On Location: Mackinaw Island

Mackinaw Island, Michigan

Today marks the final day of the Mackinaw Policy Conference during which policymakers and business people from the state of Michigan convened (as the name suggests) on Mackinaw Island to discuss strategies for bolstering the state's economy through both legislative and entrepreneurial approaches. 

In celebration of people coming together to strengthen our community, I am (finally) posting photos from my own trip to Mackinaw Island, May 10-13. But first, a couple of important details:

• Mackinaw Island is located between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan and, as with any island, you must take a ferry to get there. 
• Cars are not permitted on the island (though we did spot a police truck escorting a large construction vehicle during our visit). Instead, horse-drawn buggies, bikes, and foot power are the main forms of transportation.
• The island is best known as a hopping tourist destination during the summer, but people do live there year round, receiving supplies by ship.
• Though the island was the nation's second national park, it no longer maintains this federal designation and instead a large part of the island is a state park.
• The island was the home of the first battle in the War of 1812.
• Doud's Market on the main street is Michigan's oldest family owned grocery store (established 1884). 

Michigan's Oldest Family Owned Grocery

Police Bike Parking

Dream Greenhouse Nestled in the Woods

Fort Mackinaw

Mackinaw Island Beach Front

"Mighty Mac" Mackinaw Island Bridge

Arch Rock

View from Atop Arch Rock

On Location: Holland, Michigan (Part II)

DAY 2

There we were: hungry on a Sunday morning in a town where nothing opens on this day of rest until around noon... except for the Windmill Restaurant. I think every small town has its own version of the Windmill, that diner you can rely on to be constantly busy, to always have decent but not great food, and to never fail to decorate for a holiday (in this case, Valentine's Day). For breakfast, I had a "Birdnest" (over-medium eggs on top of a plate of hashbrowns with feta cheese) and it did not disappoint. 

The plan was to find Lake Michigan which, conveniently, exists as part of Holland State Park. There's something really amazing about big bodies of water, but I am very particular that they are bodies of fresh water. Maybe I should be embarrassed of just how midwestern this will make me sound, but oceans freak me out. Having spent too many summers looking forward to the end of August when the local lake or bay would finally reach 65 or so degrees, salt water is just too warm (then again, I don't particularly like baths either). Not to mention the veritable zoo of things to step on,  feel against your legs, and/or get bitten by. Nope. For my own experiences with water, it's fresh water in person, the ocean via Planet Earth.

Break Wall

When we found the lake, it was like nothing I'd ever seen, an arctic tundra with ice formations lining the shore and snow drifts covering the break wall (diversion: I think it's interesting that "break wall" is part of most Michigander's vocabulary, an indication of the very central role the Great Lakes play in our culture and interaction with the natural world). I'd venture to say that, for most, Lake Michigan connotes summer weekends and the easiness, seagulls, and familial gatherings that come with them. In summer, sand masks the sound of human feet while  children's laughter and waves provide the ambiance. 

That day was in all senses the summer version of Lake Michigan's diametric opposite. Barren and strange, the landscapes were hard to understand with the overarching quiet stillness emphasized by crunching footsteps. And yet, though the lake did nothing to provide the comfortable familiarity of the archetypal bright orange pail and a sandcastle experience, she was uniquely accessible. Instead of swimming a few feet into combative waves, we walked freely hundreds of yards onto still ice. The sharp boulders lining the break wall that make parents hold more tightly to their children were merely  pebbles sticking up through the snow as a man led a dog attached to a sled pulling two young girls around them.

There was a certain sense of comradery at the beach that day. When you and yours are among hundreds, its easy and sometimes even the objective to ignore other beachgoers, but that day we belonged to a handful who were interested in enjoying the other personality of the lake. Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe it was just that, even though most of us there had taken physical science in 6th grade, we were bonded by our awe.  

Thank you for indulging my poetic waxation. For your patience, I will conclude with a few images from our day at the beach. (Please take note of just how large those ice formations were and imagine them lining the entire beach front...)

Ice Queen



The Tundra of Lake Michigan

Joshua

On Location: Holland, Michigan (Part I)



Holland, Michigan



This past weekend, Josh and I took a short "beat the February blues" trip to Holland, Michigan. We left Saturday morning around 10am, arrived by 12:30pm, and left Sunday around 2pm. Though we have just over 24 hours of experience with the town and community, our conclusion is that Holland has a lot to recommend it...

DAY 1

Our trip started with lunch at the New Holland Brewing Company pub, which - in addition to what Josh tells me is great beer - also makes its own spirits. Overall the food was good (a decent vegetarian selection, promotion of local products, and house made corned beef), the ambiance great (a huge multi-tiered building with ample natural light and a beautiful copper brewing system in plain view), and the experience a positive way to make a first impression. With full stomachs and a whole lot of enthusiasm, we set off to explore the city by foot.

