Past the College Grounds

I didn't mention that I went camping at Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area this weekend. Myself and a couple of other urban planning students made the long drive, putzed around Ludington for a few hours, and then worked our way to the trailhead. It was a mere half-hour walk through some mildly-rolling wooded dunes to Lake Michigan, where we camped just behind a foredune. It was pretty amazing... nobody else in sight; a private public beach is a hard-to-find commodity on Lake Michigan these days, but make people have to venture too far from their cars and most will shy away. The water was still pretty cold, but swimmable, and the black flies were not bad at all, especially in the breeze near the lake, which was part of the reason we ditched the tents and slept on the sand. From here we could see both the Big and Little Sable Point beacons to the north and south, not to mention a sea of stars. Easily accessible and idyllic: highly recommended, even though some sort of critter partook of assorted camping gear and sunscreen in the middle of the night. I'll go back. Yes! M!ch!gan!

Sufjan Stevens and Great Lakes Myth Society vied for control of the car stereo as we took a straight-shot through the isolated towns of US-10 and eventually onto I-75. Someone had the idea to stop in Frankenmuth. Since I'd never been before (unlike native East Siders), I was game... it turned out that the finale of the Bavarian Festival was taking place. The short version: Frankenmuth is like a really f-ed up German version of Holland, without the dignity. It appears the entirety of the "Bavarian" architecture was built in the 20th century solely for tourists. The whole downtown is pretty much Dutch Village with a slightly different accent. Bizarre.