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Bus Bash Returns to Michigan in 2008
W
e have been receiving reader
inquiries about the forthcoming
Bus Bash scheduled to take
place in Michigan over Memorial Day
Weekend in 2008. While the Schedule of
Events and details have not yet been final-
ized, we already have substantial prelim-
inary information that we can pass on at
this time.
This Bus Bash is scheduled over the
Memorial Day Weekend, Friday, May 23
through Sunday, May 25, 2008. The official
name of the event is Pure Michigan Sun-
rise Side Bus Bash 2008. Sunrise Side is a
name given to the northeast region of Lower
Michigan, a very pretty area bordering Lake
Huron on the east. This will be the 49th Bus
Bash since it was founded in 1979 and will
also be the second Bus Bash event to be held
in Michigan.
Activities will center on Hillman and
Alpena, Michigan. They are located almost
directly north of Detroit and Bay City. Pop-
ular Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island
are located approximately 90 miles north-
west of here.
24 National Bus Trader / November, 2007
One of the major features of this Bus Bash event is its location in an area with great natural beauty. Bus Bash participants will have a unique oppor-
tunity to participate in the much-acclaimed Thunder Bay Elk Viewing and Gourmet Dinner. This inhabitant of the elk preserve likes to watch the
tourists as they watch the wildlife.
THUNDER BAY RESORT
.
Bus Bash Returns
to Michigan in 2008
by Larry Plachno This area is increasingly becoming pop-
ular with tourists and bus tour groups look-
ing for something different than big cities.
Much of the area is very scenic and wooded.
Alpena, located on Lake Huron, offers beau-
tiful lake views and has a traditional mar-
itime heritage. There is even an Amish com-
munity located about 35 minutes south of
Hillman.
Hosts and Accommodations
The primary host for this event is Thun-
der Bay Resort in Hillman. Increasingly pop-
ular with groups, Thunder Bay Resort offers
several venues including golf, wine tasting,
elk viewing and gourmet dinners. Accom-
modations include spacious chalets, villas
and deluxe and whirlpool suites with one
to three bedrooms that are suitable for
groups of two through 10. Owners of con-
verted coaches will be delighted with Thun-
der Bay Resort. In addition to offering space
for dry camping, Thunder Bay also has a nice
campground with full hook-ups. The con-
verted coach people will not only be right
in the heart of things but will also have the
option of hooking up to water, sewer and
electricity while at Bus Bash.
Accommodations will also be available
at the Alpena Holiday Inn. Located about a
mile northwest of downtown Alpena on US
23, the Holiday Inn is close to Lake Besser,
and not far from the Besser Museum and
Planetarium, the Island Park Wildfowl Sanc-
tuary, and the Thunder Bay National Marine
Sanctuary and the Great Lakes Heritage
Center. Hotel features include a Holidome
Indoor Recreation Center, wireless Internet,
and direct dial phones with voice mail. CWs
dining room is open for breakfast, lunch and
dinner.
Special Events
This Bus Bash will follow the traditional
Schedule of Events with a Welcome Recep-
tion on Friday evening, tours on Saturday,
a meal on Saturday evening, and the public
bus display, ea market, trophies and parade
on Sunday. However, what makes this Bus
Bash different and a particularly good value
for those attending is the addition of four
special events or opportunities.
In addition to the ea market on Sunday,
plans are well underway to provide a mini
travel marketplace. Those who plan tours
and arrange group trips will be able to meet
with and obtain information from Sunrise
Side attractions and destination marketing
organizations. This will encourage you to
plan or encourage bus and group tours to
the area.
In what we think is a rst for Bus Bash, a
golf outing is planned on Monday morning,
Memorial Day. This will take place at the
popular Thunder Bay Golf Course in Hill-
man. Participants will be able to play 18
holes and have lunch. Prizes will be
awarded.
Included in your Bus Bash registration
will be an opportunity to take Thunder Bay
Resorts award-winning elk viewing Din-
ner Ride. Due to space limitations on each
ride, it became impossible to include this in
the regular Bus Bash Schedule of Events.
However, Bus Bash participants will be
given their choice of several optional tours
before, during or after Bus Bash.
