We DUNE What?

   

Sleepy Bear Dunes

    During the week of August 23rd to 30th, we completed our final stretch of exploring Michigan. We spent sixteen nights total in the Great Lakes state. Our itinerary was mostly guided by where we could find an available campground within our budget, and then we planned our day trips from there.   

    On a side note, campgrounds are so much more to us than launching pads for our sightseeing adventures.  Just being at a nice and quiet park, meeting fellow campers from various places, making a campfire, getting to sleep in the same bed every night, and eating home-cooked meals just adds so much more comfort and joy to the journey.

Smitten with the Mitten

    We saw a sign in a gift shop that amusingly boasted, "Four out of the five Great Lakes prefer Michigan!" We were definitely enamored with the beauty of the Great Lakes and would have loved to see more of what Michigan's coastlines have to offer, but are thankful for what we were able to experience.

Two out of two
Aging Cajuns prefer
the Great Lakes!

Lake Michigan at
Glen Haven Beach

Relying on Recommendations

     One of the Lower Peninsula areas that came highly recommended was the west coast along Lake Michigan.  Petoskey, Traverse City, and Sleeping Bear Dunes are all on the upper part of the western coast and seemed doable for us to explore within the short timeframe we allowed ourselves before heading to another highly recommended town, Frankenmuth.  Regrettably, most campgrounds in those areas were either fully booked or exceeded our budget.

A Heated Pool in August?

    We found a great RV park within our budget thirty miles inland and booked three nights in the quaint village of Kalkaska. This family-owned park features spacious, shady, level sites and fantastic amenities—including walking trails, a game room, an outdoor movie theater, a playground, a general store, affordable laundry, and a heated in-ground pool. 

    At first, we thought it was a little funny when one of the owners proudly told us that the pool was heated to 82 degrees! But ... it's August! Since the weather dropped into the 50s every night we were there, we definitely understood why that heated pool was such a proud feature for them!!

We did a toe dip test to see how
warm the water was -- it was still
a little too cool for our liking.

    We absolutely loved this RV park and were so glad that we found it.  Kalkaska is a small village, but it has plenty to offer -- a farmer's market, pavilion, clock tower, grocery stores, and mom-and-pop restaurants like Moose & Stella's and Trout Town Tavern.  

Kalkaska is home to the
National Trout Festival

    One place we were excited to discover in Kalkaska was this fairly large outdoor produce stand called "Cherry Street Market." We were craving some good fresh produce, so we stopped in to check it out.  This market has just about every kind of produce you'd want, including Michigan's donut peaches and the region's famously home-grown tart cherries.

A big chair for a big bear!

     And while you're there shopping for some mighty fine-looking home-grown fresh produce, you might as well grab yourself a few not-so-fresh golf balls while you're at it!  It must be "par for the course" for the market to sell them by the pound, too!

We'll take a pound of tomatoes,
a half-pound of cherries, and
three pounds of golf balls!

Petoskey, Michigan

    A few fellow travelers had highly recommended Petoskey, and driving through it on our way to Kalkaska made it easy to see why.  It’s a beautiful coastal city featuring a lively marina, serene lakeside parks, scenic bike trails, and a stunning overlook called "Sunset Park" with sweeping views of Little Traverse Bay.

On our way to Kalkaska,
we pulled into this park that we
mistakenly thought had an entrance and
a separate exit.  We were in the
RV with the car in tow!  We had
to detach the car and turn both
vehicles around, then reattach the
car so we could get back on the road.
We came back the next day so
that we could enjoy the gorgeous
view stress-free! 

  We Went Stone Hunting

    The area is most famous for the unique Petoskey stone—Michigan's official state stone. Having never heard of this stone before, we did a little digging and found out you can find them washed up along the shores of Petoskey State Park. 

    When planning our trip to the area, we allowed ourselves two full days for adventuring, so on the first day, Sunday, August 23rd, we drove to the state park beach.  Hoping to swim while we were there, we brought our swimsuits with us but, unfortunately, it was a very cloudy and windy day with wind chill temps in the mid-50s- way too cold for our southern skin! 

    While only a few brave souls dared to venture into the chilly lake, plenty of us lined the beach doing the exact same thing—hunched over, scanning the shoreline, and combing the sand in hopes of spotting one of these unique stones!

    We found a few rocks that were interesting enough to keep as souvenirs, but the weather conditions caused us to give up on our treasure-seeking adventure and leave the park.  We did, however, leave our name along its shoreline.

Even the Ring-billed Gull
was struggling with the wind.

Proof that we were at
Petoskey State Park; however,
the next wave washed it away!

Downtown Petoskey: "Light of the North"

    Petoskey's downtown area, known as the Social District, is close to the state park.  We were surprised to discover every street was bustling with people.  We were not led wrong; Petoskey is definitely a touristy city!

Too cute not to photograph!

