October 2022: Chicago & Michigan
A small but intrepid group of Friends ventured to Chicago and Michigan for a wonderful fall trip in October 2022. Starting in Chicago, we were amazed by all there was to see and do in this beautiful city. We started off with a food tour, stopping at several famous restaurants to sample iconic Chicago foods. We took an architecture cruise, marveling at the various building styles, took a wonderful city tour including Millennium Park and had a behind the scenes tour of Wrigley field.
From Chicago, we traveled into Michigan, stopping in Grand Rapids to tour the beautiful Meijer botanical and sculpture gardens, saw the wonderful mushroom houses in Charlevoix and then took the ferry to Mackinac Island for the highlight of our tour, a stay at the Grand Hotel. It was stepping back in time as we were met by a carriage to take us up to the hotel. Mackinac Island doesn’t allow motorized vehicles so everyone gets around by bicycle or horse and buggy. The hotel is wonderful, everything you would expect and more and we made sure to sit in the rockers on the longest porch in the world overlooking beautiful Lake Huron.
After leaving Mackinac we stopped in the beautiful Bavarian town of Frankenmuth and visited the world’s biggest Christmas store. Our final stop was Dearborn, where we spent a day at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. We enjoyed their amazing collection of Americana including the Rosa Parks bus, the limo JFK was riding in when he was shot, the chair Lincoln was sitting in at Ford’s Theater, still stained by his blood and even Charles Steinmetz’s Mohawk River cabin.
We all enjoyed this trip with Collette tours and are looking forward to our next adventure!
June 2018: Ireland
In June 2018, The Friends traveled to Ireland. The itinerary included the Ring of Kerry, one of the great coastal roads; a tour of Dublin; the 700-foot high Cliffs of Mohr; Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone, and more (below).
Clockwise from top left: Dunloe Castle; the Wild Atlantic Way; Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone; Killkenney Castle; shops in Dublin; Shawn and Charlene at Our Lady’s Abbey.
Friends of SCPL 