June 26-30, 2021Gaylord & Harbor Springs, MI

 After we left Suttons Bay, we drove northeast to Gaylord Mi and met Jeri & her cousins Madeline & Donna at the local Farmers Market. while at the market, we learned about Yooper lights which are found in the UP with an ultraviolet light after dark on the beaches. We also bought homemade Pasties for dinner. It was a small but good quality market. Jeri, Doug & I grabbed some lunch @ Alpine Grill downtown Gaylord. After lunch, we drove to Jeri's farm where we stayed for the next 2 nights. It was a rainy 2 days but we made the best of it-we walked through along some mining roads looking for some Petoskey stones and we did find a few small ones. We hiked back to a pond where Jeri & family used to visit and we reenacted a favorite photo that Jeri had of her Mom and her best friend Hilda. Jeri & I posed and Doug took the pics. The pond & surrounding grasses looked somewhat different 20 years later but it was a fun, special project. We celebrated Jeri's birthday by driving to the Garland Resort for drinks & dinner. Jeri's cousins joined us. It cleared up just in time for us to sit outside and enjoy our food. 

Our next stop on our way north was to visit our friend Lisa in Harbor Springs. She had recently moved into her new house which she designed & had built by a well respected contractor. It is beautiful and we love her porches: front, back & screened in side porch. Lisa took us hiking through forest, sand dunes, rock garden & a beach along Lake Michigan. She also took us for a boat ride on her new boat in the harbor & bay. Her boat stays in the harbor on a mooring and she has a dinghy to get out to it. We had a great visit. We used our new air mattress to sleep in Lisa's office. 

A table like what Doug will
build someday

May 29-June 26, 2021 Sutton's Bay, MI

A few summers ago while we were traveling in our RV, we stopped to visit my cousin Sue & her husband, Duane in Sutton's Bay, Michigan. They own a cottage in Cherry Cove Beach Resort. The property has been in Duane's family for generations. There are 8 cottages and Duane's parents beautiful log home on the grounds. They are situated across the street from the shoreline of Traverse Bay. Each cottage owns the beach directly across from them. The beach is a nice wide sand swath. Sue hooked us up with one of the cottage owners who uses one & rents the other. Last year in 2020, we reserved it for the month of June 2021.

Our cargo van full of bins

When we arrived, Sue & Duane were there to welcome us & help us move in to Cottage #3. We had our van full of bins. We didn't know exactly what we would need for the 4 months we would be traveling plus we couldn't leave anything that would be damaged by extreme heat on Day Dreams. We did not leave the AC running on the boat in case of Hurricane or low water situations. We do leave a Dehumidifier running in the Galley sink and lots of DryRid containers placed all around. In the Van, we had kitchen bins, bathroom bins, clothes bins and activity bins. Needless to say, the Van was well stocked and full. The cottage didn't disappoint; it was great, clean with many nice amenities. The owners left us a nice note with candy & cookies. 

Cherry Cove Beach Resort has an association, in which Duane is President & Sue is Treasurer. The group was having a Memorial Day Potluck on the front lawn the day we arrived. We were invited to attend. We met some of the other cottage owners and visited with Duane's parents, and son Lucas & his fiancée Bethany.

 

Duane & Sue are a lot of fun. They have many toys and know great places to visit. Doug enjoyed sailing with Duane in his Hobie Cat combo Kayak/catamaran. Lake Michigan is still a bit chilly in June and one thing we didn't bring was our wetsuits so a shopping trip was needed. Between Traverse City and the village of Suttons Bay there are many shops & restaurants. T.C. is much bigger than S.B. We sampled many restaurants in both places and Sue & I hit most of the shops by months end. We never had a bad meal. There is so much to do and see in this area.

Duane is still working so our big adventures were saved for the weekends. One Saturday, we put all our bikes in the bike rack and drove over to the other side of the peninsula to the town of Empire. There are great bike trails all over this peninsula. This particular bike trail, The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail follows along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The park covers a 35 mile long stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline. It winds through forests, beaches and dunes. In 2011, the area won the title of "The Most Beautiful Place in America" from Good Morning America. Along the route are historical sites and of course the impressive huge sand dunes that drop from an altitude of 460 feet right down to Lake Michigan's waters edge. The dunes extend 7 miles and cover 4 square miles. They are constantly shifting and often bury trees and have covered nearby structures in the past. We biked from Empire to Glen Arbor past the dunes, up & down hills for a total of 31 miles-thankful for our E-bikes but tough guy Duane didn't use an E-bike-impressive. 

