Saturday, June 6, 2009
Turtle Creek Casino, Williamsburg, MI: 5/28-30
We knew there were more things we wanted to do in the Traverse City area, so we decided to spend a few more nights at a casino nearby. There are numerous casinos throughout Michigan, with amenities ranging from an RV parking lot with no hookups to resort-style campgrounds. Turtle Creek was one of the former. It was quite cold, so the main problem was the noise from inconsiderate RVers, who ran their generators all night long in order to run heaters. We have a nice catalytic heater that doesn't need any power, plus we don't have a generator anyway, so we were stuck suffering the noise of others, without being able to retaliate with our own.
The days were lovely, with temperatures in the 60s, which is just about our favorite. The first day we drove up the other peninsula in Grand Traverse Bay, Old Mission Peninsula. With the aid of our fairly new GPS, we were able to chart our way up one side and down the other, traveling on the roads that were closest to the water. Even so, with the thick forests that Michigan continually offers, we often were out of sight of the water, despite it being only 10-50 feet away. Still, we saw many lovely homes and beach areas along both shores. At the tip of the peninsula is Old Mission Park, with lovely hiking trails and a really nice lighthouse, plus an historic log cabin. The lighthouse, which was built in 1870 and recently restored, is located on the 45th parallel. The log home was built around 1854 and was originally located in the southern part of the peninsula. It was moved to this park, repaired & furnished in 1992-97 so that people could see how the early settlers lived.
Another attraction that called out to us was The Music House, located in Acme, just north of Traverse City. We read about it in a tourist brochure and in the AAA book, but nothing could have prepared us for how special a place it was. The Music House contains an extensive, meticulously restored, collection of the finest and rarest automatic musical instruments. There's everything from an old organ grinder box to a Duo-Art reproducing grand piano to a Wurlitzer Theater Organ to a Mortier dance organ built in Antwerp in 1922. This is the only working Mortier organ in the United States, and it took several years of work to restore it. The reproducing piano was capable of recording an artist playing a work and then reproducing it exactly as played. We were fortunate enough to hear George Gershwin playing "Rhapsody in Blue" almost as if in a live performance.
We spent a little time in the casino on Thursday, when it wasn't so smoky. We gambled a few dollars in pennies and actually came out ahead. We spent the rest of the evening using their free WiFi. The following days turned out to be too smoky, so they didn't get any more of our business. Still, we thank them for their parking lot! When we get to the UP, our itinerary has us hopping from one casino to another.
The days were lovely, with temperatures in the 60s, which is just about our favorite. The first day we drove up the other peninsula in Grand Traverse Bay, Old Mission Peninsula. With the aid of our fairly new GPS, we were able to chart our way up one side and down the other, traveling on the roads that were closest to the water. Even so, with the thick forests that Michigan continually offers, we often were out of sight of the water, despite it being only 10-50 feet away. Still, we saw many lovely homes and beach areas along both shores. At the tip of the peninsula is Old Mission Park, with lovely hiking trails and a really nice lighthouse, plus an historic log cabin. The lighthouse, which was built in 1870 and recently restored, is located on the 45th parallel. The log home was built around 1854 and was originally located in the southern part of the peninsula. It was moved to this park, repaired & furnished in 1992-97 so that people could see how the early settlers lived.
Another attraction that called out to us was The Music House, located in Acme, just north of Traverse City. We read about it in a tourist brochure and in the AAA book, but nothing could have prepared us for how special a place it was. The Music House contains an extensive, meticulously restored, collection of the finest and rarest automatic musical instruments. There's everything from an old organ grinder box to a Duo-Art reproducing grand piano to a Wurlitzer Theater Organ to a Mortier dance organ built in Antwerp in 1922. This is the only working Mortier organ in the United States, and it took several years of work to restore it. The reproducing piano was capable of recording an artist playing a work and then reproducing it exactly as played. We were fortunate enough to hear George Gershwin playing "Rhapsody in Blue" almost as if in a live performance.
We spent a little time in the casino on Thursday, when it wasn't so smoky. We gambled a few dollars in pennies and actually came out ahead. We spent the rest of the evening using their free WiFi. The following days turned out to be too smoky, so they didn't get any more of our business. Still, we thank them for their parking lot! When we get to the UP, our itinerary has us hopping from one casino to another.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 8:30 AM 
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