Pure Michigan - Lake Leelanau, Part I

We had an uneventful trip to the west side of Michigan and our home for the next month, Wild Cherry Resort in Lake Leelanau. It is a beautiful place, well cared for with manicured lawns and a lovely little lake. We arrived fairly early in the season so it wasn't full. In fact, most days we had no neighbors at all.

Finally, we could rest. Relax. Breathe. We had been fighting travel fatigue for a while but since we were visiting new-to-us places that had things we wanted to see, we fought through the urge to rest. That time is coming soon, we kept telling ourselves. And finally it was here.

Deep and glorious sigh.

 
Michigan Mules were a perfect Happy Hour beverage. Steven enjoyed having the local paper delivered every day.

For the first few days, we slept, we ate, we read. We sat outside on our lovely patio and watched the baby ducklings paddle by. We watched the afternoon storms roll in and occasionally, we'd head out for a short drive.

 
We enjoyed watching the ducklings although it’s a little stressful with natural predators about.

There was lots of weather drama to watch. Temperatures were mild compared to the rest of the country.

I also managed to tackle a couple of deep cleaning projects that have been weighing heavy on my mind for a year or so, and it was good to get them done.

Reorganizing and cleaning our pantry was a big task that was on the to-do list.

Even though there are tons of things to do and see in the area, we felt like we had all the time in the world to do and see it. Jim and Diana (ExplorVistas) had sent us some info and maps of the area and made notes of places we might enjoy. We sure appreciated this and on those days we felt like getting out, it was great to have this information.

Six days passed before we were ready to venture out beyond our immediate area. When we originally decided to stay put for a full month we tried to secure reservations at one of the swanky RV places in Petoskey but that didn't work out and we ended up at Wild Cherry. That turned out to be a great choice and we're glad it worked out this way.

Nonetheless, we wanted to visit the town so we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to see what Petoskey had to offer. We drove to the city park intending to enjoy our lunch on the shores of Lake Michigan but a cloud of black flies drove us back to our car. We killed a bunch of them that had gotten in the car with us and at some point Steven's avocado went airborne so Toadie had become a bit of a mess. I mentioned to Steven that our picnic season was getting off to a rocky start.

Actual reenactment. My new Facebook profile picture.

We consoled ourselves by strolling in and out of the cute shops in downtown Petoskey. There is a fabulous kitchen store, Cutler's, that we just loved. We spent most of our time there and left with a new set of steak knives and an onion keeper. You know, the essentials.

Cutler’s kitchen supply store. We could have done some serious damage here (but we didn’t).

The park in the middle of Petoskey. This was one of the nicest towns we’ve visited.

In spite of our less than perfect picnic, we enjoyed our outing. With a few more days of rest, we were ready to go again! This time we drove to Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore and the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. One of the designated stops along this drive is at the Sleeping Bear Dune Overlook. The deck overlooks an expansive view of Lake Michigan as well as a stunning sand dune that rises from the shore over 450 feet nearly straight up. You are allowed to hike down but you also have to get yourself back up. You'd want to be in pretty good shape to do this, and lots of folks do, but some get into trouble and pay the price (literally) to be rescued. Needless to say, we did not hike the dune.

 
Covered bridge along the Pierce Stocking drive and the warning sign at the top of the dune.

No, those are not ants on a hill, they are people running down and crawling up the massive dune!

Steven made it down about 20 feet and was out of breath. This is what you look like on the return trip.

We had packed another picnic and this time we fared much better. We found a city park in Lake Ann, right on the shores, and enjoyed our lunch. This time, we did not get mobbed by any flying critters. Afterwards, we finished off our outing with a stop at Moomers Ice Cream store in Long Lake, MI. We sat outside and enjoyed our selections of creamy deliciousness while we watched the cows who provided the most important ingredient. They seemed pretty chill. Oh, my choice was chocolate with chocolate covered cherries and pecans and Steven got peanut butter and Oreo. What's not to love, right?

 
Linda’s chocolate with chocolate covered cherries and pecans and Steven devours his peanut butter Oreo cone!

Moomers lived up to the hype. It was some of the best ice cream we’ve had.

On those occasions when we stay in one place for a week or longer, we challenge ourselves to prepare and eat food we already have onboard. As we travel, it seems our freezer stays full and our cabinets bulge. We both find this fun as we love to cook and enjoy what we prepare. So during our first couple of weeks in Lake Leelanau, we didn't eat out much, but we sure ate well.

After two weeks, we began to pick the pace up socializing and sightseeing but we’ll tackle that in part two of this post. Stay tuned!

NEXT UP: Pure Michigan, Lake Leelanau, Part II