We traversed () Grand Traverse Bay from Charlevoix to Suttons Bay to make distance between the Lake Michigan blows, then spent another long day to traveling to Frankfort to hide from yet another. This is the area in Michigan known for its scenic shoreline highway, M-22, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Suttons Bay
The Leelanau bike path ran from Suttons Bay to Travis City. We made about two thirds of it before we had to turn around because it started to rain… and our hatches were open.No Mushroom Houses but I do think that Earl would have liked this.
The bike path was the best since The Black Diamond Trail in Ithaca. It was a wide, well-maintained, zero grade path through farmland, orchards, wineries and the “Polish Acres”, home of the funky art above.
The trip from Suttons Bay to Frankfort was going to take eleven hours so we left the anchorage in the dark. This is the reward you get for getting up at 5:00AM…
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Perhaps a better photographer could adequately capture the beauty of this part of the lakeshore… these pictures can’t begin to convey the immensity of the dunes and the raw beauty we experienced on our trek past them. Look for the people in some of the pictures …
Frankfort
Looks lovely, right? Remember this view…Frankfort is a clone of all of the small, well-appointed shore towns we have visited. Tidy and prosperous with great access to outdoor life; biking, fishing, beaches and hiking trails are easy to access and abundant.No beach warning flag system here; Frankfort has a traffic light! The red light is why we were hunkering down in Frankfort.Not so peaceful now…The water in the foreground is inside the break wall! We may not have wanted to be on the lake in the 4 footers but the locals were out in force playing on their boards and with their kites.Not just the locals were playing, either.Back to benign…
) Grand Traverse Bay from Charlevoix to Suttons Bay to make distance between the Lake Michigan blows, then spent another long day to traveling to Frankfort to hide from yet another. This is the area in Michigan known for its scenic shoreline highway, M-22, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
