Heading South Through Michigan

After spending the night in Gaylord, MI, about an hour south of Mackinaw City, we headed back up I-75. It wasn't long before we were back on track.  We got on the scenic highway going south along Lake Michigan, Highway 119, also called The Tunnel of Trees. It was a hilly road with lots of trees overhanging the road and some beautiful houses.  There was some kind of bike race or ride along that route but luckily, they were all headed north.  In the shade of the trees, they were hard to see.

 Tunnel of Trees

 Tunnel of Trees

A few of the bikes along the narrow road

Our first stop for the day was in a cute little town, Harbor Springs, with beautiful houses.  It kind of reminded me of some of the houses in The Hamptons on Long Island, NY, We stopped at the harbor for a walk and to look at all the boats.  Right along the dock we found this beauty!

Super Yacht Blue Moon from Cayman Islands

After a little research, we found out more about this yacht.  It was HUGE...198' long!  It only accommodates 12 guests and 14 crew members.  The owner's suite is 1,200 square feet. Search for this on the internet and you can see pictures of the inside...AMAZING!  For $395,000 you can rent it for a week!!

On down the road, we stopped and spent a couple hours in Petoskey.  Again, we spent some time in the park along the water.

 Little Traverse Bay - Lake Michigan

 Sunset Park 

 Sunset Park

 Sunset Park Harbor

 Petoskey Pierhead Light

 Ernest Hemingway spent Oct - Dec 1919 in a rented

room in this house and tried to write but was 

unsuccessful.

I think this is a house but looked like a church.

Maybe it used to be a church and someone

added on to it.  Interesting anyway!

Our last stop in Petoskey was at the St Francis Solanus Indian Mission.  It was built in 1859 and used by the Native Americans and early settlers.  It was named in honor of St Francis Solanus, who was a Franciscan missionary that worked among the Indians of South America.  It was located in a beautiful spot, overlooking Lake Michigan's Little Traverse Bay.

The back of the church and the cemetery

 The inside of the tiny church

The view from the front door

Passing through the town of Charlevoix we noticed that all the streets had flowers planted along the curb.  They looked really nice.

Town of Charlevoix

 We didn't stop in Traverse City but were able to snap a couple water pictures.

 Boats tied up together on Little Traverse Bay

So many boats out on the lake

Next up was Sleeping Bear Dunes.  Of course, we didn't climb them!  It was a hot day and it was the end of the day and we were tired!  It was a nice area.  It looks like once you get to the top, you can go down the back again but that's not the case.  The dunes go on for miles. It was fun to watch the people going up and down though. It's hard to really see how steep and how high these dunes are.  These aren't near as big as the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado but still, they are pretty impressive!

 The dunes

 Another view of the dunes

 Lots of climbers

 Another view

Near the dunes was Glen Haven, a restored port village on Lake Michigan.  Again, lots of people on the beach.  The water is so clear.

The beach at Glen Haven

The Point Betsie Lighthouse was also here.  The grounds had already closed for the day but we were able to get pretty close.  This lighthouse rents out rooms!

 Point Betsie Lighthouse

Point Betsie Lighthouse

Then it was on to Frankfort for the night.  My guess is that a room at the lighthouse would have been bigger than the room we had.  Being Labor Day weekend, it was hard to find a place to stay.  This place had only 2 rooms left, both with a double bed.  It was a tiny room and since there was no place for a chair to sit on, they generously provided a folding chair!

Conrad is standing against the wall (and the

folding chair)!  There's about the same amount of

room between the wall and the bed on the other side too!

Before leaving Frankfort the next morning, we drove down to the water to see the North Frankfort Lighthouse.  

Like most mornings on the lake, it was hazy.

This lighthouse is square.

Arcadia Overlook was our next stop. It is the highest point on this shore of Lake Michigan. It was so foggy/hazy that morning that we couldn't see a long distance but it was still a nice view.  We climbed the 124 steps to the top.

 Trudge, trudge....15, 16, 17....

 What a sight if it had been clear!

 Arcadia Overlook

We found this little park in the town of Arcadia.  Little did we know, this would be our last stop before trying to get to a "bigger town" for a new alternator.  

Arcadia Overlook, looking south

 Park in Arcadia

Playground at the park

 Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan at park in Arcadia

When we got the car started, we hurried to find a bigger town than where we were.  We ended up in Manistee, MI, population 6,117 in 2013.  Being Labor Day, everything was closed but we were able to find a place to stay and hope we could find someone to fix the car.  We discovered once we checked in to our hotel that there was a shop kind of across the street from us.  Conrad got out later that afternoon to walk a little and stopped at a little shop where the guy repaired fishing equipment and tackle.  Conrad told him about our problem and he highly recommended the guy across the street.  We were stuck at the end of town, and there really wasn't anything around us so we just laid up in the hotel for a couple days and got some well needed rest.

Our home for a couple days

By 10:00 on Wednesday, we were on our way again.