After a comfortable 7 hour flight, and a 30 minute traffic free transfer to downtown, we booked into the David Whitney Hotel. This historic protected building, with its cathedral-like lobby makes it easy to see just how wealthy this city once was in the time of Ford mass production in the fifties. The free to use city tram has a stop at the front door of the hotel but you can walk to many places you would want to go from here.

The first impression of Detroit is how clean, buzzy and colourful it is. Downtown and mid town are full  of murals, beautiful Beaux Arts and Art Deco buildings and funky red brick alleyways; there are lots of coffee shops, bars and independent stores. You have the river walk area also and the suburb of Cork Town, which reminded me of London’s Camden but American style, full of restaurants and nightlife and markets. There is a bohemian vibe throughout the city; you have the impression that low and state subsidised rents have allowed for pop up stores, art centres and creativity. People are living and working in the city, and they are friendly. Lots of people said hello to us as we walked around.

Must-see: Motown Museum

Motown Records was founded in Detroit and the Motown Museum, or Hitsville U.S.A., is great fun to visit. Next year they are completely reinventing this museum to be an interactive journey through the music and history, but for now, we got to visit the original detached house where it all started. Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gay, The Temptations and so many more artists recorded here.

Must-see: Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village

Henry Ford was once the richest man in America. He had so much money that he liked to spend it on buying as many different types of cars as he could get his hands on and his Museum is an amazing sprawling homage to all things American. You can see the car JFK was assassinated in, Rosa Park’s bus, furniture styles throughout the decades and lots more. He also collected houses but not for living in. He had the idea to build a recreation park where school kids could learn history through seeing and so he travelled all over America, looking for examples of housing from every era. He would buy the house, have it disassembled brick by brick, shipped to Dearborn, and rebuilt in his park. He managed to collect Abraham Lincoln and the Wright Brothers’ childhood homes, as well as a Cotswold cottage from England, a pilgrim house and about 40 others form all over America. You can tour this park in a 50s original black Ford; we had so much fun here. A really fascinating place to spend an afternoon and you can step inside all the houses, which have been furnished as they would have been back in their day.

Other Detroit highlights

Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA)  A world-class collection, including the famous “Detroit Industry Murals” by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo’s husband.

Eastern Market  One of the oldest and largest public markets in the U.S., with fresh produce, murals, local vendors.

RiverWalk  A paved riverside trail along the Detroit River, with views of Windsor, Canada, and new the waterfront development.

Traverse City & 45th Parallel Wine Country

We took a 25 minute flight but it is also just a four hour drive to Traverse City on Lake Michigan. We stayed at the  modern waterfront Hotel Indigo. It is well situated for exploring the wine trails, downtown and you can swim right in front of the hotel on a gorgeous little beach on Lake Michigan.

The 45th parallel and viticulture

Traverse City lies near the 45th parallel north, the same latitude as Bordeaux and Tuscany, and so this too is a wine region full of vineyards. The cooling influence of Lake Michigan keeps the climate moderate, allowing for a longer, balanced growing season. They mostly make Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. We had two nights here and managed to fit in 5 wineries. My favourite was probably Bowers Harbour. You can take a wine tour, which is the best way to get around to them all if you want to taste the wines. They are all set between the Mission Peninsula (a millionaires row of stunning houses facing out onto Lake Michigan, it was great fun having a nosey as we drove along to the tip) and Leelanau Peninsula.

The area also has about 40 craft breweries and there are 7 gorgeous little towns in the area that are so pretty. Full of flowers and wooden houses and boutiques and independent book stores and cafes. My favourites were Glen Arbor and Suttons Bay.

I swam three days in a row in Lake Michigan, it was so fresh but not as cold as Irish water. There are loads of watersport opportunities around the lake, kayaking, sailing, jet skiing in some areas. We also visited the Little Bear Sand Dunes, an unexpected national park. I had no idea that they would have these huge sand dunes on Lake Michigan, it is really peaceful there and a gorgeous place to bring a picnic.

I really enjoyed the quieter pace of life on this trip. Detroit and Lake Michigan have everything for a relaxing but fun week away. I’d recommend giving another side of America a try.