Site Updates

Hi friends! I have finally gone through all these posts and added better pictures along with just overall updates about the locations, etc. I hope you take the time to go back and look at what got me started with this whole thing. I also want to drop my social media and work stuff in case you wanna be super cool and follow me on there. It isn’t going to be fancy pics or anything, just parts of my daily life.

Insta ~ Etsy ~ Society6

Hope you all have a lovely weekend ahead of you. I will be back with a next update soon, I have a list with ideas waiting xoxo

Traverse City, Michigan Part Two

As my time here in Traverse City comes to a close (my next adventure starts in approximately 17 days, stay tuned), I wanted to share a few pictures from my favorite adventures of the summer. It is going to be hard to leave the untouched beauty and nature up here to move back to city life in Detroit. This summer was one for the books though and will go down as one that was full of adventures.

First up is Fishtown. Fishtown is located in Leland, Michigan which is a small town right on Lake Michigan. Many of the best places to visit in Northern Michigan stem from the road M-22 and this is no exception. Driving on M-22 should be considered a trip in itself as it is the most beautiful highway on the east coast. The fall color tour is insane. Anyways, Fishtown was built in the early 1800s as a port town for fishing. Many of the buildings that I saw were old shanties that had been converted to little gift shop.

My next place I am going to share with you is the local’s gem, Port Oneida. There are few signs, if any, helping you get there. This is also another stop off of M-22 (shocker!) that is in the Sleeping Bear Dunes region in northern Michigan. This area is absolutely breathtaking and is the perfect place to see a sunset or, if you’re lucky, the Northern Lights. Here are a few of the shots from this summer.

Last but not least, I spoke in my previous post about the secret beach we stumbled across. Well that secret beach is off of Old Indian Trail and can be reached after doing a short one mile hike through the woods. You then come out on the sand dunes which is another quarter mile or so to get to Lake Michigan. This place is just beautiful and there are so many rocks to hunt, especially Petoskey stones.

Hope this post tides you over til my next adventure! Happy travels everyone! xo

 

Traverse City, Michigan

In the twist and turns of life, I find myself working in Traverse City for the summer. It is known around the world as one of the most beautiful places you can travel to, especially for the pristine fresh water beaches and sand dunes. Lake Michigan is my favorite body of water in the world. And if you are one of those people that things lakes are dirty and gross, well you my friend have never been to any of the HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, & Superior) that surround the state of Michigan. I sometimes forgot how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful state containing such natural beauty. Here are some pictures of the adventures so far:

These beach pictures are taken at my secret beach I discovered a few weeks ago. After a short mile hike through the woods, you reach the sandy duned shore of Lake Michigan. There was literally no one around, which is why it quickly became a topless optional place for me.

The boat pictures were taken from my job on the Nauti-Cat, which is a catamaran that goes out on tours everyday in Grand Traverse Bay. Honestly, one of the best jobs ever. I get paid to work for my friends and I get to be outside all day on the water. If you are ever in Traverse City during the summer, look it up and take a cruise. You won’t regret it!

And last, but most definitely not least, is the Field of a Million Sunflowers. This gem is located in Williamsburg, which is only about fifteen minutes from my house. I am obsessed with sunflowers to say the least and have never found a sunflower field. Well let me tell you, they are all over up here; I even found one randomly while driving around yesterday. I am not kidding either with the name. There is close to a million sunflowers growing in this field. It was one of the most magical things I have ever seen. If you do not know the Greek mythology behind the sunflower, read it here. It is one of my favorite stories and is part of the reason I got my giant sunflower tattoo.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Traverse City as I have less than two months til I am back to the Dirty D. Peace, Love, and Happiness xo

becoming a yooper

Hi all! Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope this new year has been treating you well so far. I have been working way too much to enjoy it but whatever. This summer is going to be a major adventure for me so I should probably take this time to rest up now. I told you last time that my next post was going to be about my trip to the UP, which is one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. So that being said here starts the documentation as soon as we crossed the bride:

Hahaha! Okay but seriously the first really cool stop we made was the day after the bridge crossing as we got lost trying to find a store for almost two hours within only a three mile radius. FYI there are no fucking street lights/signs/crossings/cell phone service/help so that was fun.

Day One: Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore & Miners Falls

These are just basic pictures of the now non existent arch that used to be a towering force over Lake Superior. Pictured Rocks is known for so many other things but I feel like this is what most people think of when they thin of the lake shore. Our next stop was then Miners Falls which was the largest waterfall I have ever seen. It was so beautiful and unspoiled. My boyfriend went all the way down to the base of it and I swear he looked like an ant from standing at this view. The hiking around this area is awesome and secluded, which is why we continued the next day.

