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Thursday, September 24, 2015

More Michigan

Mancelona, MI

We left Mackinaw yesterday morning.  Others did too.  Because of that we had this great lake front view for one hour.


The day before leaving the Mackinaw area we drove to the town of Indian River to see The Cross in the Woods.

This cross sits in a Catholic Church complex.   The church, notice the reflection in the window


The cross was installed here in the mid 50's.  The cross is made from one California Redwood.  It is 55 feet tall, 22 feet wide and weighs 14 tons.  Christ weighs 7 tons.


Also on the grounds are picnic areas, a gift shop, various education and office buildings.  This is St. Francis of Assisi


The Mother of the Highways


An outside beautifully wood carved Stations of the Cross


Where I grew up we had abundant grey squirrels.   Here you see both  grey and black.


When we left Mackinaw City we only drove 81 miles to this small town and this campground


The campground is wonderfully maintained.  Large grass sites with fire pits and large table.  It gives a 10% Good Sam discount.  A nice store, pool.  The campground closes October 15. Of course the pool is closed and the store is short on goods.  There are only 4 rigs on the property.  I've only seen people around one of them.  I had planned to do laundry tonight.  We walked up to the laundry this morning to check it out.  Too late!  The manager was coming out of it and had just winterized it.


My friend Karol Armstrong recommended we check out the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  This morning we packed our lunch, took Route 131 west to 72 taking us through Traverse City on to the shores of Lake Michigan.   On the way we passed two interesting sights.

A shoe tree.  Or actually several shoe trees.


And this.....


They grow lots of apples in my part of Southern New Jersey.  But they grow on wide trees with long limbs.   This picture does not show it clearly but these are short, thin apple trees intertwined to each other.  We see signs advertising  Honeycrsip apples for sale.  Never heard of that variety. I "googled" it. They become ripe in September and October and keep well until January.  A cross between MacIntosh and Delicious.  Good for eating raw, applesauce, pies, jelly.  They freeze well.  Sounds like a fine apple to me.

On to Sleeping Bear Dunes and this drive.  A $10.00 entrance fee.  Another time our $10.00 National Park lifetime pass paid off mightily.


First the covered bridge


Big Glen Lake and Little Glen Lake separated by that distance bridge


Dune overlook where we found a picnic table and had our packed lunch


An indication of the changing environment and sweeping winds.  A basswood tree with roots exposed.



At Lake Michigan overlook


The sign warns people who want to attempt the walk down to the lake.  Possible injury, incur costs associated with a rescue crew and a strenuous two hour walk back up.  We saw this man starting a walk back up.


His wife was waiting at the top.  She said he has been doing this once a year for the last 15 years.  She looked to be in the late 60's.  Good for him, I say.   We hung around for over 1/2 hour.  He was a bit closer.


It is so steep only by leaning over and almost crawling up is the ascent possible.

Once back to the campground Len grilled squash and pork chops.  Tomorrow it's off to Kalamazoo where we will be attending our NOMADS annual meeting next week.  Stay tuned.


7 comments:

  1. I think you should try a couple of those Honeycrisps. They are one of my favorites.

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  2. I think I would just enjoy the view from the top:)

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  3. I love the sculptures in Indian River.

    Honeycrisps are my favorite apple...yummy!

    What in the world is a shoe tree? What next?

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  4. Interesting place. I've seen other RVers do the dunes. Good exercise, but a killer!

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  5. And the pest are at it again I see Louis found your blog.
    Anyway what a beautiful church and the carvings are just more than words can say.
    So hard to believe they are winterizing already and we are still in the mid to high ninties. I want fall weather now.

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  6. Gotta be cold up thar, eh? We were down to 43 degrees here in Massachusetts last night.

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    1. Actually quite mild. In low 80's for a few days. Low 70's now and 50's during night. Perfect weather.

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