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