Some of what we saw:

• Hope College campus - beautiful architecture and pleasant small college feel
• Kollen Park - a very cute green space integrated into the downtown region with walkways along Lake Macatawa, playgrounds, and vistas
• Heinz Pickle Factory - the largest in the world (we could actually see the giant pickle barrels for fermentation and smell the brine)
• "Ice Melt" sidewalk system - genius method of recycling hot water waste from the power plant by running it through piping under the downtown sidewalks to melt the snow and ice (seriously, these sidewalks were spotless)
• Farmers' Market space - nice covered area next to the civic centerW

In all truth, we ended up seeing quite a bit more than that. You see, Josh and I are pretty serious walkers. We lived for a year without a car, solidifying our habit of relying on our own two feet (and occasionally our bikes) to get where we need to go (including the 2 mile commute to and from work everyday). My thought is that it's good for the environment and it's good for us, so we're no strangers to prolonged series of one foot in front of the other. That said, even by our standards, our trek through Holland was pretty epic, totaling somewhere around 8 miles according to Google maps.

"The Holland Hike" Walking Route

The beauty of pedi-exploration is that you get to see a good deal that might otherwise go unnoticed, the details that require proximity and a slower pace to register. For instance, on top of seeing some of the attractions listed above, we also got a feel for the lay of the city. Many of the houses downtown seemed to be rental properties, and not just the ones near the campus. Ann Arbor has its fair share of "student ghettos" in the downtown area (which these weren't), but still, for us it was hard to imagine that walking further away from town would bring us closer to the kind of neighborhood we were looking for. 

It's hard to qualify exactly, but right around when we turned off South Shore Drive and onto Graafschap, all of a sudden we started to feel more like we'd found something. For instance, each lot was nearly an acre, people were outside shoveling snow and doing other household chores, there was even a small stream that ran through a series of backyards. This just felt like a good place...

CityFlats Hotel in Holland, Michigan

What we ended up settling on (at least for the time being) is that if we were to live in Holland, we would look for a house 2 or so miles from the downtown area. This would give us enough land for some serious gardens, we'd still be walkable to the town center, and we'd be privy to a good neighborly feel (literally every person we passed - and we passed a number - said hello). 

Our walk concluded around 5pm, when we wandered back to the car and drove over to CityFlats Hotel to check-in. In addition to being pleasantly modern, exceptionally clean, and very comfortable, the hotel is LEED gold certified, meaning it lives up to certain environmental stewardship standards. With tired feet and good consciences, we enjoyed the hotel amenities and prepared for our second day in what might someday be our new hometown...

TO BE CONTINUED

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

According to the 2010 census, Michigan was the only state in the union to see a population loss for the first decade of the twenty-first century (source: mlive.com). 54,000 people smaller than it was only ten years ago, Michigan has two residents who aren't leaving... no way, no how.

Like any recent college grads, Josh and I have been slowly pondering where we want to live our adult lives. For now, we have a house in Ann Arbor that we love and jobs that are allowing us to do what we need to do, but we don't plan to be here forever.

So, where do we go? With the world of possibility available to us in our youthful enthusiasm, we've chosen to greatly scale down the scope of our options and stay in the state of Michigan.

We love the Great Lakes state for any number of reasons and we feel a commitment to doing whatever we can to help to our community, the state-wide community, get back on its feet.  As we see it, there's a lot of opportunity here for those willing to seize it and as long as we have something to offer and the will/ability to give it, here we'll stay.

In short, to fulfill our personal, professional, and life goals, we are in the process of seeking a place in Michigan that fulfills our various "residential" desires. In other words, we're looking for a community with...

• Agricultural roots, including any or all of the following:
• Land available for us to purchase and live on (homesteading, anyone?)
• Farmers' Market(s)
• Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) farm
• Community garden plots
• People who appreciate, respect, and engage in hard work - often the product of having agricultural or industrial roots
• Downtown center - I living close to where people gather, be it coffee shops, grocery stores, hardware stores, or any other number of public spaces (this also makes green transportation - i.e. your legs or a bike - much easier to use frequently)
• Scenic beauty - lakes, rivers, forests, parks, whatever
• Ample space for recreation in natural areas
• A basis for life-long learning - some sort of institute for higher or continuing education
• An emphasis on community - community development, community action, taking care of one another
• Diversity - not only in race, but in age, thought, culture, belief, etc.
• A relatively small population both in the community itself as well as in the surrounding area - i.e. no more metro or suburban space for us

That's the criteria and the time frame is 3-5 years (though we're relatively flexible). In support of this project, from time to time I'll be sharing our explorations in a series I'm calling "On Location." Tomorrow will be the first installment, reporting on our recent weekend trip to Holland, Michigan. Below is a teaser photo of me and a frozen Lake Michigan. Stay tuned for more...

Navigating Lake Michigan at Holland State Park in February