Michigan: Flint, Petoskey Bay, and Muskgegon

This week was a little different as the rains and Mud had completely overwhelmed the van to the point I needed to do a deep clean so I found a full service campsite (usually expensive, but it is still pre-season so my discount worked) where I could flush my tanks, do tons of laundry and scrub every square inch.  But On the way to that place I thought it would be important to go to Flint.  As many of you know Flint has been in the forefront of social justice issues and there happened to be a brewery right downtown where I could stay. 

Driving through flint was really interesting as you knew instantly what type of neighborhood you were in to the point that some of the roads barely could be called roads. Being that Flint was only a few hours from where I was in Canada, we got in before noon so I figured I would try and find a dog park for Joy to stretch out in. I went to google and found a park not too far from where I would be staying and it had 4.5 stars, so we went. Well, the dog park has three sides of a fence and the park itself looked like nobody had been there in years.  Thankfully we had time so we drove out to the suburbs and found one, but it was sad to think about how much disrepair there was, though there was lots of construction in the downtown area, and the brewery I was at was probably the coolest place I've stayed so far and the YMCA there, while dated, you could tell the love and pride in making what they had work and looking past the rust it was clean and cared for, When talking with folks they were excited about the future and the possibilities in Flint.

​Petoskey Bay was the opposite of Flint, a vacation resort community. This is where I spent most of the time cleaning and then stuck in the van because of more rain. but on Wednesday afternoon the weather broke and I took the bike into town and up to the beaches. It was a great ride looking into the Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. I tried to find a Petoskey stone, but unfortunately it was really cold but the water so I opted to buy a specimen to add to my travel magnets.  There was also a nice distillery next to where I was staying so I finish my ride there enjoying a triple berry martini.

From Petoskey Bay we went to Muskegon,  Muskegon should make San Jose blush as it was really amazing the resources they were putting into developing arts and entertainment. Again, it was a fairly short drive so we had a lot of time to explore the museums and other institutions. I also found out that Michigan has this thing called a social district where you can get a drink and walk from place to place within the designated area. While I was not in a huge drinking mood, you really could tell how this was creating an amazing environment with businesses that were fun and the the museums were really top notch!  I was also lucky to come on free admission day. And really was blown away with the art museum that, while it was going through a renovation and two of their galleries were being staged, held a great collection of unique art.  They also dedicated two galleries to the artwork of kids from the local schools. I truly believe that art is one of the most important expressions and to have that kind of support for children and youth is really incredible. 

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