Friday, September 20, 2013

MAGICAL MICHIGAN ON A RAINY DAY!

MAGICAL MICHIGAN
September 18th

Rainy, rainy day.  Rain bands passed through all night leaving us a rather soggy morning.  Looked like a promise for clearing so decided to head up to the Grand Traverse Light located in the Leelanau State Park.

This is one of our favorite spots.  The Light is located at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula separating Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay.  It marks the Manitou passage.  



The light was built in 1858 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  It is a museum today and also hosted by a volunteer who can stay, in the lighthouse, for several weeks in return for services in the museum and on the grounds.  It’s a neat gig, if you can get it!  There’s a waiting list!




As we drove into the Park we were greeted by the CG Host.  Last year we were offered jobs at this state park but had already accepted jobs in Vermont and Leelanau SP has no water or sewer for the hosts.  It would have been a great place to be, though.  

The CG Hosts there are from Alabama and she said the vault toilets are so clean, they used them and were able to drain the grey water off from the RV.  They did need to bring water to their  rig but it’s got to be easier than hauling jerry cans off a sailboat into a dinghy, fill them and then lift them back up on the sailboat!  Under those circumstances, hosting at this park would be great.  

It’s remote but still in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore area and the town of Northport which bustles in the summer.



As soon as we parked it started to rain again so pictures of the Grand Traverse Light are lacking!  



We decided not to take the tour inside since I was in there with my fabulous grandson Alex five years ago so headed back to Leland for lunch.




Ate at a little place called Blue Plate and then walked around Leland under laden skies.




LELAND’S FISHTOWN SHANTIES



Northern Michigan’s commercial fishing heritage remains alive in Fishtown!  








Along the docks are weathered fishing shanties, smokehouses, racks for drying fishing nets and fish tugs on the Leland River.  



Many of the shanties contain gift and clothing boutiques, art galleries and specialty food shops.  


It still operates as one of the only working commercial fishing villages in the state of Michigan.






We will be returning on Saturday for their Heritage Festival and the skies will be bluer than they are today!

Leaving Leland we headed back to Lake Leelanau and just past the RV Park is the Bel Lago Winery.    We stopped in for a great tasting.  There was no charge and we could taste every wine in the list!  

They are known for their Chardonnay with a buttery oak taste and their Bel Lago Red which cannot compete with California, South African or any of the other reds in the world!  However I did like the Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay combination and picked up a bottle.  It softens the Pino with a little buttery taste.  Ahhh, I miss Wine Club!

With skies clearing and temperatures moderate, we returned to our home by the lake for an enjoyable evening………until the FRUIT FLIES REAPPEARED!

You know when I said one of the perks of this place was it was in the heart of the wine country????  Well, grapes have fruit flies!  Cherries have fruit flies!  Apples have fruit flies!  Pears, peaches, plums have fruit flies!   In order to keep the price of cherries up, famers dump some of their crops in the large fields which…….provide a beautiful nesting opportunities for fruit flies!  Oh, those damn flies!

They dive bomb my face as I’m working on the computer.  They sit on the edge of our drinking glasses and they hover, by the hundred, around the screen door just waiting for an opportunity to get inside!  They are inside the closet and even inside the microwave.  Why don’t they die in the microwave after I’ve used it?

I keep a fan on the table and blow it towards me hoping the flies aren’t strong enough to fly into the wind.  Joanie does the same thing in her kitchen, says they keep the flies off her food!  

It, apparently, is one of the perks of living in this Magical Northern Michigan paradise!

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!


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