Michigan's Yard Sale Trail 2013

Yesterday was the start of the Michigan Yard Sale Trail. I left my house at 7am on the dot! I got home at 7:30pm with a few treasures, lots of memories of the great scenery and views of Lake Huron and awesome girl time with my sister-in-law!

I picked her up at 8am and we went to Algonac where we started the yard sale trail. The last time I went, I started in Marine City. Boy, was I missing out! We found a lot of great sales starting right away in Algonac. There were several stops along the route where several vendors had setup tents/canopies in large yards and open field type areas.

This is a really fun sale/event! It is very much like the World's Longest Yard Sale, but less congested (don't get me wrong it was pretty congested in some areas) and less people (still a LOT of people though). At times it was pretty crowded and hard do go the speed limit down the road, you have to be careful all the time to not step out in front of a car or semi truck, and you have to be careful to watch for people walking out into the road so you don't run them over.

Some sales were just people selling some stuff to get rid of it, and some sales were obviously dealers. Some prices were very good, some were very high. Some places had nice stuff, some places had junk. It all goes back to my favorite phrase about kissing frogs and finding princes...sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.

Prices were all over the place, ranging from people just wanting to get rid of things, to dealers who sell things for a living. Some prices were incredibly cheap, some incredibly high. The things that stood out as most ridiculously high were some old Pepsi glasses, that I think originally came from Hardees. Usually you can find them at sales for between a quarter and a dollar each. In antique shops, they go between eight and twelve dollars each. One sale (garage sale) had them for $30 each and they were filthy dirty!

I saw lots of crafts, lots of new purses and other new things, lots of antiques and vintage things, as well as lots of clothes, so it was a wide, eclectic range of stuff. I re-read my post about this sale when I visited in 2011, and I laughed out loud when I read "all the sites were worth visiting once---not something I want to repeat." Oops! I guess time does make a difference because I totally planned to go last year, but it was pouring rain, so we cancelled, and this year I couldn't wait to get on the trail!

I think I talked so much yesterday that I don't really need to talk for at least a week! It was great chatting with and catching up with my sister-in-law. I don't think we've ever had a full day of just us hanging out together all day long like today-it was fun! Usually we have other family members around, and we've never had the luxury of a whole day to be on our own little adventure.

When I went in 2011, I drove the trail all the way up and around the thumb and then on to West Branch to pick up Eric from my parents (the halfway point between our home and theirs in the U.P.) and then all the way home. I don't know how I managed to do all that driving in one day!!!

I am exhausted!! We only went as far north as Port Sanilac, which is only half way to the tip of the thumb. There has got to be a better way to figure out the driving/route for next year...that is if I didn't wear my SIL out so much that she doesn't want to go next year.

If you plan to visit the trail, I would suggest going on Friday if you want the best selection, but if you are just in it for the adventure, any day will work. It was a nice adventure, and even if I hadn't bought a thing, I would still recommend it.

We stopped at one house along the route that was amazing! My SIL suggested to the woman running the sale that she should charge for tours of her house-she'd probably make more on that than on her garage sale! She said she was asked to have her house be a part of a tour but she declined because she would have had to dust her house-sounds like something I'd say-I hate dusting! She also told us her house is haunted and her grand kids refuse to sleep upstairs.

Since part of her sale was on her porch, we accidentally peeked in the front window-what a gorgeous house!!! I was drooling over all of the leaded glass windows, and all of the details in the craftsmanship of the the front porch. I can't imagine the details on the inside of the house!!

If the World's Longest Yard Sale is something you've always wanted to try, but live too far away, this would be a good way to get a taste of it, on a much smaller scale. I think I kind of like this a little better knowing I'll be in my own bed at the end of the day, and not facing another 2-3 days of driving and sales like I would have had I went to WLYS this year.

Things seemed to have popped up more along the trail route from two years ago, I noticed more gas stations and fast food places-always a bonus to be able to get gas and a quick bite to eat to keep you on track. I think there were a lot more places with multiple sales than two years ago too. That makes it nice to hit a bunch of sales all in one place-gives your rear end a break from the car seat too!

If you go, I'd suggest sunscreen, lots of ones or small bills, good walking shoes, comfortable clothes, a vehicle with the rear seats removed (in case you find something big and beautiful that you just gotta have), a camera and a good GPS. Sometimes the route kind of wanders...or the road seems to wander and we got off track a couple of times. Could have been too much talking while driving, I'll admit that, but the GPS got us back on track.

What a FUN day!!! Way too much driving, but a really FUN day!!!

 This covered butter dish was a picture I took and sent to a friend. She collects covered butter dishes. She didn't get back to me in time for me to buy it for her, I was over a half an hour away when she said she wanted it!

 This was a "show" in a wonderful little park. I bought a lot of stuff here, and I even got fresh kettle corn! The park even has a splash and play area for kids.

 Canada on the other side.

 This doll and 3 others that were just as beautiful were on the porch of the amazing house. They were right in front of a huge picture window that had amazing beveled and leaded glass flowers above the big window. It was as we were looking at the dolls that we realized we could see into the house. It was pretty awesome!!

 This was sitting on the front lawn of the house with the porch sale. It was off to the left side-loved it!!

 I have no idea what I did, but this picture came out awful! This is the house with the porch sale.

 There were so many houses on the route that were absolutely stunning. It isn't just the sale that makes it such a great day. It is also the scenery-whether that is the water, nature, homes, etc. it all comes together to make a great adventure.

 Another large sale with many vendors.

 These were at another large sale-I'd love to make some of these some day!

 This house was a museum. There were several vendors on the grounds, and a few old buildings that looked to be authentic that were moved (I am assuming) to the property.

 It was HUGE and so amazingly beautiful!

 This little general store was from the 1800's and on the rear of the property-look into the trees to the left of the store---see the chapel?

 Front view-I was really hoping we could have went inside.

 This is a quilt my SIL picked up for me at an estate sale a week or so ago.

 Honey whip jars!

 I've never seen one with a red handle on the lid. It says "Tom's" in the red.

 Galvanized pitcher to eventually go into some yard art thing I hope to make!

 These were NOT the $30 each glasses!

 Amish made apple butter (reminds me of my dad's mom-she loved it and always had it in the fridge) and oatmeal cookies. They were really, really hard when we ate them while walking around, but later after I'd been home a couple of hours, they were chewy and much better!

 Old wooden rolling pin-don't you just wish some of these old things could talk!?!? Oh, the stories they could tell!!

 3 half aprons and 1 hanky.

 Stained up tablecloth, but no holes.

No stains, no holes, clean---PERFECT! It's already on my table in the sun room and looks gorgeous!

This bike was parked at the side of an apartment building (maybe 6 apartments) that was right on the water.

 I plan to paint the frame white-I don't think the dark wood does anything for this picture.

Fifties end table

Mark your calendar for next year's dates-August 9-11.

Hope you are having a great weekend! I've been busy getting my house ready for a get-together tomorrow, and busy making food. It looks like it's going to be a perfect day mid to upper seventies!!