Mental health day trip - SE MI

I need a mental health day off work before I pop a fuse. I will probably take one tomorrow. I want to take a day trip out and back from around Ann Arbor, MI West and/or North. Any suggestions? Thanks!

How about Port Austin up in the thumb? 94 to 14 to 275 to 696. Across to 53 and take that all the way North to Port Austin. 53 is a nice road with some nice small towns once you clear the urban sprawl. Take the pleasant drive up there, have lunch at a cool little restaurant / bar. Poke around the cutsie down town. Then head East on 25 to Port Crescent or Albert E Sleeper State park, get your toes wet in the lake. After that further East on 25 to Bay City, check out the beautiful late 19th century mansions on the main street, grab a cup of coffee and head back down 75 to 23?

Or the Gilmore car museum, half way between Kazoo and Grand Rapids

Or. Head into Detroit. Pastry and coffee in down town. Drive down to the Ren Sen and do the River walk which is really nice. Then head to mid-town to one of the many cool restaurants for lunch, then head up Woodward taking in the cruise which will be in full swing. Stay as late as you like before going home.

or the Frederik Meijer Gardens and sculpture park followed by walking around down town G.R. and dinner before heading home.

or Cranbrook Sceince museum, or the art museum, or the DIA, or the new Red Bull art museum before heading to woodward.

Cough (postwhore) cough....

Oh, I forgot the air zoo, that's always cool.

I've done all of the above and enjoy them all, but one thing I haven't done that I keep meaning too is investigate all the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Detroit and/or Grand rapids and do a self guided driving tour with a camera too look at them

Tom_Spangler wrote: Cough (postwhore) cough....

No, Brain in overdrive

If you are looking for a bit more "action", the Michigan's Adventure and Cedar Point amusement parks are both an easy day's drive and back from A2. Or there's Kart2Kart in Sterling Heights.

You could come up to Fenton and clean my garage. The adventures there are varied and untapped.
If you get enough done, I can post in the Great Garage Cleanup thread.

Take M52 north from Adrian to Saginaw, then east to Bay City and loop around the thumb.Take I69 back to M52. There's all kinds of places to stop and eat or just relax. Do you still have your Miata? The perfect car for a two lane tour.

Don't have the Miata anymore, but I will be driving my RX8.

Tentative plan will be Adrian to Ann Arbor for an appointment, then to Gilmore Car Museum, down to Auburn, Cord, and Dusenberg Museum, then back to Adrian. I will be avoiding highways the entire way.

CGLockRacer wrote: Tentative plan will be Adrian to Ann Arbor for an appointment, then to Gilmore Car Museum, down to Auburn, Cord, and Dusenberg Museum, then back to Adrian. I will be avoiding highways the entire way.

He liked your suggestions so much he's taking you too, Adrian! Enjoy the trip fellas!

Jackson... Go get a coney dog downtown then go enjoy the cascades....

In reply to CGLockRacer:
Both great museums ! And ,it's a perfect day for a drive on two lanes with the windows down.

Made it back with a somewhat clearer head. The Gilmore museum was excellent. There is a lot of $$ invested in that place and they are expanding. The 2 lane roads from Ann Arbor to Hickory Corners were very nice and fun. I kept speeds reasonable, but brisk when safe to do so. Strolled around there for a couple hours, then hit the road again to Auburn.

I took I-69 down since I was running later than expected. I wish I had stuck to the 2 lane roads. It was a nice place to visit. I also ended up going next door to the National Car and Truck Museum. I walked in at 4:05 and they closed at 5. The guy said it's a 2 hour walking tour. I'm sure if you spend a couple minutes on each car it was. I was in and out in 25 min. Some cool stuff and I'd go again if at the ACD museum. But not worth a separate trip. They did have an original General Lee though. You could see the bondo from a mile away.

I took two lane roads back to Adrian, MI that is, and they were quite nice again. A couple of speed traps in OH, but fortunately I had traffic at the time (never thought I'd say that).

The weather was perfect the entire way. Clear skies and 75 deg. I'm so glad I bailed out of the cube today Thanks for the ideas. I'll keep them in mind for the next day I need to get away.

I'll second the Air Zoo for next time. Well worth a single day trip.

Also, if you had headed north on M-43 out of the Gilmore, you'd have found yourself a pretty good driver's road (at least for Michigan).

In reply to CGLockRacer:
You must have gotten an early start. That had to be nearly 5 hours for just the driving.

Left Ann Arbor at 10:15 a.m. (left home at 8:15 a.m.) Returned home in Adrian at 6:30 p.m.

I have a sister that lives on Buckingham Ct in Adrian (just north of town.)

I had no idea you were that close to me. Once I get my pile back together, let me know next time you need a 'break' day and I'll tag along if I have adequate time to plan.