Traverse City and Frankenmuth

June 24, 2021

Hi! We are still in Michigan! We spent three days in Traverse City and surrounding area! It is a lovely city! We had a great time! The weather was perfect too!

The first day we were there we did a short trip up Old Mission Peninsula to a vineyard/winery: Chateau Grand Traverse. We had a nice wine tasting and ended up buying a few bottles. It was a lovely location!

On Tuesday we went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This was unlike anything we had ever seen before.

I hope you can see in this picture how tall this dune is, those little things on bottom right are the cars at in the parking lot at the bottom of the "Dune Hike". To the left is Lake Michigan and to the right is Glen Lake. We managed to miss the storm in the distance, the clouds were incredible!

Melting continental ice left this ridge of sand and gravel. Steady winds off Lake Michigan have plucked at the grains of sand, propelling them inland, depositing a veneer of dunes on top of the glacial ridge. Really, it is the strangest thing to find such a huge sand dune far from the ocean. We climbed 460 feet up the dune, it was neither quick, nor easy!

This covered bridge was on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. This was a seven mile drive through scenic woods, with many beautiful overlook stops.

The water of Lake Michigan in Chicago is not this pretty. You could mistake this for Caribbean or Florida ... right up until you stick your feet in .... Brrrrr!

After Sleeping Bear we went back to Mission Point Peninsula to see the Lighthouse at the very top. Built in 1870 it is situated at the 45th Parallel - 1/2 way between the North Pole and the Equator.

Our car stopped at a couple more vineyards ... nothing we could do to prevent that! This was Bower (we also went to Bonobo).

We saw cherry trees but learned that we are a couple of weeks too early....

On Wednesday we decided to rent e-bikes and explore some more. We rented 2 Cannondale e-bikes from Brick Wheels. We followed their excellent bike trail system (TARP) all the way to Sutton Bay. It was about 40 miles round trip. Since we had e-bikes we did not mind the distance or the stiff wind on the way back but ... our butts sure minded the long journey. ugh!

This is Sutton Bay

having fun!

The signage was entertaining!

We had some unexpected challenges with our car. We got our oil changed because we have already driven 4300 miles. The mechanic did not put all the screws back that hold the cowling in place under the car.... so, that came loose. We managed to find an auto parts store and fix that up. Next, we take off from Brick Wheels and hear a whomp-whomp-whomp ... seemingly a tire issue. So, off to the tire place we go! Super helpful young man there put the car on the lift and saw the problem - a hunk of tar (presumably from a parking lot "fix") stuck to the tire. He had to use a spatula-like tool to pry that off..... so, things do not always go perfectly smooth but we manage! :)

Today we are in Frankenmuth, MI. This place is known as "Little Bavaria". We visited the largest Christmas Store -