Driving "Up North" in Michigan

The photo I took on our drive today.

Day 2 of the GMC press trip, and tomorrow, we all fly away home. What an interesting group of people. They write about technology, about what moms want in SUVs, about style, about living like a nomad. [My driving partner today, a young man named Anil, is a permanent traveler and blogs @ foXnoMad.com.]

Though the sprier, age-24ish writers were down sipping drinks by the fire and then planning to scoot over to a casino now, I came up to my room so I could blog and then get some sleep.

Highlights today:

• Buffed up my car lingo: trim level, chrome grille, tail lamps, satin finish chrome, red French stitch. Pretty racy.
• We were each lent an Olympus E-PL3 camera to take some photos for a contest. At lunch, the photos were loaded onto GMC's Facebook page and went viral. The two of us with the most votes before 5 P.M. each won a brand-new E-PL3. Not me, but it was fun--my photo is above. I was too busy shopping/browsing to ask my Facebook friends to vote for me.
• The 2013 GMC Terrain Denalis that we drove had some awesome built-in IntelliLink features. Press the info button on the dash and you can even enter a movie name to see where it's playing, how many miles away and show times. The OnStar feature was also cool. Press a button and get in touch with someone who can pinpoint where your vehicle is if you're lost, or need help finding the nearest Burger King [that's a real-call example our OnStar rep gave] or hotel. Also, you can scroll on the screen for gas stations nearby and even compare price per gallon. Very Jetsons.
• Our caravan stopped in Fishtown, a picturesque little spot with cute shops. I bought Figgy a small, silvery present. Don't want to report in detail in case she reads my blog. 
• Next stop: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was magnificent, rivaling coasts of California and Maine. Could have stood there for a long, long time, just gazing into the lake from the lookout perched high above a huge dune.
• Lunch and strolling/shopping in Glen Arbor. I liked Imagine That Eclectic Art & Gifts, with a beautiful painted blue window box out front, brimming with gorgeous summer flowers. I bought H. some SoGood black and tan organic coffee beans @ Anderson's IGA Market. Also loved that they sell local milk in glass bottles--even peach-flavored.
• Evening dinner sail on Tall Ship Manitou. We sailed around a bay, sipped on local wines and beers, nibbled on Lake Michigan whitefish spread, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, shrimp with mango salsa and fine cheeses. It was sunset, and I learned another new word: midge fly. It's small, like a gnat, and we saw some as we got off the boat.

I'm afraid I don't have any TCOYs to list today, first time in a long time. No exercise and hard to resist rich foods. As Anil said, on press trips, he tends to "eat like a prince." Amen. Good night.