Day Two:Mosquito Falls & Chapel Falls

Seeing and hanging out at Mosquito Falls was one of my top five favorite things I have ever done. The hike was absolutely breathtaking clearly by the picture of the trail. It was like that the whole way and no one was around. When we finally got to the falls, I couldn’t help myself I had to get in them which is why there is the picture of the cairn. I learned that was going to be my new hobby this summer. When we decided to leave we took the casual walk back to the trail head and thought we would be in for the sam experience to Chapel Falls. No. This was not the case. The hike was hard and long and hot and not worth the one lousy picture I got out of the whole thing. Whatever though, not even a really bad deal when you consider you can walk a few miles and see not one but two waterfalls.

Day Three: Fayette Historic Town Site & Lake Kitch-iti-kipi

While I was planning the trip here and I stumbled across abandoned old town I of course was immediately intrigued and added it to the list of stops we were going to make. Fayette was something to see because it was crazy to imagine an entire bustling town living on that piece of land. Reading all the little blurbs about how the people lived which were in each of the little houses was cool. The houses were extremely small and made me think how little people used to be (says the girl who is 5’4″). The most amazing part about the whole complex was the furnace building which was GIGANTIC and still held many of the same qualities it did during the towns height in the late 1800s. On the same route we took to check out Fayette also contained Lake Kitch-iti-kipi. This stop was also a no brainer to me. And it was totally worth it. You get to ride on this little raft that you take yourself out on by winding yourself back and forth by a line that is stretched over the entire thing. No worries though because there is a giant hole in the middle so you can see all the way to the bottom. It is crystal clear all the way down which the height of the trees pictured (around 45 feet). My boyfriend said this was his favorite part of the whole trip; go me!

Day Four: Hanging at Our Awesome Cabin

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These are just pictures taken from the backyard (other than the waterfall which was surprisingly taken on the side of a very busy highway) that I wanted to share. Being able to wake up to the first few views everyday was absolutely incredible. Also it was the beginning of October, we had no neighbors and I was able to spread out a blanket topless and color which was a slice of heaven. Then we had an amazing and very hot burning fire.

Day Five: Tahquamenon Falls

This was our last stop on our way back home to civilization and non gypsy life. The falls are absolutely gigantic and I wish we had more time to explore the land it was on. I can’t imagine if all the trees were changing how beautiful the colors would be. These pictures are from the Upper Falls which is the only cool part of it.There is an area called the Lower Falls but don’t you think I would have posted a picture if it was worth seeing?

‘Til next time my friends xo

P.S. follow me on my new Instagram @hazykadie

coloRADo

Hi all! Happy new year and I hope you had a joy filled holiday season. I have been slacking on my adventure sharing (per usual) but I now found this handy dandy new website that can resize my pictures in minutes. Life changed. I have not been out urban exploring as much as I used to for a couple of reasons. 1) Detroit is a changing and boards are being put up everywhere; they are even covering decade old graffiti 2) lost touch with my urban exploring god partner who has been out there killing it 3) I feel like I have become more in touch with nature instead of dead and decaying buildings. So that is going to be my focus from now; it is time for the evolution of Alice.

I went on back to back trips in late September/ beginning of October. First was Colorado and then I flew home at 7am on a Sunday morning and did the 8 hour drive to the Upper Peninsula. This post is going to be about Colorado but SURPRISE my next one is going to be filled with UP pictures. God I wish I could live there, most beautiful place I have ever witnessed for sure. Anyways, not to talk shit about my Colorado experience, here are some pictures of the cool shit I did, which includes hiking to hanging lake (don’t fucking do it, it was so hard), driving up Pike’s Peak, which is the tallest mountain in the continental United States, and my personal favorite, visiting the Garden of the God’s. (OK but really I went to Colorado to go see my favorite DJ GRiZ kill it at Red Rocks which is this awesome amphitheater built into the side of a mountain, so fucking cool)

First up in the gallery is Hanging Lake. Hanging Lake is a very popular tourist destination with estimates of over 100,000 people visiting each year. The hike is about 2.5 miles which doesn’t sound too bad until you realize it is straight fucking up and you are from Michigan so you can’t fucking breathe in the elevation change. I probably say down 15 times, one of which is documented below:

The hike was totally worth it though because not only did you get to see a lake on the side of a mountain that has not moved in over a century, there is also a waterfall if you decide to keep climbing up a little further (which I did because at this point, fuck it why wouldn’t I?). The legend of hanging lake goes that a man was looking for gold when he found a stream and followed it all the way up to here. The ecosystem of the lake is very delicate and is not allowed to be touched as the shoreline is made out of travertine from other rocks disintegrating. The reason why the water is a turquoise color is because of the carbonate materials that have dissolved in the water. Here is some of the majestic beauty that is Hanging Lake, enjoy:

