Blogs from Traverse City, Michigan, United States, North America

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Day 4 camping, day 2 in Leelanau. Today was great. We lazed around this morning. Took showers. My first since Saturday. Ewww. Nice showers here. No makeup this week. Love that so long as there is no mirrors. Paul made s’more pancakes with Hersey chunks and graham crackers. Oh, and we had a large mixing bowl that I didn’t remember packing until they were done eating when I asked where the dog water bowl was. Barf. Puke. Literlly, Hershey in it. We are also out of dish soap so the extent of the disinfecting was what was left in the washing wand. Glad I’m glutin free. We rode our bikes up to the lodge to look into some water activities. The boys played a little shuffle board. Elizabeth and I played a little tennis. We also ... read more
Campground Lodge
Shuffleboard.
Shuffle Board


This morning I woke up with my cofffee and toast, took the dogs out and started a fire just as the sun was coming up over Lake Huron. A. Maze. Ing, The campground was still quiet so I got my yoga mat out and did a little yoga and Pilates to the sunrise. I really enjoyed It. We packed up camp and set off for our next destination in the Leelanau Penninsula. This RV park was different. There were actual permanant homes of the nice trailer variety and semi-permanent mobile type homes and campers and tents. It was really clean and nice. I wouldn’t say my type of campground. We were situated with a water view, sort of. Strangely, they put the hook ups on the lake view side and the fire pit and table on ... read more
Sunrise
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Morning Walk


During the usual long, cold winter, about 6 months ago, I booked an RV and the insanely in demand campsites we would stay in. I did some serious research to find ones that would suit our needs and what kind of hoops I would have to jump through in order to book them. Millcreek wasn’t too bad. I called them early In the game, though it was a three night minimum and we only needed two. Sneakily, I booked three. Lelanau Campground had a four night minimum. Booked. Though, I felt guilty so I put a note on my request saying I only needed two if someone else wanted to other two. The last one, Muskegon State park was the one where the challenge began. I had to wait for exactly six months prior to the ... read more
The Passengers
The Co-Captain
The Lookout


Platte River Campground, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Honor, Michigan When I think of a ‘Seashore’ or a ‘Lakeshore’ what immediately comes to mind is a sandy beach. We’ve been fortunate in our travels to see lots of them in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and California. On this trip, we’ve been on another beach on Lake Michigan, at Indiana Dunes down at the southern tip of the lake. But here we were on the last day of our stay at Sleeping Bear Dunes, and we had yet to actually walk the sands of the beach. So that’s what we did yesterday. We also realized that we hadn’t been able to spend much time with the girls, so decided to take them with us. There was a small, maybe half-mile section of the beach just down the ... read more
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Platte River Campground, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Honor, Michigan My good friend Andy can’t understand how we can travel the way we do. His idea of traveling, with their motorhome, is to simply go where they want to go, stay as long as they want, and leave whenever they want to head out to some new place. Andy doesn’t like to make reservations, preferring not to be boxed in by some pre-arranged schedule. Being a ‘Type A’ personality, I can’t imagine traveling that way and need the security of a plan which I adhere to almost religiously. ‘Almost’ is the key word there, because yesterday is case where we actually did change the plan. I lamented yesterday that we had discovered that this park is much bigger than we originally thought. We had allocated four ... read more
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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire, Michigan The refrigerator was getting empty and the dirty clothes bag was overflowing. So we needed to get some chores done. We were also pretty tired from the drive up here and the hangover from Joan’s bicycle accident. We called a down-day, slept-in, and had a big bacon-and-eggs breakfast. Then we gathered up the dirty clothes, stripped the bed, made a grocery list and headed for the nearest town that had both a grocery store and a laundromat - Frankfort. It was ten miles away, but the drive was through thickly wooded forests with several lakes hiding behind the trees. We later learned that these are all glacier formed lakes that used to be arms and flooded valleys of a much larger Lake Michigan. Over time, though, the winds and ... read more
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BIKING ON THE LEELANAU TRAIL IN TRAVERSE CITY MICHIGAN Text and Photos last updated: 2017 Number of times on this trail: 4 Location: NW of Traverse City Michigan Distance markers: yes Distance: 17 miles (27.5 km) Bathroom: yes Surface: asphalt Width: 10 feet Grade: Flat Condition of trail: good Benches: Yes Garbage bins: yes The Leelanau Trail runs mostly through Leelanau County NW of Traverse City. The actual starting point is near Clinch Park in Traverse City at 137 East Grandview Parkway (GPS: N 44.766177 E 85.624170. Another Staging area is a few km north at 10440 East Cherry Bend Road (GPS: 44.793451 E 85.645450. Parking here is somewhat limi... read more
Leelanau Trail  (10)
Leelanau Trail  (7)
Leelanau Trail  (15)


Wednesday, May 27, 2015 was forecast to be an overcast, rainy day and the meteorological experts were mostly correct. The predicted rain, gratefully, varied from nothing to intermittent mists or light sprinkles. During teardown, I had an opportunity to chat with my Michigan neighbors who have sold their house and have moved into an apartment so they can be absent for carefree extended periods of time. That’s EXACTLY what Uncle Larry plans to do in ten years or so (hopefully) when The Great Adventurehas run its nomadic, enlightening, carefree course. Teardown and the trip from Lakeside Resort Campground in Ionia MI to the Northwest Michigan Fairgrounds Campground in Traverse City MI were uneventful except for the need to engage the windshield wipers from time to time. My arrival at the campground found no response to my ... read more
Less River-Dependent Businesses Such As Ice Houses And Smoke Houses Were Located A Few Feet Inland
Some Artifacts Are Located Outside
I Don’t Think The Building Is The Lighthouse Keepers Quarters

North America » United States » Michigan » Traverse City August 23rd 2013

I've finally done it. . . I've finally created the well procrastinated travel blog. This is something I've contemplated for some time. Again. . .well procrastinated. My adventures began 3 years ago, well, the ones that weren't accompanied by sorrows and anguish anyways, or begotten by myself. Three years ago I fell into the arms of someone I always longed for, even though it seemed I barely knew him really. Yet, my soul was attracted to him from the first time I laid eyes on him. Six years later we would finally begin our adventures. I was finally with someone with whom I could share my love of writing, discovery, history, sci-fi, fantasy, the great outdoors, and again, the need to adventure! And what a blessing it has been! I remember in our first year he ... read more
House of Dogs


Geo: 44.76, -85.6159We drove from Charlevoix to Traverse City for the wedding. We had booked a great "Up North" cabin very close to the wedding venue. We got to the venue in time to help do a little set up and be there for the rehearsal. After the rehearsal we went to North Peak Brewery for the rehearsal dinner. They had a great IPA on cask that was tasty and impressive. After the dinner we went back to the hotel where Kim's family were staying and had a bonfire on the beach and made s'mores. The next day we had some time before the wedding so we relaxed by walking around down town Traverse City, having a few beers. We went back to the cabin where we took a row boat out on the lake just ... read more
Ellis Lake Resort
Ellis Lake Resort
Ellis Lake Resort




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