Let’s talk about taking the detours. I’ll give you a couple of tips for detours.
We just got back from a 10 day business/personal vacation. Does your business send you to conferences? Do you take a day or two ahead and/or afterwards to see where you are visiting?
One of our businesses just had a conference and we went down ahead of time and then continued for a week afterwards. We visited family during our travels. We didn’t have anything concretely planned for one of our days. We took advice from a friend that was local to where we were at and did an impromptu trip. We were also driving on the highway and saw a sign that sounded interesting, so we got off at the exit and found a beautiful water fall. Plus, a very scenic drive to get there.
I have TripAdvisor on my phone and I use it extensively. I search for places ahead of time and also while we are there. It’s a great tool to use both on the road and at home.
So, take a day or two before and/or after your conference/business trip to explore the area you are in.
Now that we are back home, how can we take detours?
I am the one that does not like the highway. I love to take the backroads, so I am glad to be done with the freeways. Although, we did take quite a few backroads while we were traveling.
Take the backroads or at least a different way home than what you did on the way to work
While you are on the backroads, check out the restaurants, parks, and various businesses. You never know what you are going to find.
Maybe you are leary of taking the impromptu detour, then plan a detour.
Go to TripAdvisor ahead of time and plan some extra fun things to do.
In summary:
Take a day or two before and/or after to explore
Take the backroads or a different way home
Plan a detour either at home or on the road for business
I hope this has been helpful, you can join me on my personal profile on Tuesday mornings for my weekly chat and you can join me back here on Adventures and Walking on Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern time
Metamora, Michigan, it’s a small town in Lapeer County. One time a year the town grows exponentially for a couple days. This is because of their Metamora Country Days and Hot Air Balloon Festival that takes place every August. This festival has a whole lot more than just hot air balloons going on. However, that is the main reason that I have been going back year after year. The second reason is for the fish dinners that the Metamora Lions put on. They also offer more to eat than just the fried fish dinners, but that is my favorite.
Let me tell you about how I started out going to this awesome festival so many years ago. I was living in Metamora and as with many small towns, if there’s a festival going on in town, that’s where you want to be. The festival takes place the 4th weekend in August and when I was walking in the Crim Festival of Races in Flint, Michigan it would conflict for the parade on Saturday and how late I stayed at the festival on Friday. Most years that I was not in Flint for the races I was at the parade and I was taking pictures of the Elf Khurafeh Shriners’ Motorcycle Drill Team while they were driving in the parade. This was an easier parade to do that with, but I’ll cover that in another post.
So, what all do you do at a country days & hot air balloon festival? Well, aside from the obvious there are a lot of things to do. There are the truck and tractor pulls out behind the Lions hall, where you should bring your ear plugs to sit and watch them. For those that like a little bit of adventure, there are monster truck and helicopter rides. Of course, there are bouncy activities for the little kids. Inside the Lions Hall there is an arts & crafts show, be sure to pick up some locally made maple syrup from Elling Tree Farm out of Elba. In the area covered area outside the Lions Hall is where the food is and places to sit and eat. Also, I can’t forget the chicken poop fundraiser. This is where they have a chicken pen that the bottom is sectioned off like a bingo card with just numbers on it. They sell spots to patrons and once all the spots are sold they place the chicken in the pen and whatever spot the chicken poops on is who the winner is.
Out in the field way behind the Lions Hall is where the balloons go up. This year they had bands playing out there for entertainment, plus the Masons have their ice cream sundaes and there was also pizza and BBQ available for purchase. Each time the balloons are scheduled to go up there is a pilots’ meeting. This is where they determine if the balloons will go up or not. I checked the weather for the area ahead of time and was pretty confident that they would go up. Sure enough, this year they went up. The great thing about this balloon festival is that they allow the public right up by the balloons, so I have been able to get great pictures and videos throughout the years.
Downtown Metamora has a variety of activities going on as well. There’s a car show, a vendor tent, the Masons also sell their ice cream sundaes down in the park (that’s before the field opens for the balloons), this year there was also a Civil War encampment and there are food vendors.
This small town brings in thousands of people that fill the parking spaces, even those that are specially created just for the event. In addition to the parking in town, there are also shuttles from the local high school and from a church.
Next year, be sure to put this on your activities list for August and when you come into town, bring your patience and have some fun!
One of my favorite places to walk is on our rails to trails system here in Michigan. There are so many rails that have been turned into trails. I have been fortunate to live near so many. For this post, we will focus on the ones in Oakland County. These trails all connect or at least they will shortly.
We will start at the Polly Ann Trail, which starts in Orion Twp at Joslyn Rd just south of Waldon Rd. There is no parking near this start. It is a short distance up the trail to parking at the Civic Center Park where you can access the trail. The trail wanders north through Oxford while passing by various bodies of water, woods, crossing some roads, both paved and dirt. While in Oxford the trail crosses a major road via a bridge.
In Orion Twp there is a connector from the Polly Ann Trail to the Paint Creek Trail that goes along Clarkston Rd and has a crossing into Camp Agawam, a former Boy Scout camp and now a township park. The Paint Creek Trail starts downtown Lake Orion and goes to Rochester. On the trail you will go by a pond that has a couple of areas for you to get off the trail to fish or put in a kayak. The water is not very deep though with tree branches in it, so if you stick around long enough you may catch a turtle sunbathing. Traveling south on the Paint Creek Trail you will come across signs from the old rail line. Plus, just off the trail is Paint Creek Cider Mill where you can get cider and donuts or a nice lunch or dinner.