Pike’s Peak is the most visited mountain in the United States and the second most visited mountain in the world, behind Mount Fuji in Japan. The ascent and descent drive is probably one of the more scariest things that I have ever done, which apparently they do races on the damn thing so that thought absolutely terrifies me. Also, there is a hiking trail that around 15,000 people try to climb each year which doesn’t include the marathon race that is put on yearly. We got to drive all the way to the top, which was really cool because I got to see the “dead line” which was explained to me as the point that trees can no longer grow anymore. Anyways, here are some cool pictures:

Now on to my personal favorite, the Garden of the Gods. This place is absolutely breathtaking and is named that way for a reason.We spent hours here before driving to Pike’s Peak, which you can see both from each other. The place has been designated as a public park since the early 1800s and the over 400 acres of land was donated by a man named Charles Elliot Perkins. He made a rule stating that no building or structure shall be permitted to be built on this land unless it benefits it as a whole. The entire park is free to visit and I highly recommend checking it out.

Check back soon for my adventure’s in the UP. cheers, xoxo

oHIo

hey everyone! hope your week is going ok, only one more day til Friday. Which doesn’t mean shit to me since I work in the service industry haha. Anyways I am really trying to get better at posting even though I haven’t been exploring much lately. This post here is about a trip I went on over the summer for a few days. We started in Ohio and ended up in Indiana, which I am going to save for another post. Here is some pictures an info about my Ohio journey. Enjoy xo.

The Akron Zips are the University Of Akron’s football team. Their home was The Rubber Bowl from 1940 until 2008, which is when their new stadium opened. Fun fact: during my research I found out that the Akron team has the lowest turn out for football in the country, kinda sad. Makes sense why this place has been left to fall into shambles. The stadium can seat over 35,000 and has most recently been used for high school football games. During the 1970s, it was the host to many rock n roll concerts such as The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan,  The Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Alice Cooper, and Three Dog Night. That is the craziest part to me that such big names were drawn there, just like the old theaters of Detroit. Another fun fact: apparently it was named the Rubber Bowl as a tribute to all the tires Ohio produces (LOL).

The infamaous Rolling Acres mall! We did not get inside mostly because we didn’t even know where to start looking in regards to ways in. All of the obvious ways were boarded/bricked up. This one is easy to look up so if youre curious about what it looks like on the inside I would recommend looking here. There is also more on the history and old pictures. In July 2016, after the owner owed more than a million dollars in taxes, the city has gained control of it and has slated it for demolition.

Chippewa Lake Amusement park was a hard one to find! This was an amusement park that was open from 1878 to 1978, one hundred fucking years! That is crazy. The last owner of the park closed the doors in 1978 and left the rides there to rot for over 30 years. There were also many buildings and even a ballroom, which burned down in 2002. A man we met while exploring on the property said that a young girl was in there and started a fire causing it to be ruined. This also perpetuated some demolition of other buildings going into 2008. Only the Ferris Wheel, the Little Dipper, the Flying Cages, and the Tumble Bug rides are there still. The Tom Sawyer (Miss Chippewa?) steamboat, sections of old roller coaster tracks as well as train tracks and other remains such as the burned ballroom and miscellaneous structures are still there. This is a little more about the history of the place along with some old pictures that are pretty cool. I didn’t consider this place to even be exploring because it was very easy to access and it was so overgrown that the only way you were going to find anything is by walking through the woods. It is crazy to think that it was once a thriving attraction. It is one of my favorite displays of nature taking over that I have ever seen.

old roller coaster track.

old tiket booth.

Tom Sawyer steamboat

the dock on the back of the property. we were just in time to see the sun start to set.

what is left of the flying cages.

ferris wheel.

inside the ferris wheel. there is literally a tree growin straight through!!

one of the cars to the tumble bug.

burnt.

Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well. I am currently hungover on my couch watching football and thought I would share something with you. This post is about one of the most pristine, and by pristine I mean relatively untouched, church that I was lucky enough to see only a few weeks before it was tragically burned in a fire on June 2, 2016. Everybody’s Universal Tabernacle Church of Holiness (say that three times fast) is a mystery to me because I cannot find out any history on the building or church. I need to take a trip around the corner to the library and see if I can dig anything up because all that I can find is this picture which says it is dated around the 1950s. I had no idea how beautiful it could have looked since when I saw it the outside looked nothing like this.

Here are some pictures of the fire crews battling the blazes, which took hours to put out. The story goes that firefighters were fighting a fire nearby and debris from that fire were carried by the wind onto the roof of the building. Such a sad thing to hear about. I hope you enjoy seeing the before and after. The organ was so beautiful.

Hoping to share more of all the pictures I have been stockpiling this week. I have been holding out on you all and it’s not fair to either one of us haha. Hope you all have a great week, until next time xo.