Another adventure we enjoyed with Duane & Sue was a kayak trip on the Boardman River. We loaded up our inflatable kayak & Duane's Hobie kayak and drove to a campground where we put in. The River ended up being a bit more challenging than we expected. It was twisty and turning with a 3 knot current & a few rapids. The scenery was pretty with lots of trees and no houses. We do not know how many miles we paddled but we paddled for about 4 hours with a stop for a lunch picnic and a few unplanned stops to find items that fell out of Duane & Sue's kayak when it tipped over. The Hobie kayak was not as stable as our wider slower inflatable kayak. 

Our cottage rental supplied paddle boards and a double kayak, so on a few of the calm, sunny days, Doug & I took off from our beach to paddle & explore the nearby bay area. We have become obsessed rock hunters. So we would end up staying along the shoreline in the shallow water with our paddle board & kayak searching for Petoskey stones. They are easiest to find when they are wet because you can see the unique design on them. Sue helped with our obsession because she knew the obscure beaches where we were more likely to find Petoskey stones. There are many great beaches in this area and they are a combination of stone & sand. We would don our booties, bring a bucket or bag and walk, with a stooped posture, along the beaches. We were always rewarded with finding a few of the elusive Petoskey stones. 

We enjoyed getting to know Duane's 90 year old Dad, David. He is sharp as a tack and has great stories to share. He has a Regal power boat that he keeps on a trailer in the metal building out back and he wanted to take us out for a ride on Lake Leelenaw. The 5 of us: David, Duane, Sue, Doug & I trailered the boat to a boat ramp and David expertly backed the boat down the ramp and launched the boat. The day was sunny, calm and warm. We cruised the lake along with other small power boats, pontoon boats, fishing boats, kayaks & paddle boards. There are nice homes all along the shore, some quite impressive. We docked along the wall in Leland and walked to the Bluebird for lunch outside on the patio. David treated us all to ice cream after lunch. It was nice getting back on a boat. David also treated us to a Pitstopper's baseball game. They are in the minor league but the Stadium is quite big and very nice. We enjoyed the game and they had great fireworks after. 

There is a paved bike trail close to the cottage so Doug & I took advantage of that and biked often. One day we would bike into T.C. another day into Sutton's. There are wineries along the trail, so we would stop and sample wines. Another day, we biked to a great brewery and sampled beers instead. We put lots of miles on our bikes.

Our friend Jeri came to visit for an overnight along with Jerry. We toured a few wineries with them-one of them, Ciccone's Winery is owned by Madonna's parents. Madonna had just been there the week before celebrating her Dad's birthday. We also stopped at our first Cidery- none of us were thrilled with the Hard Cider but the view was gorgeous. Of course, we had to take them rock hunting @ one of our favorite beaches: Petersen. Everyone found a keeper. Duane often builds a blazing beach fire and he made us one the night we returned from taking J&J out to the waterside Knot Just a Bar. 

Doug also has a cousin, nearby in Traverse City. Geri and her husband Rick invited us over to dinner to their beautiful new home. They live outside the city and raise chickens to eat, not for laying eggs. They all were in a pen in their yard. We enjoyed meeting their friends Mary & John who also joined us for dinner. Another night, Geri & Rick visited us and we introduced them to Sue & Duane and we all went out to dinner in Suttons Bay. 

Doug loves projects so Duane & his Dad, David obliged and asked for Doug's assistance building a deck on the beach. David had designed a special heavy duty awning system to attach to the deck and Doug also helped assemble and secure that to the deck. It looked great when completed! 

The Pandemic continues to plague our world. Vaccinations are available but mostly due to politics many in our country are refusing to get the COVID vaccine. In the poorer countries, the vaccine is limited in availability. So variants keep forming and many misinformed people are just ignoring the issue entirely and being very selfish by not wearing masks and congregating indoors spreading the virus. Cases, hospitalizations & deaths continue at an unacceptable rate but we are experiencing a decrease in numbers currently due to the warmer weather and the availability of outdoor activities.

We really enjoyed our time in Suttons Bay and it helped us make the big decision that we will be bringing Day Dreams back up to the Great Lakes next year to live on in the summers.