Pizza Was Calling Our Names

     After riding around, trying to find a place to eat and hopefully find a parking spot near a restaurant, we found a food truck park with about six food trucks in the downtown area, which is more our style of dining.  We had been craving a good brick oven pizza and found a truck that could satisfy our craving. 

    If you’ve ever tried eating on the open
deck of a cruise ship at sea, you know
exactly what our outdoor lunch was
like! But the pizza was so delicious,
we hardly cared about the
wind chill. Besides, we couldn't
bring ourselves to complain
about a little cold when
everyone back home was
sweltering in unbearable heat!

Still Hunting Stones

    On our way back to the car, we came across a gift shop that sells Petoskey Stones.  This time, our stone hunting didn't involve getting sandblasted.  For less than what we paid to enter Petoskey State Park, we purchased a beautiful stone.  

    The adventurous side of us would've rather found one on the beach, but the sensible side of us said that buying one is good enough proof that we visited this beautiful city. 

Traverse City

    On Monday, we drove to the largest city in Northern Michigan, Traverse City, known as the Cherry Capital of the World, which is another touristy coastal town high on the recommended list.  We were surprised to discover that the five-county area around Traverse City produces roughly 40% of the entire tart cherry crop in the U.S. Now we know why the produce stand in Kalkaska was named Cherry Street Market and sold homemade cherry pies from Traverse City!

We would've loved to try the
cherry pie, but they didn't
sell it by the slice.

We Found a De-yacht-ful Surprise    

    While driving along the coastal highway, we were stopped at a red light, which gave us ample time to admire the bay view at a standstill.  We couldn't believe our eyes ... remember that $75,000,000 yacht we watched sail away from Marquette in the UP?  Well, there it was, anchored in Traverse City!  We took a photo, and Google Lens confirmed it to be the Satori!

We Dune it!

    Even though Sleepy Bear Dunes was a good distance from our campground, it was only an additional 20-minute drive from Traverse City.  Since we were that close and had the rest of the day to explore, we decided to make the drive to check it out.

    While searching for the park entrance, we passed a sign pointing to the "Dune Climb." Glancing out the window as we drove by, we could see people scaling the massive sand hill in the distance. We immediately turned around, pulled into the parking lot, and while staring up at the daunting 284-foot wall of sand, we both boldly declared, "We're doing this!"

    Thanks to the very chilly breeze in Petoskey the day before, we were both wearing pants—but fortunately, we had shorts and lighter shoes in the car.  We quickly changed in the park restrooms before heading out. It was a warmer day, but thankfully the sand wasn't hot on our feet.

According to Google:
"Climbing straight up the first 284-foot
face takes most people about
15-20 minutes of strenuous,
calf-burning effort."

    The climb was a little strenuous on our calves, but we made a few stops along the way, mainly to catch my (Bonnie) breath...my lungs were working overtime!  The climb to the first ridge doesn't look far from the ground, but it took us, old folks, about ten to fifteen minutes to get to the first ridge. However, all the children on the dune were running up and down it like mountain goats!

Fellow grandparents did the

climb alongside us and

offered to take our photo.

The Aging Cajuns did it and we

were not about to go any

further!

     The view from the ridge was amazing.  From that point, there is a Dunes Trail that leads to Lake Michigan, but it is a demanding 3.7-mile hike through harsh, desert-like conditions. 

    After descending the Dune Climb, we walked over to the Visitor Center and spoke with one of the Park Rangers, who informed us that we could drive over to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, which is part of the National Park, and drive up to the Lake Michigan Overlook to get an amazing view of the world's largest freshwater dune system.  The park had an entrance fee of $25.00 per car; however, our America the Beautiful Lifetime Senior Pass allowed us to get in for free. 

    The drive was quite scenic, providing a few stops along the way that offered different views of the dunes.  

Admiring God's beautiful creation!

     When we reached the Lake Michigan Overlook, which sits approximately 450 feet above the lake, we had to walk a short incline from the parking lot to the top of the bluff and were completely awestruck by the view. 

    Seeing how high we were above the lake and, initially, what looked like a complete drop-off, we were amazed by the panoramic view!  After walking over and taking a more side view of what we were standing on, we saw that there was a steep embankment to the lake that a person could actually traverse, but if they had to be rescued because they were not able to climb back up, there is a $3,000 fine attached to the rescue.

We did not go down any further

than where we took this

photo!  Young children were

struggling to get back up

from where you see them.

      We are so proud of ourselves for doing the dune climb; we felt that it was a huge accomplishment for our age.  We believe our climbing adventure also served as a source of motivation for some of the younger climbers.  As we descended, a few folks heading up took one look at us and dug their heels in with renewed determination—if we could do it, so could they!  

Our Last Adventures in Michigan

    On Tuesday, August 25th, we relocated to a wonderful campground in Frankenmuth, Michigan. We will cover our adventures there in a completely separate blog.  If you love Christmas, then you'll love our next update.  We will also catch you up on our travels from Frankenmuth to where we are now -- Sevierville, Tennessee.

Until next time...blessings from our neck of the woods to yours!

Psalm 24:1-5