You Pinspire Me
People had a pretty predictable reaction when we told them that our summer vacation was going to be heading to Michigan for a week to stay in the cottage that we rented there: “Why Michigan? Isn’t there a million cottages here in Ontario that you could rent that would be closer?”
Excellent question. Yes, there are a million cottages for rent in Ontario [that might be hyperbole], but no, they are not necessarily closer. Have you ever dealt with cottage country traffic? It’s not pretty. A 2.5 hour drive up the 400 on a Friday afternoon turns into a 5 hour pilgrimage. A 2 hour drive across Toronto into the Bancroft area becomes 4 hours of “Mommy, are we there yet? Can we stop at McDonald’s, Mommy? I HAVE TO PEE!” You know what’s brilliant about renting a cottage on the coast of Lake Huron in Michigan? It’s a 2.5 hour drive that takes 2.75 hours if you time it right (crossing the border can be a hassle, but it never has been for us). So there’s a plus. It’s not a long drive.
I don’t know if you noticed or heard, or whether you’ve just been living with your head in the sand, but Michigan has gone through a bit of a recession in the last 10 years, and cottage rental prices are a little lower in Michigan (on average) than they are in Ontario. Score. It’s cheaper.
If you rent a cottage along Lake Huron, you may be able to pick up a Canadian cell phone tower signal – hello, no roaming charges!
Although, if you’re the sort of person who cares about picking up a signal at the cottage, let’s be honest: you’re the sort of person who needs a signal to post instagrams, tweets, and facebook statuses for all of your jealous friends while you’re out mini golfing, enjoying insanely cheap delicious ice cream, or on a $0.10 trolly ride. You don’t want to rely on a faint signal from across the lake. And, if you’re with Rogers, you can use your cell phone in the States as you would in Canada for $5 / day. But if you turn off the data on your phone when you go to bed and you spend the day curled up with a book offline, you don’t pay for that day! So you’re not committing to anything. Need data for the day? $5! Don’t? No problem! In the states for 2 weeks? No worries – you can use your data every day for 14 days and only get charged for 10 – because when you #RoamOn, Rogers won’t charge you for more than 10 roaming days on a monthly bill! I HEART flexible plans like that!!
I do not like driving out in the boonies in a strange place with no idea where I am – being able to use Google Maps to find my way back to the cottage made me feel so much more comfortable. Thanks to Rogers for setting me up with Roaming for my cottage vacation in Michigan!!
You can get your fill of Cross Border Shopping while at the cottage! The township in which we have stayed now twice in the last 3 years is called Fort Gratiot, and it’s a 5-15 minute drive from there into Port Huron. Hobby Lobby, Target (there’s a part of you that just can NOT pass up a chance to go to an American Target, I know!), Meijer, more exciting ones that I don’t know about… “Hey guys, I’m just going into town for a minute to grab some things for dinner!” …high ho, high ho, it’s off to shopping I go! Also. Can we just acknowledge for a second how fantastic it is to be able to buy drinks for dinner in the same store in which we buy our ingredients for dinner?!
The US has better junk food. For Real. Look no further than these varieties of Mr Christie cookies that I found. And have you ever had a Take 5 chocolate bar? It will change your life.
The people are super nice. I think someone forgot to tell folks in Michigan that they’re not Canadian – because seriously, you think that we’re nice? You should have met the owners of the cottage, who gave us and our kids a 20 minute tour of the place, or PJ, who drove the Trolly that we took for $0.10/each (did I mention that we only had to pay TEN CENTS for an hour long trolly ride around Port Huron?), or ANY of the volunteers at the free community BBQ and festival that we crashed on Friday night. These people were on their game!
The cottage that we rented is big – we stayed there with 2 other couples and 7 children, altogether, so we needed something that could accommodate us all. We had 6 bedrooms, 2 livingrooms, a fantastic kitchen, an inside dining room, a screened in porch dining room, 2 bathrooms, 3 levels of decks, hammocks, a fire pit, a private beach, kayaks, a small basket ball court, and a fairy light-lit gazebo with a rock vs shell tic-tac-toe game. It was a pretty serious win.
The amusing part about the cottage – which is actually where the couple lives year-round, with the exception of the few weeks a year that they rent it out, is that the Mrs obviously got on that creative painting bandwagon in the ’90’s… it was everywhere. One of the favourite quotes of the week: “Guys! She even painted the DRYER!!” While I’d probably paint over it if I moved in, I love the fact that she obviously put so much love (and elbow grease!) into her house.
We had an absolutely fantastic time three years ago, and this year certainly didn’t disappoint! Fellow Ontarians, I encourage you to check out the Wonderful World cottage rentals in Michigan for your next cottaging vacation – I expect that you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised with the experience!
As for me, I’m pleasantly surprised to return to our Regularly Scheduled Fall Programming. I never thought there’d be such a thing as too much adventure, but I am thrilled to welcome the cooler fall weather and emptier weekends!
#RogersSI #100Days100Destinations #RoamOn #RoamLikeHome
Jenn vanOosten
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Sounds like an awesome summer experience! I love the photos. One thing I learn, I will bring a camera this summer 😉
Hah, yes, cameras are a MUST for vacations for me! I was so glad that I had one, especially when a double rainbow appeared after a storm – gorgeous!!
This looks brill. Glad to see that you had a good time during your stay. My aunt and uncle live in Sarnia, and regularly go over the border. A few years ago they decided that trying to drive to Ontario cottages was not fun anymore with all the traffic, so would completely understand the reason to go to Michigan.
My MIL also lives in Sarnia – so we actually drove to Sarnia the night before, stayed over, and then crossed the border first thing in the morning. Score. 😉
This looks like such a fantastic holiday.
I haven’t been away this year. I am so jealous!
Thanks – it was SO relaxing (well, as relaxing as it can be with 7 kids from 15months – 6 years!), we loved it!