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Don Bruno, World Wide Country Tours – Tour Director
When most people hear the terms "Mid-West" and "Great Lakes" they probably conjure up images of black and white cows, fields of corn, red barns and sandy beaches. Words like "the biggest", "the first", "number. 1", "the nation’s leading…" usually don’t come to mind until they have had the experience of seeing a container with ripe blueberries at a U-pick location in South Haven Michigan, slicing through a freshly baked cherry delicacy in Traverse City, or savoring the aroma from a Sister Bay Wisconsin apple orchard’s market. Here "Hometown" USA is demonstrated in a very localized personal manner.
In truth, few other areas of our country can boast of more world class history, productivity, scenery, climate, industry, culture, architecture, than what is presented here in a colorful quilt work within this diverse area.
All the words above sound like a promotion for a Hollywood movie and do apply when describing agricultural activity in this area but are often left undiscovered by travelers. What we remember most are the fun times at the annual hometown festivals: the 10 day Cherry Festival, the Cherry Pit Spitting competition, the fall Pumpkin Festival, the Spring Asparagus Parade (where King "As per Gus" is crowned).
For those who seek to discover more and to experience the differences from our own world, then come with us to these places. We experience one constant item that illuminates these lofty words at a personal level. It’s the people. The dairy farmer with his children’s farms bordering his own, showing us his tractor collection, offering us his homemade honey and maple syrup. The blueberry grower proudly displaying the picker he and other co-op members invented. The logger in his rustic white pine hunting lodge amid his 40,000 acres telling the story of his start years ago with one horse and an ax; now heading a company with six mechanized units cutting more timber than any other independent in the nation.
Hometown values combined with rich resources fashioned the world we know today. Forests rebuilt Chicago, iron ore became steam powered farm & logging machinery, then the internal combustion engine, then the automobile. The lake itself and its rivers provided transportation for explorers and goods and now offers a wealth of agricultural, recreational and tourism benefits. It was the water that brought the first explorers in the 1600's, it was the water that spurred growth and settlement, and it's the water that keeps the people here.
Compare the world class features of Chicago's towers and attractions to the pristine dunes and forests of the remote Upper Peninsula. Contrast the opposite shores: one with sandy beaches, productive orchards, and quaint village retreats, with the other's deep harbors and industrial centers. Simple farm homes suitable for calendar covers counterpoint with logger baron castles and gold coast mansions. Fishing and farm villages rest in the shadow of opulent resorts. Art colonies and craft markets separate from glittering retail centers.
Lunch one day served in a 5 star Resort Hotel by tuxedo clad servers, contrasts with the next day’s home cooking in a village church's fellowship hall.
As we tour this emerald blue treasure, we will absorb the history, marvel over its riches, revel in the scenery and be warmed by the people and admire their resourcefulness. This tour is what WWCT does best: to provide not only interesting places, but also quality people.
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