More of the mitten

Michigan's Lower Peninsula

(Sightseeing and genealogical research)

September 8, 2017 - September 14, 2017

I had been looking forward to visiting Cara Lee, my college roommate, since we left the island.  We last visited her in Kalamazoo where she lived at the time having spent 30 years teaching 4th grade in Paw Paw, Michigan.  She loved NW Michigan, having spent many summers along the coast of Lake Michigan with her family, so she bought a second home there.  The love of the area deepened as she found herself spending more and more time "up north."  Eventually she sold her Kalamazoo house and moved to Northport full time.  Her love of the area has always come through in her photographs.  Even in the harsher months she's out and about enjoying everything there is to enjoy in the area.  No snow birding for her!

Cara Lee and I lived together for 3 years at Michigan State.  We started in a dorm where we ended up
 sharing a large room with second "study" room with 4 friends.  The following year 4 of us moved into an
on-campus apartment and from there we moved into a rental house off campus. Fun years!!

Cara Lee's Northport house.

The welcoming front door.

Beautiful impatiens in the window boxes.

Campground on the side!  Perfect!

Cara Lee loves to show off this corner of Michigan and she took us all over the Leelanau Peninsula and beyond.  A large portion of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore lies along the Lake Michigan Shore in Leenanau County.  It's a beautiful area consisting of enormous sand dunes which drop down to the Lake Michigan shoreline.  There are also forests, rivers, lakes, and charming towns nearby.  There are also historic farms and homes within the National Lakeshore area and a long bike paved bike trail.  Really - something for everyone.

This picture, lifted from www.traversecity.com shows just how beautiful the area is.

One of the Heritage Farms that is now a part of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

On top of the dunes

Glen Lake

Steep dropoff down to Lake Michigan.  It's a tough climb up if you choose to go down.

These trees tenaciously hold on at the top of the dune.  They take a fierce beating from mother nature.

Sleeping Bear in the distance (the mound of green just to the right of the center of the picture).  The story goes that a momma bear and her cubs went into Lake Michigan to get away from a fire in Wisconsin.  They swam and swam to try to reach to other side of the lake.  Momma bear went ahead and reached the shore where she climbed to the top of the dune to watch for her cubs.  The cubs were too weak to make it and drowned within site of the shore. The great spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear. 

Lots of people go down the dune to the shore.  Most of them manage to get back up to the top. 
There are signs at the top warning you that the cost of rescuing isn't cheap!

Don't know what the angle is on this slope but it looks about 45 degrees to me.

Looking out over Lake Michigan

Well worn path down the dune.

On another jaunt, Cara Lee we went to the Northport Harbor and up to the top of the peninsula where there is a light house.  One of many on the Great Lakes.

It's a very pretty harbor area which open out onto Grand Traverse Bay and then to Lake Michigan.

An artist designed, community painted mural in the harbor area.  Really brightens things up.

Cara Lee painted the initial coat of all the light green areas!

Very pretty gardens around the harbor area.

As with many lighthouses, this one is now a museum.
I wonder what it was like to live here back in the days when things
weren't automated, having to tend the light through all kinds of weather.

There were several structures like these on the property, done by former keepers, each more and more complicated.
This one was the most complicated of all.

The lighthouse itself.  I always find them quite charming.

Looking out over Lake Michigan at one of the islands in this area.

Barney discovers the water is not salty!

They grow a lot of apples and cherries in this area so we stopped at a local apple orchard to see if they had any macintosh apples - my all time favorite apple.  It was too early for macs but he did have some other apples which looked good so be bought some for eating and some for an apple crisp.  

The orchard owner is also the proud owner of the worlds largest bottle collection

He's got quite a few cans and signs as well.

Good thing they don't have earthquakes here.  I don't think this string method of holding the bottles in place would cut it if an earthquake happened to occur.

Goats just seem to love being up high! This is somewhere on the peninsula.

On another day we went to the town of Leland to see "Fishtown", a very fun place they have happily preserved.  It draws large crowds of tourists.

The boat on the other side is a fishing tug.  For me it takes the prize as the most unusual boat I've ever seen.
There are two varieties, this one and another that is completely open and would seem to be easier to work on, although
much less protected in bad weather.  I always think of tugs as pushing or pulling other boats but
these boats were used to pull fishing nets and traps around.  

We also went rock hunting along the Lake Michigan Shore, trying to find Petosky stones (old fossilized corral), Leland blues and agates.  We did manage to find some small Petosky stones and some other interesting rocks.  Cara Lee's husband was a rock hound and she has two huge glass containers full of Lake Superior agates along with lots of other interesting rocks they found through the years. They are so beautiful but I failed to get a picture of them!

Laura and Cara Lee hunting along the shore.

Laura really got into it.  Doreen tried as well but her tender feet weren't having it.

We drove up the old mission peninsula, a smaller peninsula located between the Leelanau peninsula and the mainland of Michigan.  It has lots of orchards, some wineries, fruit stands and a unique shop.

Some pretty flowers at a road side fruit stand.

The "unique" shop.  It was fun to wander around and see the eclectic mix of items for sale.

Some early fall colors.

Wish they had been ripe!

Lunch stop on the old mission peninsula.

When you get to the very tip of the peninsula you are right at the 45th parallel.

It was fun to see where the 45th parallel runs around the world.  I certainly wouldn't have guess it runs through Mongolia!

This area is famous for their beautiful sunsets.  Every Sunday evening a bunch of friends meet at a local park to watch the sun go down. Cara Lee actually initiated this group years ago and puts out a reminder indicating the time the sun will set.  Here are some pictures of the sunset on Sunday, September 10th.

The gathering begins.

As it heads into the lake.

Going, going...

Gone!

We hated to leave this area.  It's easy to see why Cara Lee loves it so much here.  We loved it too!  If you ever get to this part of Michigan, don't miss Northport and the Leelanau Peninsula.