What's going on Vagabuddies?
And welcome back.
Right now we're in Chicago O'Hare
Airport, on our way to a place we have
never been before, The Great Lakes.
We've been invited to Traverse City,
Michigan by the local tourism board.
It's supposed to be a beautiful spot,
a hidden gem, and a foodie destination.
We're going to find out.
The plane's boarding. We're late.
Are you coming with? Yes. Stay tuned.
Let's go.
We've checked into the Sugar Beach Hotel.
Got some local beers.
Looking over The Great Lakes.
Our first time on The Great Lakes.
What do yo think, Bro?
Twenty-one percent of the world's fresh
water and eighty-five percent
of the total fresh surface water in the
United States is in The Great Lakes.
We're going to eat well; we're going to be
in the outdoors; there's a lot of craft
breweries and even vineyards.
Here's to a good week here in Michigan.
The first of many. Cheers.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Traverse City.
We are in the Warehouse District, and
we're going to do....kind of a cool twist
on a brew tour.
It's a kayak and a bike brewery tour.
It's called KaBrew,
and it takes off right now.
We are at the first stop of the beer tour.
It's called Right Brain Brewery.
I'm right brain. I think you're a left brain.
No, I think it's the other way around.
I don't know. Left brain.
We are going to take a little sample.
Truth: it is 11:30 in the morning.
Early by most standards, but it's five
o'clock somewhere, and we've biked to
get here, so we're totally deserve a
sip of beer.
We're going to four breweries in total-
two by bike, and then the rest by kayak.
Awesome. Let's go.
We've got six different beers;
all of them are brewed here.
They have a lot more on tap.
We've asked for the all star list, and
we're getting some burgers because
we're hungry, and beer and burgers go
together like peas and carrots.
There we go. There we are.
Bon appetit.
We're off. Beautiful day.
Super nice little marina.
It's crazy...like... the lake is so big
that it doesn't feel like a lake.
It feels like a bay in the ocean.
It's crazy. And there're seagulls,
which is kind of confusing.
I guess they become bagels
because this is a bay
or "lakegulls."
The name Traverse City comes from
French traders who used to traverse
across the bay as a shortcut from
peninsula to peninsula.
Once it became part of America, this
place became a boom town in the 1800s
thanks to lumber.
There were tons of lumber jacks here,
basically cutting down trees to supply
the construction boom in the 1800s.
Half the new homes at that time used
wood from this area.
The city really prospered after the 1870s,
the Chicago fire when the entire city had
to be rebuilt, using lumber from here.
That's why you see all these beautiful
homes around us. Super nice.
We've ditched the bikes,
and now we're hoping on kayaks.
We're going to kayak out through this lake
into a river, which is going take us
back into town to another brewery.
Are you ready? I'm super stoked.
Going from land to sea.
We've parked the kayaks,
admired a vintage car, and now
we're off to another brewery.
This is Rare Bird,
Rare Bird Brewery.
I've got the Grab Him by the Tangerines,
and the Back Paddle.
There are 11 breweries here in town,
and a lot of them, like this one,
don't bottle or export.
It's all consumed locally.
They're more like micro breweries
and tap rooms. It's really cool.
Hoped in the kayaks,
and we're going to the final stop.....
the last brewery on the tour.
It's just super mellow.
We're on the Boardman River,
and there're all these cool townhouses
stacked up right against the water.
As you can see, we're floating at just
a languid and super enjoyable pace.
Ladies and gentlemen, so.......
to feed ourselves, we've cruised over
here to Spanglish Cafe,
and we have a nice spread.
We are from California, so
we have a soft spot for all types of
Mexican food.
What have we got going on here?
Well, we've got some tostadas;
we've got some tamales;
and we have some tacos.
Everything has a beautiful green tomatillo
sauce. We have some iced coffees
because we are still a little bit jet lagged.
Overall, I'm excited.
This city's got a great food scene, and
a lot of that reason is because people
have gone to bigger cities and then come
back and brought some of the food
culture from other parts of the world here.
And all ingredients are really good.
That's why they have the farmers market
across the street.
The adventure continues. Right now
we are at Grand Traverse Commons.
This building used to be the
Traverse City State Hospital.
It was built in 1885.
After the lumber boom, Traverse City
had to find a new industry.
This hospital was built as a mental
institution in order to bring jobs to the community..
It operated for about 100 years until
it was closed in the '80s and reopened
in 2000 as one of the largest renovation
projects in the United States.
Now it's opened with all these
independent businesses.
There's a cider house; there're coffee
shops; there's a restaurant.
We're going to go check it out.
My name is David Paige, and we are at the
village at the Grand Traverse Commons.
This is the former state asylum.
We're going to take a tour of the site
to include the blighted, abandoned
buildings out back waiting for reconstruction.
The story here is three words:
beauty is therapy.
This was built to create a standardized
system of care for patients
that didn't exist in the 19th century.
What's left here is sixty-three acres
and almost one million square feet
of building stock.
This is the largest historic renovation
project in North America,
and we're fifteen years into this
and about two thirds of the way done.
We're now in the old cafeteria,
and as you can see,
this building is definitely in need of
some T.L.C. [tender loving care].
It's in the process of being totally refurbished.
This building will eventually be like
the main building over there, Building 50.
And there are going to be more
cafeterias in the form of cool restaurants
because what they've done, basically,
is opened up all this space to small
businesses and retail shops.
We're going to finish up the tour
and then get a quick afternoon coffee
at a local roaster.
So now to round out the day,
we are back in downtown Traverse City
having dinner at a collection of food
trucks known as Little Fleet.
Cheers.
Soooooooo full.
Food was bomb.
Beers were great.
Today was awesome, Bro.
Overall first impressions of Traverse City,
Michigan? Two thumbs-up, man.
Very cool. Totally different vibe than
what we have back in California.
The adventure continues tomorrow.
We're going to go further afield.
We're going to do some wine tasting.
We're going to sail on a tall ship,
all awesome things that you will see
tomorrow, so stay tuned.
If you guys enjoyed this video, you know
what to do: give it a big thumbs-up,
share it with your friends, and subscribe,
and turn on notifications if you have
not already. Once again, big thanks to
Traverse City Tourism Board
for bringing us out here.
Stay tuned tomorrow, and we will see you
on the road. Hold on.. I messed it up!
Stay curious, keep exploring, and
then we will see you on the road.
Got it. It's actually starting to rain, so
good night.