the way to the Mackinac Bridge, the view along the road was very pretty.

There were very high winds on the bridge.

The winds were very strong and crossing the bridge was a little scary.  The large trucks carrying logs and the semi's are required to travel very slow.  It was beautiful, but I wasn't driving.  My husband didn't see anything but the road.

We took the road along Lake Michigan the rest of the way.  Traverse City is a beautiful city.  It is one of those towns that is very inviting.  There are beautiful views of the bay, a lot of winery's and very unusual shops and restaurants.  It took us a little over nine hours to get there with a few short stops, but it is a very scenic trip.

Parasailing on Traverse Bay in 43 degree temperatures.

If you ever get a chance to visit, you won't be disappointed.  My niece has the pleasure of living and working in this lovely town.  Tomorrow I will start showing you some of the things we did.  Stay tuned for Part two.