Gas Prices Bad for U.P. Tourism Business

It goes without saying that when it costs you $40+ to fill up your car with $2.79/gal. gasoline you watch your driving habits a bit more closely. Perhaps you consolidate your errands or shop more from home online. The one thing high gas prices will definitely do is change where you will drive on your summer vacation. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is approximately 325 miles from where we live. That is roughly the number of miles we get on one tank of gas. You have to figure with stops along the way and any side trips plus the drive home you will be filling up at a minimum of three times.

So, just to get up to the U.P. and back home again you need to figure on a $150 to $200 budget just for gasoline. Add in meals, assorted souvineers, and lodging (or campsite fees) and you just bought a fairly expensive vacation to the pristine wilderness that is Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

I would gladly go to the U.P. for a vacation. It is beautiful and a lot less crowded than going to DisneyWorld. A lot of people won't though and that obviously concerns U.P. businesses that rely on summer tourism dollars.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula tourism industry would like you to remember how inexpensive it is to enjoy places like the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore or the numerous hiking and biking trails that they have to offer. I don't think I will be making it up to the U.P. this summer, but I do plan on doing some camping around Frankfort this summer. I love the Sleeping Bear Dunes area.

Read about the Upper Peninsula's concerns in The Mining Journal.

Replace Tiger Stadium With Target? Ugh!

Today's Free Press has another article in the ongoing saga of the "will they or won't they demolish tiger stadium" fiasco. Tiger Stadium's odds of being demolished are pretty good. The cash strapped city of Detroit can not keep paying Mike Ilitch for maintenance (what maintenance?) and security and there have not been any well researched plans for an alternative use of the stadium. The article claims that the worst-case scenario would be for there to just be another vacant lot once the stadium has been demolished. I say that putting some chain store like Target there would be much worse to see. At least with a vacant lot there could at least be a plaque of some kind commemorating the history of Tiger Stadium.

What would a store like Target do? Change their store's color scheme to Tiger blue and orange?

Anyway, a cooler idea also proposed in the article is to demolish the stadium, but keep the playing field and surround it with smaller stores, apartments, and condos. How cool would it be to live there and have the playing field of Tiger Stadium in your backyard as a park?

All I know is that I would love to be able to have a couple of the chairs from the stadium. They could auction stuff off and donate the proceeds to a charity. A win-win situation for fans and the city.

700 State of Michigan Employees Make Over $100k

Did you know we have 700 state employees here in Michigan making $100k or more? Did you know we have the second highest paid governor in the country, yet she comes in a distant second in terms of Michigan's state payroll? Governor Granholm makes $177,000 per year, but is far behind the chief executive of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., James Epolito, who makes $200,000. Michigan's government has been critical of how Detroit spends money it doesn't have with their bloated city government staffing situation yet they are blind to what is going on in their own backyard. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Just goes to show you what happens when the fox guards the henhouse.

Read all about our state's excesses in today's Detroit News.

A Brief History of Corey Lake

Fabius Township in St. Joe County is home to Corey Lake. It was believed that Joshua Corry was one of the first pioneers to settle upon the lake’s shore and the lake took the moniker of its original inhabitant. However, there are no records of him residing here, which might mean that he was only a land speculator. The change in spelling from Corry to Corey is most likely due to using a more common form of spelling Corey. A prairie adjoining the lake was referred to as “johnny-cake prairie” due to its flatness. Visitors from Illinois and Indiana still make their summer homes on this large beautiful lake. It was also used as the hunting grounds of Chief Sangamon and his tribe.

Encounters with the Indians, wild bears, deer, and wolves made for some interesting stories and tales of this area. Local timber wolves were quite vicious and killed numerous pigs and calves. One story goes that a local farm boy came upon a rustling noise near the cattle. It appeared as a ‘big dark bush’ and when it growled the boy shot and killed the bear keeping its cubs as pets.

The grandeur and splendor of days gone by were shown in The Grand View Hotel, Richelieu Lodge, and Pulver Farm (a country home on the edge of the lake open to visitors). Dudds Motor Boat Sales and Service Station, Poe’s Filling Station, and Corey Lake Pavilion were nearby.

One of the first plats filed for Corey Lake was in 1835. The YMCA Camp Eberhart located on Corey Lake was started around 1910. Much has changed around the lake since it’s humble beginnings and early settlement. Million dollar homes are not so rare and the quaintness and quiet has been replaced with privacy fences and large speedboats.

Odd Michigan Vanity Plates

I checked out this book from the library, Michillaneous, that is full of all sorts of wierd/odd facts and occurances in Michigan. A listing of occupational vanity plates caused me to chuckle so I will share them with you. The book was published in 1982 so I don't believe the plates are very recent.

• PPMD - Urologist
• EYEGUY - Eye Doctor
• EI EI O - Farmer
• SU EM - Lawyer
• LOC M UP - Policeman
• TOT DOC - Pediatrician
• 2THAKE - Dentist
• I BILDM - Contractor

The Internet is on at Traverse City State Park

The Traverse City Record Eagle reports that you can now log on to the internet through a wireless connection at Traverse City State Park. Michigan is the first state in the country to offer wireless internet access outdoors. Wireless internet access is also available at Ludington, Holland, and Grand Haven state parks.