GRAND BLANC, Mich. -- Last week’s itinerary allowed us to visit Eastern Wisconsin before embarking on the ferry across Lake Michigan to Ludington at around midnight on Tuesday. It was another week of interesting discoveries that we appreciate being able to share with you. We particularly liked our two days at the golf tournament -- the weather was ideal, the crowd was ecstatic and we witnessed great performances.

Buick Open

Despite the bad weather that plagued the first two days of the tournament, we were privileged to attend to a very interesting tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The field was strong, the course relatively generous and the crowd very enthusiastic and expecting low scores.

Mike Weir set the trend on Friday with a 9-under 63. He lost ground in the following days with a disappointing performance on Sunday, moving from a tie for fifth to a tie for 20th. Vijay Singh, looking for his third consecutive victory at the Buick Open, kept close to the leaders during the first three days but had a bad performance on Sunday, moving from a tie for fifth to a tie for 11th. Mike and Vijay were the ones we were looking up to challenge Tiger on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Tiger was three behind the leader on Thursday, one behind on Friday and leading by two on Saturday. He won by three -- playing four rounds of 66 for a 24-under total for the tournament. I don’t recall that a winner has played the same score every day yet this year, this weekend is a first. What consistency and definitely a formula to success. Tiger was playing his 11th event -- this year -- and won for the fourth time, a pretty respectable winning percentage of 36 percent. His career winning percentage is around 25 percent as he won for the 50th time in 196 tournaments. He is the youngest player to reach 50 victories and at 30 years of age, he did it three years earlier than Jack Nicklaus. Tiger is rewriting the golf record books as Wayne Gretzky did for hockey some decades ago. He appeared in great shape, focused, confident and rested, and it bodes well for him for the rest of the season. He had a difficult time early in the year but it seems that his victory at the Open Championship and the emotion that ensued has delivered him from a lot of pressure, at least from the standpoint of performing on the golf course. Let’s hope we will see more of him before the end of our journey.

Somehow we felt very good at this tournament -- the crowds supporting their favourites, the players being greeted at the 18th hole with warmth and appreciation for their performances and responding accordingly, and the many people we met that were true golf fans.

Green Bay and Door County, Wisc.

We left the motor home at Manitowoc port and drove our car to Green Bay to visit the Green Bay Packers’ stadium and Hall of Fame -- attracted by the celebrity, legend and success of this NFL franchise. The Indian Packing Company supplied the first jerseys and allowed the newly-formed team (in 1919) to use its athletic field for practice. With this tie-in, the name “Packers” was a natural fit and Packers they have been ever since. The team has gone on to earn national stature and virtual world-wide recognition by winning 12 championships over the intervening 80-plus years -- more than any team in pro football. The team has a unique status as a publicly-owned corporation and is literally owned by its fans. Shares of stock are owned by residents of all 50 states. Despite operating in a very small market, the team has had 10 playoff appearances in the last 13 years and has a season ticket waiting list of over 70,000 names. My most vivid memories of the performance of the team dates back to the Vince Lombardi/Bart Starr era but I keep, even today, a genuine interest in the team results.

We then moved on to tour the Door Peninsula and its shoreline dotted with parks and pretty port villages. We made a loop from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay, then further north to Egg Harbour, Fish Creek, Ephraim and Sister Bay. We stopped in every village to either stroll through gardens and streetscapes, visit historic buildings, take photos or walk by the waterfront. We felt in love with the area, which proudly exhibits its Norwegian heritage that dates back to the mid-19th century and decided to join a group of tourists to experience a “fish boil” in Ephraim.

A “fish boil” is a regional speciality started by Scandinavian lumberjacks and fishermen in which whitefish -- fresh from the local waters of Lake Michigan -- small potatoes and onions are cooked in a kettle over a hot wood fire. At just the right moment, a dose of kerosene is tossed onto the fire, causing it to blaze well over the top of the kettle, creating the requisite “boil over” (which gets rid of the fish oil). Dinner is then ready and the guests are invited to move inside to savour. We enjoyed both the first serving and the second one, a generous portion of the Door’s County famous cherry pie.

Lake Michigan Car Ferries

We were pleased to find out that two ferries across the Lake Michigan were operating on a daily basis. One of them could transport our motor home, allowing us to cut short on our trip from Milwaukee to Grand Blanc and sparing us a 225-mile drive. Freight and passenger steamship service across Lake Michigan dates back to 1875. It was increased for the war efforts in the first World War and grinded to a halt in 1990. However, in May 1992, the S.S. Badger set sail from Ludington, Mich., to Manitowoc, Wisc., to resume the service.

