Well, today we had a plan again, but it didn't work out as well as yesterdays. We got a pretty early start, just before 9:00. It was cloudy when we got up, but a storm blew in just as we were pulling out of the campground. We drove down to the North Breakwater Lighthouse at Ludington, which is why we stopped here, but it was raining when we got there shortly after 9:00 for a 10:00 tour, and the waves were crashing over the pathway out to the Lighthouse, so we convened in the parking lot and made a group decision to skip this lighthouse, knowing that Michigan has 128 more, so surely we will run across another one that gives tours.
Another point of interest here in Ludington was the car ferry that you can take over to Wisconsin. I had hoped to see this, and we did see the turn-off for it but since we were all in our RVs with our tow vehicles, we didn't take that turn. But while we were talking on the parking lot, the ferry came right past the lighthouse, so we got to see it afterall. It, the S. S. Badger, is a 4-hour ride and costs $62 (seniors) one way, or $109 round trip to Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
So we continued on our way, the 10 east to 37 north to Traverse City, then picked up the 22 up into the peninsula to this casino campground we are staying at.
Along the way, we stopped at a picnic rest stop that turned out to have a scenic view of a lake, and a guy fishing in a boat. A couple stopped here while we were looking at the lake and I thought he called it Houdin ________ Dam, but I couldn't find that so I must have gotten it wrong. There were a series of steps that took us right down to the very clear water.
Joe zoomed in a campground across the lake that looked very enticing, but I don't think we will be going that way. (This new camera is pretty amazing.)
As we got to Traverse City, we found a grocery store so we made a stop there -- we always need something. These Meijer stores here are huge, and this one was especially large. My cashier said it is their largest store in volume and sales, and second largest in square feet. It's bigger than our normal Walmart, and has everything that Walmart does.
Just past the grocery store, I saw the city limit sign for Traverse City. I thought somewhere I would see "home of Dan Majerle," but I didn't see his name anywhere. I remembered that this is where he was from, probably the only reason I had ever heard of Traverse City, Michigan.
Another sign I kept seeing, and I didn't get a very good picture of, is the snowmobile crossing signs. We saw a lot of them today, and have seen then throughout Michigan.
I need that function on my camera that allows me to zoom in a picture and retake it, and apparently my new camera does not have that option. We've seen a lot of interesting "crossing" signs in our travels, and I always wish I had taken pictures of all of them, from moose to caribou to baby ducks and various other birds, to alligators. Since I'm always on the lookout for wildlife, I always pay attention to those signs so I know what to look for.
From Traverse City, we took M22 along Grand Traverse Bay, almost to the north end of the Leelanau Peninsula which is located in the Northwest corner of Michigan and of course is surrounded by water on three sides. We came up the east side today but intend to go on to the top and drive down the west side tomorrow, which will take us to Sleeping Dunes State Park, among other things. But the drive today was beautiful, lots of beaches, marinas, boats, a few ducks. Somewhere today, Collins and Marilyn spotted a red fox and a wolf, but we didn't see either of them.
There is a "wine trail" up here, and I caught a picture of one winery with an interesting painting on the side.
We found the casino and campground, which is a parking lot with electricity for $7 per night. While we were checking in at the casino gift shop, Collins put a few $$ through a couple of machines, and Joe coerced Mazie into feeding one a dollar before we left, but I didn't hear any ding, ding, ding. After we got set up, I took Mazie back over and we played for a while, but we didn't get any ding, ding, dings either. When I went broke, we came back to camp. Joe decided we should go back into the little town of Suttons Bay to find dinner, so off we went again. There was a festival of some sort in town, and we walked down to it but it looked like the food booths were closing up. They did have a live band playing.
And some ladies were enjoying the music!
I saw this little girl with an awesome "digger" in the sand -- I'm pretty sure Andrew is going to need one of these. I couldn't figure out how it was mounted, but this little girl was doing a good job of covering up her buddy.
People love these Michigan beaches, and the sand is wonderful, but I know that water has to be freezing, especially for us thin-blooded Arizonans.
After dinner (Mexican, but not great), we walked in a couple of shops that were still open, then headed back up the coast. We saw lots of boat docks, some boats with nice covers to protect from weather, and a couple of swimming platforms. They really use the water here for enjoyment, good for them, those hardy souls.
By the time we stopped for lunch, the rain had stopped, and in the afternoon it cleared off to blue skies, little windy, but nice, probably low 80s. We drove 123 miles today, more progress, and paid $2.709 for fuel (gas price seems to be going the wrong direction as we get further north, and we still have Canada to deal with). Weather prediction for tomorrow is 70s, and sunny, so we are hoping for a good day.
Joe overheard this conversation in the restroom, in the next stall, where we ate dinner tonight:
Little Girl (maybe 3 years old): I don't have to go.
Dad: I thought you said you had to go.
Little Girl: No, I said I didn't have to go.
Dad: But that's why we came in here.
Little Girl: I don't have to go, but I will wash my hands.
Dad: You didn't do anything, so you don't need to wash your hands.
Joe got a chuckle out of that, and they walked by our table when they came out of the restroom so he got to see the little girl, and how young she was.