Ohio State Reformatory

The Ohio State Reformatory was staked out as a site around the time of 1861 and was being used as a training camp for the civil war. In 1867, the city of Mansfield, Ohio became a candidate for the new prison that was to be built. The city raised $10,000 to purchase 30 acres of land for the prison while the state contributed 150 acres of adjoining land. The prison was meant to be a middle point between two other institutions in Lancaster and Columbus. Construction finally started in 1886 but was not completed until 1910, due to funding problems of course. In September of 1896 the institution finally opened the doors to 150 prisoners, who were immediately put to work on the sewer system and building a wall around the place. The prison remained in full working use until December 1990 when Boyd v. Denton was ruled upon. This court case brought up by several class action lawsuits of prisoners had the institution closed due to overcrowding and inhumane conditions. The replacement prison is right behind this one. So if you’re every driving through the middle of nowhere Ohio, check it out. The Ohio State Reformatory is open for tours everyday and it was really cool. Best $11 I’ve ever spent.

old cell that was a double occupied room. apparently if three of the guys didn’t like the other one they were allowed to vote him out.

where lil wayne shot a music video

outside of the lil wayne cell. apparently a lot of artists have shot music videos here.

the chapel. many inmates tried to escape through this room.

Brooks’ room in shawshank.

the wardens office in shawshank redemption.

the parole room in shawshank redemption.

Ohio State Reformatory in Media:

-Tango & Cash (1989)

-The Shawshank Redemption (1994) IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS MOVIE DO IT NOW

-Lil’ Wayne “Go DJ” was shot here in the cells pictured above

-Godsmack “Awake”

-multiple haunted documentaries

-plus much more I was not familiar with so look for yourself

City Airport Inn

hello all! hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I am currently in Florida on vacation and this morning it is a little chilly so I thought I would do another update since I suck at doing these at home. This exploration I am about to share was hands down the weirdest one I have done to date. This abandoned motel is located by the Detroit City Airport which is less than ten miles to downtown. The airport was mainly used during the 1940s before the city outgrew it, which led to another airport being built in Ypsilanti then Romulus. The city airport is barely used today which is probably why this motel became useless. I wish I could have seen it back in the glory days because all that I experienced from this place was vibes of hookers and drug use. The rooms were like time warps filled with VHS tapes and untouched beds. As you can see from the signs hung on the front desk, this was definitely a hub for prostitution. I am going to guess that the place has been abandoned for around two or three years. I was very surprised that my partner and I didn’t run into any homeless people living in here because this seems like an obvious choice. However, maybe they all come at night to sleep there. Anyways, here are the pictures hope you enjoy. Safe and happy explorations xo.

DPS

Hello all, I hope you are having a fantastic week. TGIF right? Anyways, with all this stuff going on with regards to the Detroit Public School system, I thought it is about time that I share some of my experiences with them. If you aren’t familiar with what I am talking about, basically  Detroit fucked over their school system so bad that we are something like over a half million dollars in debt. There are very few actual DPS actually open these days and the ones that are have a very low enrollment rate. My uber driver the other morning informed me that his wife is a teacher and that they might have to close early due to lack of funds and enrollment. Shit is real. Also, these places are impossible to get into now so I’m very happy I stumbled across them this summer. Fun fact: DPS has their own police force. These places are now boarded up and may possibly be up for auction.

Here are pictures from Greenfield Park Elementary. I can’t find much history on it other than the fact that it was opened in 1916 and closed 91 years later in 2006 due to lack of funding (surprise!), steep decline in enrollment, and problems with heating/cooling system. I am also hearing it is slated for demolition in the near future. There was not much in this school that was still intact.

schools have become notorious dumping grounds

auxilary gym

auditorium

Next piece here is my absolute all time favorite exploration I have ever done. My partner and I spent two hours here the first day we discovered it and then came back the next day to spend even more time. This place was built in 1924 and was closed in 2012 after merging with two other nearby high schools. I visited it last summer which is when these pictures are from. This school had two gyms, a pool, a photo lab and more. It is absolutely huge. The amount of vandalism and decay that happened in those three years is outrageous. One of my sources informed me that this school is now boarded up and is shockingly not one of the schools that DPS is auctioning off. I wish I had more background on the building for you, but I cannot find more than the fact that it was previously a middle school before it became the technical high school. Enjoy the pictures because this is one that I absolutely loved to do and I wish I could go back for. Happy Exploring xo.

view from the side

one of the many science rooms

american history X (very creative)

rocket nation

the library

fireplace in the library

view from the balcony in the auditorium

one of the locker rooms

the cafeteria

a fricken swimming pool!

the office

here you can see the seperation of teachers and students chairs

detroit magic trick