Cheboygan, Mullet Lake 9/23/10

Mullet Lake is a fond memory from my childhood. My family vacationed here in a rented cottage for a week in 1956 or '57. I remember the fun we had walking out the cottage door, down the dock, and jumping into the water. Just being back on the lake after all these years felt good!! Unlike that summer week when I remember no rain, today has been nothing but a steady downpour. But we have enjoyed it anyway as it gave us to a chance to catch up on emails, phone calls, and blogging.

Docks in channel to Mullet Lake

Waterside RV Park

After their walk in the rain

Cooking dinner

Blogging

Hot Sparks Flying!!

Charlevoix 'the beautiful' 9/22/10

Although we planned to stay in Traverse City for 4 nights, after 2 the 'wanderlust' hit us hard. We found ourselves heading out on the highway going north, pulled by an unseen hand. Coming into Charlevoix, we were transfixed by Lake Charlevoix, its harbor, the downtown shops, and Lake Michigan all beautiful arranged to compliment each other!! We parked on a back street and immediately unloaded our bikes for a tour of the city. The harbor was first in view from a magnificent platform area complete with music. The moment was magical and I opened my arms in invitation to Dagmar to dance. Only one other man was there and I think he was a little embarrassed, but he stayed and I caught him secretly glancing at us.

Stunning Lake Charlevoix Harbor downtown view

Powering up the Lake Michigan channel

Biking out on the pier for a better view of Lake Michigan we met a man hopping along on crutches in shorts and short sleeves. Dagmar struck up the conversation first by remarking that he must be a native, because he was obviously thick-blooded and not bothered by the cold. He said he was now from California but was born in Charlevoix and was visiting home after a 15 year absence. He remarked on a number of changes that had been made and remembered fondly the times as a boy when he swam and dove from the pier. As we were leaving he pointed to the Southern shoreline and said we should go over and see the rock houses there.

Channel entrance to Lake Michigan

Feathered Birds perching on boardwalk

David and I biked down to the lakeshore and I will be forever grateful for that man at the pier for telling us about the rock houses. David and I would have never known they existed and yet they are so famous and made the city of Charlevoix even more famous in the entire world. Many times these homes have been featured in magazine articles. The houses have been dubbed "mushroom houses" because of their distinct shape and color. The architect, Earl Andrew Young had a motto: "There is no use paying rent---when you can buy a home at the prices I have places for sale for". Boy, I wish I would have been here to buy my house!! And so did many other people. We took several pictures of some of his houses along Lake Michigan's shoreline and one in particular, the Boulder House. It was for sale for $ 1.99 million! An entire bus tour stopped by while we were there and got out to look at it and wander amongst the houses. I walked all around the yard, and when I touched the stones, I started to well-up, it was so beautiful!  It had a little playhouse that I am sure my Granddaughter Evly would love to play in.That man had a vision of building unique homes using the local stones that washed up ashore Lake Michigan.

The Sucher House

Boulder Manor - front view

Gate view to cottage

Boulder House - Dagmar's dream backyard!!

Boulder House - side view

Boulder House - children's playhouse

Boulder House - entrance

Boulder House - side view

Traverse City 09/21/10

The first place we stopped was at the local Walmart as we needed a few groceries and needed to replace the lost camera. I chose an intermediate Samsung point'n'shoot since they didn't sell the Panasonic brand that we had before. We have 30 days to return it if we don't like it. We then headed for the Traverse City State Park which is a large RV park right downtown. It was a little noisy during morning and evening rush hour but quiet at other times. The black squirrels absolutely own the place. They drove our dogs, Baker and Grindstaff crazy because they could only look at them and not chase them. The TART bike path passes by the back of the park. A short 4 mile ride takes you through neighborhoods, along the beach and marina and into the heart of downtown. We biked all over, stopping  to talk with a man about his Irish Setter, another about his Golden Retriever, and still another who was fishing for Salmon that were just beginning to make the river run upstream. Later we met Terry's wife Susan (you remember our remarkable diesel mechanic from Montague) for conversation and drinks at the Mackinaw Brewing Co. We had delightful chat for about 45 minutes during her lunch break. They were celebrating their 1 month anniversary. 

'Time to Let Go' statue in the marina park

View from one of the many downtown bridges

Inside channel

Local fishing spot

Shopping time, my favorite time!! This trip has taken us far away from any of the strip malls that I was accustomed to back home. Imagine my delight when we stumbled upon this hat store. They carried some of the most unique looking hats I have ever seen.  We spent quite some time in there and David had to take some pictures of his favorites. I took one of David decked out as a pirate :). We especially enjoyed visiting a store called "The Cherry Republic", where all kinds of goods made with cherries are being sold, almost all items were available for tasting, yummy! Jelly, BBQ sauce, salsa, dried cherries, vinagrettes, mustard sauces, sour candy, best of all, chocolate and vanilla covered cherries....... amazing all the things that were made with cherries! They do a great mail order gift business, in case your looking for something special!! Traverse City is known as the cherry capital of the world, since it  grows one third of the world's cherry crop! The weather was perfect, very balmy and warm that day and we just went up and down Front Street, having tied the bikes to a post. Many people were out enjoying the weather, as well.

