Pure Michigan

"Pure Michigan" is the slogan on their license plates and I'm not sure what that means.  But we are enjoying our travels through this state.  Today we drove over the Mackinac Bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Pensinulas of Michigan.

  

At the end of the lower peninsula, there were two lighthouses in Mackinaw City.  

** Regretfully, the WiFi at this hotel is so slow that it took an hour to just download the photo above.  Sorry folks, no other photos from today.

We drove under overcast clouds and some rain until Traverse City.  On the western side of the Great Traverse Bay, we drove up to Suttons Bay and did some window shopping and had lunch.  It was just a short jaunt over to Leland and to see the historic Fishtown, a group of fishing shanties along the river.  They have been renovated into retail and commercial establishments.  The sun was out, but temperatures were still cool (high of 64).

As you probably know, I like taking photos of old barns and today we had a special treat to get a tour and see some students in action renovating an old barn.  The group they were working for has a website ecoSEEDS.org  sponsored by Michigan Educators.  Take a look/see.

Glen Haven has a historic site (as part of the Sleeping Bears National Wilderness) that we toured.  We  saw the boat house and museum on Maritime Lifesaving.  We also saw a lot of different boats and their uses in another spot.

I was surprised that much of the sand dunes have become a home for vegetation, including trees.  But we did take a national park "scenic drive" which took us through a lot of old forest and then topped us off with some bare dunes and STEEP dunes.  It was remarkable that people could make it back up to the top in that sand.

The weather turned out great and we were again fortunate to experience new roads and new sights! Tomorrow we continue to travel along the western side of Michigan to Muskegon to see some friends!