08/01/2022
As I mentioned before, this trip was mainly inspired by Gergő, one of my dear students. Gergő lived and worked in a winery for a year and a half (about 10 years ago). I heard about this place from him, and when I looked at his pictures, I knew I must travel here. So the answer is so simple, why are we here! 😀
Traverse City is known as the cherry capital of the world. We didn't know much about it. We were looking for a lot of information and places to visit.
So Traverse City is the cherry capital of the world.
Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes, wineries, freshwater beaches galore. Everyone can find a program to their liking. It is an extraordinary place that visitors return to again and again.
By the way, apart from Detroit, I think the state of Michigan is nature itself!
On this day we also wanted to discover the city.
So we drove downtown and parked the car in the lot by the bay. Parking is paid but not very expensive ($1-1.5/hour), and there is plenty of free spaces. The parking time varies depending on the location.
After seeing how close the water was, we went there first. This is the western branch of Grand Traverse Bay, where Clinch Park is. The water is wonderfully clean, wonderful everywhere!
From there we went downtown, where we took a little walk.
It has a very cozy small-town vibe, and it's really all about the cherry. The film festival is also famous in Traverse City.
But the cherry is present everywhere. For example, we saw cherry honey in the shop window. 😀
Then as we continued walking, we passed a store called Cherry Republic.
We decided that even if we don't buy anything, we must go to at least one such store.
So we entered the store.
By the way, Cherry Republic has been around since 1989, when Bob Sutherland dreamed it all up. Because he didn't have enough money for gas and college, he began selling Cherry Republic T-shirts that read „Life, Freedom, Beaches and Pie“ from the trunk of his car. The t-shirts were a big hit, and Bob tried cookies a few years later. From the original 8 products, 200 cherry-based products are now sold in its stores. There is everything here: chocolate cherries, BBQ sauce, jam, salsa sauce, spices, coffee, summer sausage, wine and soft drinks, sweets, and kitchen utensils made of cherry wood.
In the store, the customer is greeted by the sign „Greetings from the largest cherry region in the world“.
Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula is the largest cherry-growing region in the United States. 75% of the Montmorency cherry variety is grown here.
We looked at the offer in amazement.
At least 4 locations in the store offer tastings. At first, our mouths immediately fell open, where we could taste dried cherries. One of them said, „Dried Balaton Cherries“.
Discovered initially near Lake Balaton (Hungary), this unique cherry variety is slightly darker, spicier, and fuller than the local Montmorency variety.
We immediately came across a Hungarian aspect!
You can also taste wine and sweets: cherry gummies, sour gummies, and yogurt pretzels. At another table, you can also try different jams and sauces.
We tried everything (except wine). We just stared at the other products with our mouths open because it's tough to see what's on offer!
We ended up just buying a bag of coffee!
When we finally got out, we moved on.
For some time now, we've been keen to look for „Greetings from…“ signs in every city. You didn't even have to look for it here because we just ran into it. Of course, cherries cannot be missing here, either!
The building of the Opera House is also worth mentioning.
We walked into the former warehouse district, which has been renovated and is a very cozy little neighborhood with restaurants and shopping.
From there, we walked back to the car, and another black squirrel crossed our path on the way!
We got in the car and drove on. The Village at Grand Traverse Commons is about 7 minutes away.
The former Traverse City State Hospital has more than 100 years of history. The transformation from a government hospital to a thriving and vibrant community makes the place what it is.
The story very briefly: In January 1882, Detroit architect Gordon W. Lloyd was asked to design the building. It consisted of a central administration area and wings on either side for patient accommodation. Each patient room had a view, direct light, sunshine, and fresh air. I imagine it like a sanatorium.
The building itself is enormous and very beautiful. It used to be a hospital.
In April 1883, the construction of the hospital began in the Victorian-Italian style. For the construction of the main building, more than eight million bricks were brought in from the local brickworks. The hospital was completed in less than three years.
What else might be interesting and worth mentioning: On one of the walls, there was a poster titled "Beauty Therapy".
The hospital was built before the first psychotropic drugs were used. The philosophy of dr. James Decker Munson was that "beauty is therapy". When patients are surrounded by beautiful surroundings, their emotional and mental state also improves.
Dr. Munson tried to ensure that patients in an unfamiliar place felt at home and were not afraid. In the hospital, meals were served in fine china in the dining room, and fresh flowers and plants decorated the dining tables and resting areas. Artwork and inspirational sayings adorned the walls of the corridors.
I think that would still help patients a lot today!
Nowadays, there are restaurants and small shops, and real community life unfolds within its walls and beyond, as we have seen in its garden.
There is also a guided tour, but we didn't come at the right time.
We wanted to eat here, but the cafe didn't have a great food selection, and the other restaurant was closed.
From there, we went to The Botanic Garden in Historic Barns Park.
As the name suggests, this is a botanical garden with beautiful barns.
Again, we didn't spend too much time because the botanical garden continued somewhere in the forest. Still, we didn't feel like going there. So we just looked at the little garden and wanted to see the barn. Still, unfortunately, they were preparing some kind of event (probably a wedding), so it was closed.
This botanical garden is dedicated to showcasing Michigan's natural beauty with an emphasis on native plant species.
America loves things called „World’s Largest …“ and has plenty of them.
We found one here, too, 8 minutes from the Botanical Gardens; The World's Largest Cherry Pie Pan is on the side of the road.
Well, that has a history too, and it's not the biggest cake pan anymore. Or maybe it is?!
So almost 50 miles from Traverse City is the town of Charlevoix. In 1976, a guy named Dave Phillips came up with the idea of making the world's largest cherry pie as part of the city's annual cherry festival. This became the world record because they baked a cake weighing 7,902 kg.
Of course, Traverse City also has a cherry festival, and they thought they should beat Charlevoix's record.
They did so again in 1987 when they baked a 12,859 kg (28,350 pound) cake.
The joy didn't last long, though, as in 1990, even that record was broken in Canada by baking a cake weighing almost 18,000 kg (37,721 pound). However, the cake shape was not adhered to…
Traverse City and Charlevoix kept the pie pan and put it on public display. Here in Traverse City, by the way, the pie form is a simple, plain pan shape. We haven't been to Charlevoix, but the pan is said to be nicer there, much more photogenic than this one! 😀
But at least it's still a friendly reminder of the former world record!
When we reached this point, it was around 5-6am; the weather was miserable all day, it was supposed to rain, but it didn't rain in the end. We were hungry, so we headed back downtown, where we sat down at a restaurant. This is Bubba's restaurant. Of course, it was completely full.
We had to wait as all the tables were taken. We were told to wait 1-1.5 hours, but if it's good at the bar, we can be seated in two minutes. Well, we had a good time there too!
They say they've sold the best burgers in Traverse City since 2000.
After dinner, we went straight back to the hotel because yesterday was also a very long day, and we knew that the next 2 would be the same!
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