Sleeping Bear National Park

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So today we took a drive along M-22 which meanders around beautiful Lake Michigan. It passes through a few little towns and is lined with houses on both sides of the road. There are some spectacular ones and then some that I think we could afford. Either way, it was very scenic and beautiful. It is hard to believe that everything freezes up here in the winter. We stopped in the little town of Suttons Bay and walked around some of the shops. We bought a couple of sandwiches at a deli as it was getting close to the noon hour and then we drove a little way up the road to a park to have lunch. It was nice and peaceful watching the blue water eating our yummy sandwiches. We then traveled through cherry orchards and grape vineyards to get to the Sleeping Bear NP. I took a picture of the cherry orchards to show my nephew Billy what he has to look forward to when his trees "grow up". This is the cherry capital of the world and they have everything cherry. Cherry wine, cherry salsa, cherry ice cream, cherry jam, and of course cherry pie. Pretty much anything you can think of they have in cherry. So Billy, maybe you should think about taking a trip out here to get some tips from the big boys huh?

Part of the NP is Pierce Stocking Drive. It is a 7.4 mile drive that has a covered bridge and everything from dunes to beech-maple forests. Sleeping Bear Dunes is located on this drive and it was really cool. As usual, you can't really get the whole effect from the pictures but the dunes go straight down 450 ft. I couldn't believe how many people raced to the bottom. However, the real test was coming back up. Who knows how long it took them! We were blessed with a clear day so you could see for miles. You can also see how blue and clear the water is. Kind of reminds me of Tahoe.

Traverse City in and of itself is a very nice city also and would be a fun place to stay for a while. The drive here from St. Ignace was nice as we went through Petosky, Charlevoix, and Elk Rapids. All these towns are very quaint and are places a girl could spend a lot of time in if you know what I mean. Tomorrow we are going to go into Traverse Bay to see what is going on there. Have a great evening everyone!

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Photos

Cherry Tree Orchard
Billy, here is one of the cherry orchards around Traverse Bay. See what yours are going to look like when they grow up?

Old Barn
This giant old barn is in the NP and part of the park. It was privately owned but I am not sure what the story is on it. I liked it so I took a picture of it.

Us @ Sleeping Bear
Here we are standing on front of the sign before you would go down the dune. We tried to make it look like we did it. Do you believe us? HAHAHA!

Don @ Sleeping Bear Overlook
This is Don standing on the dunes where you would go down. It was a little scary standing there because it dropped straight down.

Me @ Sleeping Bear Overlook
Me in the same spot. Can you tell I am a little nervous????

Sleeping Bear Dune
Here are people walking either up or down the dune. It doesn't look as steep in the picture but believe me it is.

Sleeping Bear Overlook 2
More people coming up or going down. CRAZY!!!

Sleeping Bear Overlook 3
Can you see the people in the water?

Sleeping Bear Overlook 1
I know I took a lot of pictures but I wanted to make sure that you could get the full effect of how far and steep this was.

Sleeping Bear Dune
Here is the other side of Sleeping Bear Dune. See how far you can see?

Glen Lake Overlook
This is the overlook on the Pierce Scenic Drive for Glen Lake.

Pierce Stocking Covered Bridge
Isn't this quaint? I can't wait to get to Pennsylvania to see more of these.