My morning didn't start off very well. I started to take a shower and only had lukewarm water. I stepped into the shower, thinking I just needed to readjust the water, but it didn't get better. I turned the cold water completely off, and it still didn't get any better, so I asked Joe if he had turned off the water heater. He said, yes he had, sorry. I was only half wet, so I stepped out, dried off, turned on both hot water heaters (one propane and one electric), and made the coffee. After about 10 minutes, I started to get back in the shower and learned that there was no bath soap. Joe said then that he had opened the last bar a while back (without telling me). So I just gave up, obviously I wasn't meant to take a shower this morning!
After breakfast, we gathered up Dave and Mazie and started on our way around this peninsula. Of course, the first stop was for Joe's soda, right here at the gas station next to our parking lot campground. He came out carrying a little sack, and I assumed it was bath soap. But no, he had bought 2 muffins for us all to share!
We started our drive, going past lots of cherry groves. Lots and lots of cherry groves.
Dave saw some trees he thought were peach trees, but Joe thought they had cherries on them too. So all morning David looked for peach trees. We did pass a sign that said we were at the 45th parallel, halfway between the North Pole and the equator, thought that was interesting.
Our first adventure was the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, which we were able to tour. "
Grand Traverse Light is a lighthouse in the U.S. state of Michigan, located at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, which separates Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay. It marks the Manitou passage, where Lake Michigan [e]lides into Grand Traverse Bay." I'm thinking that's supposed to say "slides".
It was furnished with period furniture, some of which we all remembered
either from our own homes growing up or our grandparents' homes.
On the grounds were some very interesting flower planters.
Also on the grounds was a Fog Signal Building, where the assistant lighthouse keeper worked to blow the horn when it was too foggy to see the lights. They had replicas of the original foghorn, which Joe got to try out.
During WWII, they used this area for training pilots to land on aircraft carriers. They had on exhibit a model of one of these ships, constructed out of 14,000 legos, by a Boy Scout who built it as a project for one of his badges.
From there, we got back out on the main road and continued our journey on the Lake Michigan Circle Tour Loop.
Along the way, we came across a pasture with yaks grazing. Now that isn't something a person sees very often. Joe had to google "yak" to confirm that was what these animals were. The only sign on the fence cautioned "do not approach these animals."
We entered the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and went to find lunch in Glen Arbor. As I got out of the car, I saw this "lost soles" post full of old shoes.
Collins and Marilyn didn't go with us this morning because they had seen lighthouses before, but we ran into them right before lunch, and they happened to come into the same restaurant where we ate, at Art's Tavern. We looked around the town very quickly, but I spotted some unique decorative little houses, I don't think they were bird houses, and two people rode through town on horseback.
Paint brushes for nose or mustache, and this one below used a water faucet for nose.
Our next stop was the dunes. I thought we were just going to pull in and take a picture or two, but oh no, Joe decides we have to climb the dunes.
Joe and Mazie made it all the way to the top of the second level, but I only went as far as the first level, almost to the top, and decided it just wasn't worth it.
So I sat down in the sand and just took photos of those two fools. (Joe is in black, and Mazie is in the burgundy shorts, sitting in about the middle of the photo).
here they are standing, but they couldn't see the lake from this viewpoint. It was another 2 miles hiking to get to a view of the lake.
Going down was much easier, but everyone was tired when we got back to the car. Joe and Mazie headed for the bathrooms, so I got in the car and drove over to pick them up to save them a few steps, since they had done so well climbing the dunes.
The next adventure was a drive along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, with 12 scenic points. The first was a covered bridge.
The second was Glen Lake: Big Glen which reaches 130 feet deep in places, and Little Glen is only 12 feet deep.
The long ridge across the lake running along the north side of Little Glen is called Alligator Hill. The alligator's snout goes down to the bridge that separates the two lakes.
Collins and Marilyn caught up with us here, but Collins was just sitting in the car, so I made him get out and come see the view (and get his picture taken).
The next stop was the Dune Overlook, and we could see off to the right in the distance the top of the hill that Joe and Mazie had just climbed.
The next several points were drive-bys, about the dunes and the forest, but stops No. 9 and 10 were a Lake Michigan Overlook, and it was absolutely beautiful, although we did have to climb uphill in the sand again.
This overlook was on a ridge about 450 feet about the lake, with a platform. We saw a small boat with some people on it, and it was so far down that it looked like a toy. This area was posted that you shouldn't go down to the water for safety reasons, but lots of people, including kids, hiked all the way down. We didn't. We obeyed the rules. No. 10 was right beside this one, with another short hike through the sand.
Mazie found a flowering bush she liked, so Joe got a picture of that.
Since Joe was bouncing around all over the place, we took advantage of a brief moment for a rest break while he took some pictures for some other people, but then it was back to "Joe and his women."
As we were walking back to the car, we saw some people looking at something in a tree, and we got to see our first porcupine!!
Dave and Mazie were both already back at the car (Mazie was emptying the sand out of her shoes) so I had to go grab them so they didn't miss this opportunity. The porcupine climbed down one tree trunk to the fork in the tree, then climbed up the other tree trunk. We got to watch him for several minutes. We also saw two deer cross the road in front of us today, so it was a good "wildlife viewing day."
As we headed back to camp, we came across a field of hops that were much further along than the ones Collins showed us last month.
We drove back through Traverse City, stopped at a grocery store, a bank, and a gas station, but finally got back to camp about 6:30. And tonight I cooked, even though I was pretty tired. We were all tired, but declared it "a good day." The weather was beautiful, and the sun on the lake made it picture perfect.
I have hot water and soap now, so I guess I'll go take a shower and call it a day. Tomorrow is a travel day again, heading to the Mackinaw Island area, probably to St. Ignace, so we can take the ferry to the island on Tuesday. Moving along!
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