When you get to Rochester there’s a short trail through town that connects to the Clinton River Trail. The trail follows Paint Creek, goes under Rochester Rd, and around the library. Then there’s a short walk to where it hooks up with the Clinton River Trail. You have the option of going to the left or right. To left will take you to the Macomb Orchard Trail as you cross over into Macomb County. When going to the right you will be on the winding trail that takes you under one freeway and over another which then puts you in the city of Pontiac.
I don’t walk in the city of Pontiac, but will pick it back up in Sylvan Lake. This then ties in with the West Bloomfield Trail. There are quite a few traffic crossings through the Sylvan Lake area. Once you cross over Orchard Lake for the 4th time you will have a longer stretch without a heavy traffic crossing. Also, along the trail you will have the chance to slow down and read the signs about the area. Lots of historical information on those signs. This trail ends at Haggerty Rd.
The next trail that ties in is not quite done as of this writing. It’s the Michigan Airline Trail. You’ll be able to continue through to Wixom Rd when this is finished, including going over M5 on a nice bridge. You’ll go through Commerce, Walled Lake and Wixom. I haven’t been on this section yet, because although there is asphalt down, it is not ready for people to be walking, running and biking on it.
Let’s Go Walking Some Oakland County Michigan Trails. Still want to go further? You’ll have to take the sidewalk down Wixom Rd to Pontiac Trail and then head west to Lyon Oaks where you can pick up the Huron Valley Trail. This trail will take you to Island Lake Recreation Center or to South Lyon. Either way, you have quite the ride ahead of you. These are great trails to go running, walking and biking.
Whenever we go out of town for business conferences, we always make sure to do fun things and not make it all business. A couple of years ago I decided to break out of my fear of heights and try zip-lining. My train of thought was that you are in a harness, should be pretty simple. I was right!
Our first attempt at zip-lining was in St. Louis, MO at Adventure Valley. This was the perfect place for a first try. When we first get there, it’s a small place with both zip-lining and paintball. We had made reservations online, which is required so that you pick out your time slot. We upgraded to have the gopro camera on our helmets. We opted for just one and then switched part way through the courses.
Zipping along through the trees!
Our guides showed us how to get our gear on including hooking us in and unhooking us out on the course. Being that this was my first time and I am afraid of heights, it worked out well for me that the distance to the ground got larger as we went along. I gained confidence by the encouragement of the guides and my fellow zip-liners. It was nice to be in the earliest time slot and only one other couple with us. There was plenty of room up on the platforms and it was quicker to go through the course. Along with getting higher off the ground the lines got longer, which enables you to going at a pretty good clip.
We enjoyed our time zip-lining so much that we look for it when going places. So, the next place we went zip-lining at was in Frankenmuth. They had a festival that had the main street in town closed down and the zip-line right in the middle of the road and slightly downhill. For those that were taller than me (5’ 3”), they had to really lift their legs up towards the end so that they didn’t drag their feet.
Now one place you will want to put on your places to visit and zip-line is the Mega Cavern in Louisville, KY. Once again, this is a guided tour and they assist you with setting up the harness. As the name says, this is in a cavern, so wear long pants/jeans. One thing that we did take advantage of was the digital picture package. It’s so nice to not worry about our own cameras/cell phones. They have lockers to lock your belongings up in. You don’t want anything dropping, you won’t get it back.
Our first long zip was through hell, as they called it. Nice red “fires” at the bottom of the cavern. Also, along with the zip-lining there were a couple of suspension bridges. I was glad that they were well into the course after a few zips. These were a bit nerving to me with my fear of heights, but I successfully got across them. My favorite zipline here was the finish where you can race against someone.
From now on, we look for places to zip-line at when going out of town. One on my list is at the Ark Encounter, but that’s another post. To find your next zipline adventure, check TripAdvisor. Let me know if you like zip-lining and where your favorite zip-line is at.
Welcome to Mandy Jo’s new blog – Adventures and Walking. I am excited to bring you along for this new journey, which is this blog. My journey is in two parts that intersect. Part one is my adventures across Michigan and the USA. I love to travel and look forward to doing more throughout the years to come. Part two is my walking. I started walking competitively back in 2003 and have “only walked” in races since that point. This part will include my training, my races, and walking and fitness tips.
You will see reference to TripAdvisor, which I do get compensation for the links, but not the reviews. I will also be including offers for various places, services and products that I may get compensation from, but at no additional cost to you.
I have found a new app & website for trails. It is called Trail Link https://www.traillink.com/ It is USA wide and is free or you can upgrade for $29.99/year for unlimited map downloads. I am looking forward to using this and finding all kinds of awesome trails. I’m not sure if I need to upgrade yet or not. This is not an affiliate link, so I don’t get any compensation whether or not you decide to upgrade.
Most of the photography that I will be using in my blog will be my own personal photos. I will be putting a watermark/logo on my personal photos, this way you will know when the photos are mine or stock photos from the product, place or service.
There was a pop-up to sign up for my email list. Be sure to sign up so that you know when I have new blog posts.