Like none other!

Dagmar Hildegard Silberschneider (my maiden name)

This was David's favorite

Pirates don't come any more intimidating than this!!

Glenn Arbor 9/20/10

We stayed at the DH Day campground just a mile or two from Glenn Arbor, a beautiful little lake town. We were surprised to be able to get a site with electricity, 50amps no less, because I thought it would be dry camping only. The site was wooded and a tight fit for the motorhome but after a couple of tries we got it backed in correctly. On the dog walk around the campground Dagmar met a German couple that was in a rented RV. They started in Chicago and went all the way to the Upper Peninsula  and were coming back  down  to Chicago. Their English wasn't very good, but they said people everywhere in the States were so helpful they really had no trouble. Later that evening we had a nice fire before heading for bed. The next morning we decided to go canoeing, or as it turned out kayaking, so we stopped at Crystal River Outfitters and rented a kayak. They took us upstream for a 7 mile, 3 hr float back to their store. The scenery was awesome, quiet and serene and the water crystal clear. This was my (Dagmar) first float trip ever and I was hooked!  We saw 11 Salmon swimming upstream to their spawning grounds. It was great but we have no pictures because I wasn't willing to risk loosing my phone to the Crystal River. We'll look for a new camera in Traverse City which is where we are heading next.

DH Day Campground

Morning on the Beach

Back to the Dunes 9/19/10

We couldn't get enough of the Dunes so we headed back, wanting to complete the 3 mile round trip hike to Lake Michigan. The landscape was so foreign to us we felt that we could have been walking on the moon. We dubbed it the Dunescape!! It was physically challenging even though the temperature was only in the mid 70's. We were so glad that we had worked out at the gym at home, because this hike required some real thigh muscle power! Some returned early and shook their heads at us, saying that it was just too far. But some people we met encouraged us to go on till the end, and that it was worth it! Needless to say, we made it and had a wonderful lunch of apple and cheese right at the beach. Unfortunately I (David) lost our camera when I was running down one of the dune hills on the way there. It must have flown out, and even though we retraced our steps we couldn't find it. It will probably be found by some future hiker, maybe 1000 years in the future. I can't imagine what he/she will make of it. Anyway, all of these pictures are all from my camera phone.

Dunescape

Arriving at the Lake after 1 1/2 hr hike through sand

Distant freighter heading for the ocean

Miles and Miles of Pristine Beach

Lake Leelanau 9/18/10

A dad teaching his kids how to fish

We spent two nights at the Lake Leelanau RV Resort. We were about 3 miles from the town and so we biked in Saturday. We did a little bit of shopping at the local Thrift store and hardware store, then biked through town taking pictures. The evening turned cold and even with a fire we had to bundle up.

Beautiful Boathouse

Great Looking Catholic Church

Weather was turning colder

Furthest Point North 9/17/10

Grand Traverse Lighthouse - you can volunteer here

Today found us at the furtherest point north on our trip, Leelanau State Park, a primitive park on the tip of Leelanau peninsula. It was populated by a few other campers and the Keepers of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. We met the incoming Keepers who stay for only a week at a time. Its a program run by the Michigan State Parks department, that allows individuals or couples to live at the lighthouse for a week at a time, enjoying the solitude, while doing a few needed chores. You do have to pay $350 for the privilege of working the week. The couple we met was from Pennsylvania and this was there second year of working there.

Dagmar purchasing fresh green beans at  Northpoint Farmers Market

Leaving the state park we went back through the town of Northpoint stopping for groceries at Tom's Market and fresh produce at the local Farmers Market.

Leeland's Historical Fishing Warf

Heading for the Lake Leelanau RV Park we stopped in Leeland for lunch in our motorhome and a little site-seeing around their historical Fisherman's Warf. I was feeling a little under the weather and looking forward to a needed rest.

We were bushed when we pulled into the park about 4pm that evening. Its a beautiful park situated on Lake Leelanaus with many seasonal campers who pay about $3000 to stay here from April to mid-October. This place is under about 7' of snow in mid-winter and is completely closed.

 

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore 9/16/10

Morning Beach Bums

Thursday morning started off rainy and cold but we were determined not to waste it having spent much of the previous week repairing the motorhome. We set off through the woods on a 2 mile hike to Lake Michigan with the dogs. We fought a blustery wind with spitting rain all the way there as you can see in this video.

What a view....there are people on the lookout point!

Later as the weather improved we headed to the Pierce Stocking Scenic drive for an overview of the dunes. Station 9 & 10 have the most dramatic views of the Lake Michigan from the 450' high dunes. Dagmar discovered she loves the dunes even better than the Alps and she just couldn't get enough of them. See her leading us out to the overlook in this video.

Dune meets Water

From here you can see Lake Michigan

Later we decided to try our own dune climb. I was a bit reluctant but after Dagmar went once and we had a bit of lunch I was ready for the climb. Each crest was better than the last until we had climbed high enough to see Lake Michigan. As we made the return journey is was a bit like skiing the Alps as seen in this video.