KICKIN’ BACK IN TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN

A few weeks ago, I commented that we were doing too much, too fast, that I wanted to slow down.  When we arrived in Traverse City and checked into the Northwestern Michigan Fairgrounds Campground (read our review here), we decided this would be the place.  You can’t beat the price ($125/week), we have an entire row to ourselves (most of the time), and we have easy access to all there is to do in the area.  We’ll be here until Monday.

Yesterday we visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, on the “west coast” of Michigan.  After a stop at the Visitor Center so I could stamp my National Parks Passport and pick up a park map, we drove the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, stopping here and there for a short stroll to take in the scenery. 

One of the most popular stops is the Lake Michigan Overlook.  Here a short, sandy, trail, high above Lake Michigan, leads to a STEEP bluff.  A sign cautions hikers who decide to descend the 450 foot bluff to the lakeshore that the return hike is “Extremely Exhausting”.  We opted for the wooden deck instead.  It was a warm, humid, sunny day, and the return climb - in deep, loose, hot sand - looked like pure hell!

Those tiny, ant-like figures are the people who chose to descend – and climb – the bluff. (Click to enlarge the photo.)	This is the viewing deck, our choice.  I took the left photo while standing on this deck, looking off to the left.

For our own hike, we chose the Pyramid Point trail, suggested by our friend Priscilla Scott.  It’s not on the scenic loop, so was much less crowded than other trails in the park.  In less than a mile of walking (including a sandy incline, blessedly short) through forested dunes, we came to an equally beautiful vista of Lake Michigan.  So inspired were we that we decided to continue hiking, completing the entire loop, just under 3 miles.  Oops!

Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers!  After backtracking from the beautiful overlook to the trail junction that leads to the meadow, then loops back to the parking lot, we headed into deep woods – and down, down, down hill.  Since we had climbed quite a slope to reach to the overlook, we didn’t think much about our descent – except that we began to notice a few mosquitoes. 

The understory became more lush as we continued to descend; we obviously were heading down a watershed towards a creek.  The humidity increased.  The mosquitoes swarmed.

Guess where our mosquito repellent was?  Yes, in the car.  And the car seemed far, far, away.  Should we turn back, scooting up the hill as fast as we could?  Keep going, hoping things would improve?  We kept moving, double-time, waving our hands around our heads and swatting at our legs and shoulders as we tried to decide. 

And then we met our saviors, a young couple heading towards us.  They immediately told us not to go on unless we had bug spray.  When we said we didn’t, they whipped out a huge spray bottle and handed it over.  As we coated each other liberally, they advised against visiting the meadow unless we love mosquitoes.  A shortcut back to the parking lot was just around the next bend, and we made tracks the half mile back to the safety of the car.  Hike over.

To console ourselves, we punched “Moomer’s” into the GPS, heading to Moomer’s Ice Cream.  Chosen as the national winner of the “Best Scoops” contest by Good Morning, America in May of 2008, Moomer’s got our attention when we shared a scoop of double chocolate cherry ice cream on an earlier outing. 

This time, we went straight to the source, the little Moomer’s Ice Cream stand on the dairy farm owned by the Plummer family, on the outskirts of Traverse City.  Even on a weekday afternoon, the place was packed with a line out the door.  No problem: we needed the time for decision making. 

I chose a scoop of raspberry chocolate chip, and Odel went all out (he had been most traumatized by the mosquitoes), ordering a Tin Roof Sundae with one scoop of double chocolate cherry and one of vanilla.  (I snagged the photo from the Moomer’s website since I neglected to take one of my own.)  I’ll tell ya’, it fixed us right up.  :)

INDEPENDENCE DAY CROWDS IN TRAVERSE CITY, MI

We had a tranquil hike on Saturday…	… and a busy Independence Day on Sunday!

Traverse City was packed over the weekend!  The annual Cherry Festival started on the 3rd, a weeklong celebration of the region’s most prolific crop: vendors, booths selling all things “cherry”, a carnival, wine tasting…  all of this is set up along the beachfront parks and walkway that stretch along Grand Traverse Bay.

Add to that the weekend long Independence Day celebration, which included an air show both Saturday and Sunday from 1 pm until 3 pm, and you’ve got a LOT of people, a LOT of traffic, and a LOT of boats!

The highlight of the air show was a performance by the Blue Angels.  I’ve never seen the Blue Angels (or any air show at all), so thought it would be interesting to head into town to check it out.

Okay – been there, done that!   We arrived lakeside a bit before 11 am, set up our chairs in a shady spot, and took off for a walk alongside the beach for an hour – then settled into our seats to watch dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of others stake their claim on a small patch of turf.  By the time the show started, every patch of grass was covered with chairs and blankets, and the lake was full of anchored boats. 

The show began with an hour of fly-bys and acrobatics, one small plane at a time.  I guess there are only so many things you can do in a plane: fly fast, fly upside down, do a loop, fly straight up into a stall, recover, waggle your wings… I have no doubt all these tricks take a high level of skill, and are  fabulously fun and exciting for the pilot, but I lost interest by the third pass through the repertoire.  Back to the people watching (and dogs, and bikes, and strollers, and vendor pushcarts).

I did enjoy the Blue Angels performance, no doubt very effective in achieving their stated mission of enhancing Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts.  Their high speed and close, synchronized formations upped the excitement level in a hurry.  Odel looked over at me and said “I can’t believe I ever did that (flew a fighter jet)!”  Thirty minutes and it was all over.

It was a hot (upper 80’s) and windy afternoon.  Since we were sitting on lawn chairs in deep shade with a good view of the crowds passing by, we stayed put for another 45 minutes until the crowds thinned.  Fireworks were planned for the same spot when darkness fell – 10:30 pm!  Not for us, we’d had enough excitement for the day!

SCENES OF SUMMER IN MICHIGAN

In our travels, we’ve found two RV parks where I would be very happy to spend a month in summer: Valley Mobile Park in Buena Vista, Colorado (click here to read our review) and Trailway Campground in Montague, Michigan (click here to read our review).  These two parks aren’t the best we have ever visited, but both have a combination of amenities that click:

Reasonably roomy, level sites with trees, flowers and grass.  No “destination” amenities, no playground or kids programs, so no particular attraction for camping families.  Mellow but attentive management.  Located in a beautiful area with great recreational opportunities.  Near (or in) an interesting small town with an emphasis on local shopping and services, and environmental awareness.  A farmer’s market.

I would have been happy to stay in Montague another week, but the Independence Day weekend was looming and every camping family in the U.S. was about to hit the road to celebrate the three-day, action-packed holiday weekend.  As we pulled out, half the rigs at Trailway were preparing for departure, clearing out of the spaces reserved months (or longer) ago by farsighted campers.

Finding an uncrowded campground on a three-day summer holiday is miraculous, but we did it: Northwestern Michigan Fairgrounds RV park (click here to read our review).  Fewer than 10 miles south of Traverse City, the 100+ site campground is so under-advertised as to be almost unknown.  We arrived to find great hosts, plenty of space (around 20 of the spaces were occupied), and – best of all – Boomer friends!

There is a lot happening in Traverse City this weekend: the week-long Cherry Festival starts today (cherry orchards blanket the hills here the way vineyards blanket the land in the Napa Valley), the Blue Angels perform today and tomorrow over Grand Traverse Bay, and, of course, fireworks.  We’ve been our exploring, and have tickets today for a performance of The Capitol Steps at nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts.  Our summer is in full swing!

Happy Independence Day, everyone, and safe travels.