Lauren: What we actually did in Michigan.

Forever ago I wrote this post about fun things you can do in Michigan.
I wrote it in anticipation of my boyfriend coming to town, but the list included a lot of museums, and museums in Michigan aren't free (unlike the Smithsonian in DC).

So here is a really late list of what we ACTUALLY did in Michigan-- cheap things to do in Michigan!

1. We went to Hell.
There wasn't actually a whole lot to do or see, but now we can say that we've been to Hell. Take that, Dante. And there were amusing signs. Like "The road to Hell is paved with potholes." #MichiganRoads

2. On the way back from Hell we stopped by Island Lake to play in the lake. There was lots of goose poop (a Michigan landmark). We also threw around with some lacrosse sticks. Colin and I went back to Island Lake/Kensington Park later to ride the tandem on bike trails and to kayak.

3. Detroit's Historic Fort Wayne (1845)! This one was on that original list I made, and it was actually really cool! We were lucky enough to be there to watch to the surrender to the British. They even had a canon going. We talked to some reenactors and saw their cool historic paraphernalia. As two history majors, it was pretty neat. Plus, you could walk through portions of the original fort, which were AWESOME. Additionally, it's location on the Detroit River allowed us to see across to the Canadian shore, and driving there gave Colin the opportunity to experience some of Detroit's deterioration. This was definitely a favorite. You only have to pay for parking. I wish we'd taken more pictures here!

Reading some exhibits inside

The river (& Canada) are behind us.

Surrendering to the British

4. Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. This is absolutely free to wander around and admire the mechanical marvels, but if you can leave without spending any quarters on their games, I commend you! They had some REALLY OLD things. And some more modern ones. We took a couple of friends with us, and it was a lot of fun.

A wooden pig. Why not?

There's a LOT in there.

There were some more standard games...

Lot of rounds of basketball. Colin was pretty much the champ.

And some less standard...

We tried to cure Colin's arachnophobia. He had a hard time with it.

Zelda, the fortune-teller. She's pretty old.

I don't remember what this guy is, but if he's the one that was supposed to give me a massage, it was pretty lame. But he's super old, too!

5. Woodward Dream Cruise. People come from all over to experience this. UNFORTUNATELY, I screwed up and we got there late in the evening after most cruisers had already quit, and got to see more SUVs than we had anticipated. But if you're in Michigan at the end of August, don't miss this!

6. Sukho Thai. Colin loves a Thai place in Silver Spring, MD, Ruan Thai, and always brags about how it's pretty much the best. But after eating at my family's favorite, Sukho Thai, he had to admit that he'd been one-upped.

7. Visit downtown Birmingham, the social hub. Yoga-doing soccer moms and corner-sitting middle schoolers congregate here. We walked around, met a friend, and grabbed a smoothie.

8. Visit Ann Arbor. Home to the University of Michigan, it serves the interests of the college-age demographic. We went to Five Guys, ordered fries, and stole peanuts, which we fed to fat and friendly squirrels.