Random Thoughts On Friday

This months outside of Kentucky theme, Lake Michigan (and the states of Wisconsin and Michigan) was done on purpose, as I recently completed a one week road trip circling the Lake! 

Over the next several days in April, I will include details and photos from my trip around the huge body of water.

Many of the touristy areas really don't get going until May or so, so we kind of went in the off season.  I like planning trips in the off season for various reasons.  I like going when the crowds are smaller (sometimes even non existent).  Plus, I think sometimes you get a chance to really see and experience an area in a more real way when it is not all dressed up for the tourists.

Along those lines, we also realized that getting to the restaurants and other site recommended by locals ALWAYS beats the heck out of going to the flashier tourist stops.  A popular spy themed restaurant and a place where your food is delivered by model train sounded good in the travel guides, but they failed when we actually went there.  Cool idea, but the food was not even close to average.

Here is a rough outline of our trip-

We drove from Louisville to Indianapolis to Chicago on the first day of our trip.  I was not thinking at all about the fact that a certain basketball game was going on in Indianapolis featuring U of L.  I have driven from Louisville to Indy MANY times and I have never witnessed traffic like that!  I will have to plan for things like that next time.

We drove through Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Dells, toured the football stadium in Green Bay and then worked our way through Michigan, hugging M-22 and stopping in every great little town we could!

For some reason, we kept finding AMAZING little coffee shops!  Usually, on a road trip like this, I might find 7-8, and of those 1 or 2 might be noteworthy, but not on this trip!  We stopped in several and each one was unique and perfect.  You know I love cozy little coffee shops and I will mention each and every one!

Also, I like the idea of following or circling a body of water for a road trip.  Have you ever done this?  I really enjoyed this route!