Hidden Gem in Michigan

For anyone still wondering, I finally found a car this week!  Finally!  Wheels!  I can get around! I owe a great deal of my car success to my friend, renting a car so we can car shop at our own pace.  So, what do you do when you have a rental car with unlimited miles?  EXPLORE!

During one particularly stressful night, Steve insisted we take a break and go for dinner. For those of you familiar with Michigan, you might appreciate the adventure of going to dinner in Fenton from Ferndale via Brighton!  I'm sure there was a more direct route but the road under the wheels had the calming effect!

So, as we were cruising along, we needed to grab my daily geocache.  Scrolling through the listings on my phone, I saw something called the Sunken Cache with 27 favorite points.  Hmmmm..... wonder what this could be?

We pulled in near dusk, to discover that our geocache was along the border of an amazing little cemetery.  This is what greeted us:

Isn't she amazing?  There were just stunning headstones and statues in the Tyrone Memorial Garden.

And a different take on the crucifix:

As we were walking along the hills ridge, we could see more stones in the little valley.  More headstones?  Nope, we had stumbled upon the Tyrone Sunken Garden.  But first, to get there, you must cross the bridge....

And walk under the arch....

From the clippings I found later, Charles Smith was an explorer who travelled the globe four times.  To remember this travels, he created a granite garden in Tyrone, Michigan.

Today, the garden in maintained by volunteers but almost forgotten.  It was quite the amazing feeling walking around the "garden" in the middle of winter and right at dusk.

Now that we have wheels, we're looking forward to exploring the garden again this spring. 

Oh, and dinner?  We did make it to the Fenton Hotel.  It's haunted.