Clark Norton
The Grande Mariner, Blount’s 88-passenger ship that sails Lake Michigan and beyond. Photo from Blount Small Ship Adventures.
Fifth in a Series
On our recent “Magical Lake Michigan” cruise aboard Blount Small Ship Adventures‘ 88-passenger ship Grande Mariner, we started in Illinois (Chicago), sailed to Michigan, made three stops (Holland, Beaver Island and Mackinac Island), and now were headed to Wisconsin.
The world’s fifth largest lake, Lake Michigan borders parts of four U.S. states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana — and only Indiana is not included on the itinerary.
Lake Michigan is the only one of the five Great Lakes not to share its waters with the province of Ontario, Canada. That made it ideal for some of the American passengers who didn’t own passports. (Though as an aside I would encourage everyone to get one; for example, to take… Continue reading
The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Photo by Catharine Norton
Fourth in a Series
On the fourth day of my recent “Magical Lake Michigan:”cruise aboard the Grande Mariner with Blount Small Ship Adventures, we reached the top of Lake Michigan in early evening.
Dinner, normally served at 6:30 p.m., was delayed a bit while we sailed under the five-mile long Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac and connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan.
The bridge was opened to traffic in 1957 and is considered an engineering marvel, costing $100 million to build. It’s the fifth largest suspension bridge in the world and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Four million vehicles cross the bridge annually.
We were heading for Mackinac Island, just beyond the bridge, following our earlier stop at Beaver Island. Docking there in early evening, we would have much of the next… Continue reading
The former King Strang Hotel overlooks the Beaver Island waterfront. Photo by Catharine Norton
Third in a Series
I’m sure that many residents of Michigan have heard of Beaver Island, even if they haven’t actually visited there. But when I saw it on the itinerary for my recent “Magical Lake Michigan Cruise” aboard the Grande Mariner from Blount Small Ship Adventures, it had me scurrying to my atlas.
It turns out that Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan: about 13 miles long and three to six miles wide. But it’s remote and sparsely populated — with only about 550 year-round residents — and it can only be reached by boat or small plane.
Ferries serve the island from the mainland in warm months, but when the weather gets cold and the northern reaches of the lake ice over, Beaver Island residents mostly have to hunker down… Continue reading
Spring tulips on Windmill Island are a highlight of a stop in Holland, Michigan. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews.
Second in a Series
How can you get from Chicago to Holland without crossing the Atlantic Ocean?
Just book a “Magical Lake Michigan” cruise with Blount Small Ship Adventures, a line that specializes in taking passengers along the rivers, lakes, waterways, and seas of the United States, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Holland, in fact, is a town on the west coast of Michigan, and it was the first stop after embarking in Chicago, Illinois, aboard Blount’s 88-passenger ship Grande Mariner.
For those unfamiliar with Lake Michigan, it’s one of the five Great Lakes that top several states in the northern (mostly Midwestern) tier of the U.S. and together comprise a fifth of the world’s fresh water supply.
As I wrote in my previous post,… Continue reading
The Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with the rest of the state. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews.
First in a Series
Having been born in Michigan, reared in Indiana, and then returned to Michigan to attend college before moving to the West and East Coasts, I often wince a bit when I hear friends in the latter refer to the Midwestern U.S. as “flyover country.”
I’ve even been guilty of a bit of snobbery myself when I’ve noted that most of our friends in California and New York originally came from the Midwest — “but had the good sense to get out.”
I’m now officially retracting that statement, which was based on my childhood memories of bitterly cold winters, hot, humid summers, and what I perceived as a lack of cutting-edge cuisine and culture.
After spending last week cruising Lake Michigan with Blount Small Ship Adventures in the company of… Continue reading
OK, so it’s still July as I write this. But it’s never too early to start dropping broad hints for Christmas, especially for a super-cool travel-related gift. This one is a jacket with 15 different pockets and features ranging from a built-in neck pillow to drink holder to phone case and much more.
And yet it looks like an ordinary jacket. How do they do it? I have no idea.
It’s currently featured on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site, and the company (BauBax) has raised more than $3 million for development, out of an initial goal of $20,000. The jacket won’t be ready for shipping until November or so, making it ideal for Christmas gifts.
I like it in blue.
Check it out below.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597538543/the-worlds-best-travel-jacket-with-15-features-bau
In our last post, we posed ten questions that might affect your health and well-being as a traveler. Here are the answers:
What are possible ways to counter jet lag?
1. The direction in which you fly may influence the severity of your jet lag. Other conditions being equal, which direction is most likely to produce bad jet lag?
Answer: B, West to east. When flying west to east, especially across America, you’re more likely to encounter darkness when you arrive, which helps disrupt the body’s “inner clock” (jet lag is caused by disorientation by crossing time zones, which exposure to light seems to ameliorate). Assuming no time zones are crossed, there’s technically no jet lag at all flying north-south or south-north, though you can still feel the ill effects of a long flight.
2. One good way to counter the effects of jet lag is to:
Answer: D… Continue reading
What are possible ways to counter jet lag?
Jet lag, contaminated water, insect bites, infection, and injury away from home…the potential perils are enough to make some would-be travelers toss away those glossy brochures.
But knowledge, planning, and preventatives can help stave off many of travel’s unhealthy side effects — whether it’s flying fatigue, a nasty case of Togo two-step, or an emergency medical bill after you flip your whitewater raft in Nepal.
To test your knowledge of travel health issues, take our quiz.
1. The direction in which you fly may influence the severity of your jet lag. Other conditions being equal, which direction is most likely to produce bad jet lag?
a. East to west.
b. West to east.
c. North to south
d. South to north
2. One good way to counter the effects of jet lag is to:
a. Keep your watch set on “home… Continue reading
A Wyndham Vacation Rentals property in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Photo courtesy of Wyndham.
Did you know July is National Vacation Rental Month?
I didn’t either until I was sent a copy of a survey taken by Wyndham Vacation Rentals, the world’s largest professional manager of vacation rental properties, which queried more than 11,000 vacation rental travelers on their travel preferences.
It seems that “older individuals” (read: baby boomers aged 55+) prefer traveling with friends more than younger age groups do.
According to the survey, 36 percent of those aged 55 and over prefer to travel with friends when they rent vacation properties, compared to 29 percent of those aged 35-54 (which does include some younger boomers) and 26 percent for those aged 25-34.
Women in general, meanwhile, like to bring their own parents along (for obvious reasons, these women would tend to be in the younger age groups),… Continue reading
A simple Bangkok noodle stand can rival the best restaurants in many other cities.
My recent post on The World’s Top 10 Cities took food into consideration, but also considered many other factors — such as scenery, sights, general ambiance, ease of getting around, friendliness of the residents, etc.
My list of The World’s Top Seven Food Cities includes several of those listed in my Top Cities post, but eliminates some and changes the rankings of others. (Like my Top Cities post, I’m sticking with international cities only, eliminating American cities because I’m partial to my former homes — San Francisco and New York — and would also have to include New Orleans and maybe Savannah, and by then I’d be more than halfway through my list.)
For starters, I’ll axe Jerusalem, Barcelona, Budapest, Venice, and Florence from my international food list, even though I’ve had some very… Continue reading
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