Recap of March 2026
Category: 2024
Marvelous Marquette
It’s been a few years since we’ve been to Marquette in Michigan’s upper peninsula. I guess we didn’t quite realize how much we missed it. The small college town charm, Lake Superior at your doorstep, beautiful bike trails and being immersed in nature, immediately reminded us that this is one of our favorite Michigan destinations. Once again, we enjoyed staying at the nicely maintained Marriott Fairfield Inn during the last week of August. To break up the drive we stayed a night in Petoskey both on the way there and back.
Our timing happened to span Northern Michigan University’s move-in weekend and a 3-day music festival in Marquette’s waterfront, Lower Harbor Park.
Mackinac Island Revisited
On September 29th DaK finally made it back to The Inn at Stonecliffe. The first time we stayed at the Inn (several years ago, after a Zoo-de-Mac 50 mile bike ride) it was in a gradual decline from it’s original opening in 1904. But we were drawn to the isolation of the Inn’s location higher up on the island away from the crowds on Main Street and it had a sort of historic charm to it.
However, this time the Inn at Stonecliffe has been restored to it’s original glory after a $10M renovation by the Pulte Corporation. The results were spectacular and we were so happy that we decided to revisit the restored historic Inn.
Exploring Wurzburg, Germany: A Week of Biking Adventures and Cultural Discoveries
Part II of our European Vacation!
Our travel adventure continued seamlessly, using Viking Air, from Lyon, France to Frankfurt, Germany. From the Frankfurt Airport, we traveled on the ICE train to Wurzburg, Germany (about a 90 minute train ride). From the train station in Wurzburg, we pulled our luggage just under a mile (in comfortable weather) to the Marriott AC Hotel. Check in was smooth and we unpacked some essentials before stocking up for a week’s stay. My only complaint with the AC chain is the lack of storage space in the rooms for a longer stay. We proceeded to get a few groceries (groceries in Germany were much less expensive than the U.S. and Karen loved the extensive selection of great N/A beers). A plant based dinner (Impossible Burgers at Burger King) just a few blocks from our hotel was a quick and easy meal after a day of traveling and getting settled.
We were fortunate to find an excellent bike shop (Bike & Co) a block from our hotel. So we rented two e-bikes for the week and had a blast with them, exploring the city of Wurzburg and nearby towns within a 30-mile radius. We used them every day that we stayed in Wurzburg.
Discovering Arles, Avignon, and More: Viking Delling River Cruise
Part I of our European Vacation!
This marked our 5th Viking Cruise (4th river cruise). While the experience was outstanding, this cruise ranked fifth among our Viking adventures. Partly due to the itinerary and partly due to a slight decline in the Viking Delling’s service/policies as the dinner time changed from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm and their “always available” menu items were not always available. However, on the positive side, everything all ran smoothly as we were picked up and transported to the ship from the airport, tours ran like clockwork (with excellent guides), and the ship was nicely maintained. Once again, we took advantage of Viking Airs “stop over” feature, where for $200 we delayed our return flight for a week and explored northern Bavaria (featured in our next post), on our own, before returning home.
The itinerary for this 8-day cruise of southern France (Province) was Avignon, Arles, (back to) Avignon, Viviers, Tournon, Vienne, and then two and a half days in Lyon.
Michigan Brewery and Biking Tour: Holland to Grand Haven
This last minute (weather dependent) trip was intensely biking focused. We were excited to put our new e-bikes to the test and were able to log some significant miles (about 100) during our two days in Holland, MI. Much to our delight, we also discovered a new spot (Douglas, MI) to explore further as we love visiting the west side of Michigan whenever we can.
In addition to biking, each morning, we ran around the Windmill Island Gardens (a small replica of Dutch shops and traditions) near our Marriott Courtyard Hotel in downtown Holland.