Praised by numerous travel publications
including USA Today, your Elk Viewing
experience starts when you board one of sev-
eral carriages, drawn by teams of massive
Percheron and Belgian draft horses. The
same tour also operates in winter time but
uses sleighs. The horses will then pull your
carriage over the river and through the
woods to the 160-acre Elk Preserve. Your
tour guide will provide information and
point out the elk and deer. Stops will be
made for the photographers in the crowd.
Following the elk viewing, your horses
will take you to the rustic Elk Antler Cabin
National Bus Trader / November, 2007 27
Accommodations at Thunder Bay Resort include spacious chalets, attrac-
tive villas and deluxe whirlpool suites for groups of two through 10. This
chalet is located in a peaceful, rustic area.
THUNDER BAY RESORT
.
In addition to dry camping, Thunder Bay Resort offers an attractive camp-
ground. This Prevost pulling a Hummer is in a pull-through site with full
hook-ups including water, sewer and electric.
THUNDER BAY RESORT
.
The Holiday Inn at Alpena, Michigan is also a host hotel for this Bus Bash event. It is located on
US 23, the main north-south road through Alpena, and has a Holidome. Other features include a
dining room, wireless Internet and proximity to several attractions.
ALPENA HOLIDAY INN
. where culinary artist Jan Matthias prepares
food on 100-year-old wood cook stoves. You
will be served a superb ve-course gourmet
dinner and can join in a wine tasting.
The fourth special event for this Bus Bash
is the Charity Island Dinner Cruise. Since
the starting point for the cruise is in Au Gres,
Michigan, this had to be excluded from the
regular Bus Bash Schedule of Events because
of distance. Au Gres is located about two
hours south of Alpena on US 23, the primary
north-south highway along the lake. How-
ever, Bus Bash participants will have an
opportunity to enjoy this unique experience
either before or after the regularly sched-
uled Bus Bash events.
You start from a dock in Au Gres on Sag-
inaw Bay. Here, you board a boat that takes
you out to Big Charity Island in the center
of Saginaw Bay. Karen and Bob Wiltse will
show you to their rebuilt lighthouse keep-
ers Cape Cod house next to the old light
house. The staff will serve you a meal of
Great Lakes perch or beef tenderloin tips as
you dine on an isolated island while enjoy-
ing the view of three lighthouses and pass-
ing boats. You will also be offered a tour of
the house and the story behind moving
materials to build the house and their tribu-
lations in building a harbor on the island.
Saturday Tour Attractions
Current plans are to include several
attractions on one or both of the Bus Bash
Saturday tours. All are in the Alpena or Hill-
man areas.
The Thunder Bay National Marine
Sanctuary was established to protect a
nationally signicant collection of more than
200 shipwrecks that span more than a cen-
tury of Great Lakes shipping history. It is the
rst Great Lakes sanctuary and the rst sanc-
tuary to be located entirely in state waters.
The adjacent Great Lakes Maritime Heritage
Center includes numerous state-of-the-art
and Great Lakes exhibits.
Located in Alpena, the Besser Museum
offers an impressive list of exhibits and
attractions. Those who appreciate art will
be delighted to see a Picasso as well as two
paintings by Renoir. History buffs will be
impressed with a display of Indian artifacts,
a water pumper that fought the great res
of Chicago and Alpena, and a colorful 1890s
Avenue of Shops. The museum also has a
remarkable collection of Michigan mammals
and its own planetarium.
George Nichols Fletcher founded
Alpena in 1856 and was highly involved in
the lumber trade, the wood pulping busi-
ness and the Fletcher Paper Company. The
founders of the Fletcher Street Brewing com-
pany worked at Fletcher Paper Company as
did their fathers. Instead of making paper,
they now make some delightful local brews.
Five percent of their prots are given to local
charities. The youngsters are not forgotten
since they also offer non-alcoholic beverages
including their popular RipSaw Root Beer.
LaFarge North America is the largest
diversied supplier of construction materi-
als in the United States and Canada. The
company produces and sells cement, ready-
mixed concrete, gypsum wallboard, aggre-
gates, asphalt and related products and ser-
vices. Plans are to provide a tour of the
impressive LaFarge Cement Plant and
quarry in Alpena. We will hopefully also
have an opportunity to see their impressive
equi