We were a bit nervous when, for the first time, someone else drove our motor home. He backed it up on the boat so proficiently that we couldn’t have matched his speed and accuracy. The night was humid, hot and under menacing skies. We couldn’t sleep as well as we had anticipated. Nevertheless, we reached our destination by mid-day Wednesday, tired but quite satisfied with the new experience.

Michigan, Detroit and Frankenmuth

Michigan’s territory is a pair of peninsulas surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes. No wonder it has the nickname of “The Great Lakes State”. When the first European explorers arrived in the mid-17th century, five major indigenous tribes were already settled, including the Huron, also known in Canada particularly in Quebec. Jesuit Père Marquette founded Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. in 1668. Detroit was established in 1701 between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, making it one of the most important ports for fur trade. These settlements were taken over by the British in 1763 and the British and Americans battled over it many times. The Erie Canal’s completion, along with the federal government’s sale of Michigan land prompted the development of the state. Further on, Michigan adopted a program of improvement through the buildings of railroads, roads and canals. At the same time, lumbering was expanding and the population grew as German, Irish and Dutch immigrants arrived. The car industry dominated Michigan up the mid-1970s but the state has since worked hard to diversify its economy. Agriculture is also important and Michigan is a leader in the production of navy beans, apples and cherries.

Detroit is the largest city of the state of Michigan and its history is marked by the advent of the automotive industry, racial tensions, the demise of the automotive industry and a declining urban population. Although, the city is currently implementing a downtown revival project, it still has to deal with lowering the crime rate and diminishing poverty, while eradicating racial disharmony between itself and its suburban neighbours. Detroit is the site of the most significant trade exchanges between the U.S. and Canada. In 2004, the Detroit-Windsor border crossing represented 28 percent of the total trade between the two countries. The future of the Big Three automakers -- Ford, GM and Chrysler -- will have a significant impact on the route to recovery of the city as well as of the State.

Frankenmuth

It is well known that campers like to celebrate Christmas in July (P6). As new members of the camping community, we were receptive to the suggestion of visiting a Christmas Wonderland, just a few miles away from our campground. The beautifully decorated complex includes a replica of the Silent Night Memorial Chapel of Oberndorf, Austria and the largest year-round Christmas store in the world. The store is a huge display of Christmas items from 70 nations. The place is a paradise for Christmas lovers and like all the other people there that day we were enchanted by so many lights, ornaments, nativity scenes, carols and magic. After a few hours with Santa, we toured the community of Frankenmuth. The community, founded in 1845, takes great pride in preserving its German heritage and authentic Bavarian architecture (P7). A fun afternoon which was quite a change for us being used to a white Christmas.

Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village

One might think that this visit would have been about the automotive industry. This is not exactly the purpose of this museum. It was Mr. Henry Ford’s conception that the history of American material progress is a story of the development and growth of agriculture, manufacturing and transportation. Hence, the museum tells the story of the American experience as a whole. The museum contains one of the most important collections of Americana in the U.S. It is primarily a collection of antique machinery, pop culture items, automobiles, locomotives and aircrafts. We saw a Model T, a 1932 Ford V8, a 1936-37 Cord and a 1948 Tucker that particularly attracted our attention. The Greenfield Village is dedicated to perpetuate the memory of the key contributors to the industrial revolution, their way of life and the places where they created their innovations. The Thomas Edison’s laboratories (Menlo Park) and the Wright Brothers bicycle shop were our favourites.

Motown Historical Museum

You no doubt remember the “Motown Sound”… Long known as Hitsville USA, the museum is the home of the world-famous tiny Studio A, where among others, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Jackson Five recorded their first hits in the 1960s. In recent years though, it is rap and techno that have pushed Detroit to the forefront of the music scene.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History

We were late coming to this museum. It was opened for a special event that night and we were pleased to be able to visit after opening hours. The museum commemorates, through a 22-gallery multimedia experience, contributions made by Detroit’s large African-American population to the city’s commercial and cultural progress. It also depicts years of American history from an African point of view -- from enslaved Africans to the Civil Rights Movement and more recent events.

We drove downtown to the Renaissance Center, where from the 72nd floor, we enjoyed a beautiful view of both Detroit and Windsor (Ontario), across the border, just a few miles away.

We will be heading west soon to Colorado for the next tournament in Castle Rock. This journey will take us through a few states we have never visited yet and we look forward to doing so.

Suzette and Gilles Samson