exodus from the big fireball: St. Louis, Chicago, Traverse City, Louisville pt 2

[warwickland]

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[Roanoker]

Love the tree-lined road and sun-on-water pics. Suitable for framing.

[chrizow]

very cool, looks like a fun trip.

[warwickland]

Love the tree-lined road and sun-on-water pics. Suitable for framing.

Thanks!

very cool, looks like a fun trip.

It really was a good time, and it was actually one of the shortest (if not the shortest) summer week long road trips I've taken in a while. It was like a big city long weekend, a little city quick roadtrip, a beach vacation and a 2 float trips rolled into one, which was really awesome. It was also interesting to see how people from Chicago/Detroit spend summer vacations. People don't really go to places the "Gulf" quite like they do in Missouri, they spend time on the beaches and lakes of the upper midwest and it all seemed a little classier than the Lake of the Ozarks and the "impoundment lyfe," or whatever as more commonly found in Missouri and points south.

If I had the money, I'd buy a second home up there in a second - areas up there make Osage Beach look ridiculous. I didn't photo the second homes, but you could tell in some areas that it was a sort of echo of old school east coast summering areas like Cape Cod, but without nearly as much pretension in the air[e]. It could be because of the shorter summer season, but there also wasn't nearly as much strip mall gulaging and cruddy blown out autocentric commercial junk. There are a lot of tiny downtown areas scattered around with small restaurants and dusty "family style" taverns servicing the summer crowd. Traverse City was the exception with some sprawly stuff, but it has a solid downtown.

[Highlander]

The 2cd, 3rd and 4th pictures are intriguing. I think I'd like to go there, looks like a nice mixture of northern woods and a quick flowing stream. More info please!

[warwickland]

The 2cd, 3rd and 4th pictures are intriguing. I think I'd like to go there, looks like a nice mixture of northern woods and a quick flowing stream. More info please!

It's the Platte River of Michigan that flows through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The river flows through a lake and then necks back down before emptying in Lake Michigan. The river northwest of the lake (which is seen in the 3rd photo) is so serpentine that you can park and put your kayak in, and then easily walk back to your car after a leisurely afternoon float. The river is largely sand bottom, and we floated it with our own inflatable kayak. I'll probably go back...it's one of those gems.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=44 ... 14&vpsrc=6

I did have to show up at the ranger station to get a first come first serve campsite on a Monday morning at 430 AM...people were driving overnight from Detroit and setting up cots to sleep in line. I got the second to last avail campsite...so beware if you ever want to camp at the National Lakeshore campsite at the height of summer...reserve early (like 6 months in advance) or roll the dice!

[brewcrew1000]

Kind of doing this same trip starting Friday instead its Chicago, Traverse City and Milwaukee. Friday Evening I will be playing Chicago Style Softball on Wrigley Field so that should be a fun time, i will try to post pics of Chicago and TC as well.

[warwickland]

i've been so nostalgic for western/northern michigan (in summer) lately...

[brewcrew1000]

i've been so nostalgic for western/northern michigan (in summer) lately...

Ive always been a fan of the summers "up north" and a deep nostalgia for it as well. I feel like the North East and Upper Midwest have the best summers by far and people really need to experience it. Hate to say it but kid rocks all summer long song kind of describes "up north" pretty well.

Also I have never experienced lake of the ozarks summer. Is it cool and nostalgic. I really have no desire to really experience it. Going to the "Lakes" down here seems like a bad joke

[warwickland]

i've been so nostalgic for western/northern michigan (in summer) lately...

Also I have never experienced lake of the ozarks summer. Is it cool and nostalgic. I really have no desire to really experience it. Going to the "Lakes" down here seems like a bad joke

i don't know. the bagnell dam strip is weird and interesting, i guess built in the 1940s. i've driven there for lunch from st. louis just to check it out. i can see the appeal there, i suppose, and a few of the spots remind me of the old school bars/restaurant spots in the northern midwest. i much prefer the more rustic missouri float trip experience. if you havent been down to the current river, i recommend it. spring/fall/early winter for nature (also the eleven point) and family, mid summer weekends for a drunken shit show, sunday/mondays in the summer are far calmer.

the up north summer experience is about perfect, in my opinion. there's nothing that quite compares to that in missouri, although it may just be a much more closed club, here. there's a few ozark rivers with nice tasteful old cabins like the upper meramec and white river.

southern midwestern cities have incompletely dominated, abandoned, or historically undeveloped old school style holiday-ing hinterlands, unlike detroit, chicago, milwaukee, or minneapolis, in the midwest. southern midwesterners sort of scatter to the four corners, literally, in the summer. some people know what i'm talking about when i mention "up north" and some people are dumbfounded.