Thursday we left the Platte campground headed to some more lighthouses. First stop was in Empire to see the Robert H. Manning Memorial lighthouse. It is in a small city park on the western shore of Michigan. Robert H. Manning was a life-long resident of Empire who spent as much time as possible indulging his passion for fishing on Lake Michigan and longed to see a lighthouse built at Empire for returning fishermen. After his death in 1989, Manning’s family and friends raised money to build this tiny lighthouse on the beach. It’s not an official nautical lighthouse, and no tours are available, but people love to have their pictures taken with it.
Robert H. Manning Memorial Lighthouse.
The rest of our drive up the narrow Leelanau peninsula was beautiful. There were ripe cherries being picked from the many fields of cherry trees, as well as several festivals in the tiny towns. At the tip of the peninsula is the Grand Traverse Lighthouse established in 1852 in what is now the Leelanau State Park. We got to use our annual state park pass again. This lighthouse has been restored and is open to the public. We were able to tour the restored keepers dwelling that is filled with artifacts and climb the lighthouse tower (very cramped climb) for a great payoff view of Lake Michigan. The lighthouse serviced the mariners on Lake Michigan until 1972 when the automatic light tower was erected. The lighthouse and museum were opened in 1986. This was one of the better lighthouse restorations we have seen.
The Grand Traverse Lighthouse
The looked bigger in the pictures.
The light was decommissioned when this new automated light was built.
One of the most interesting things in the keepers house was this old stove.
Two aircraft carriers built on cruise ship hulls were used to train Navy pilots on Lake Michigan during World War II.
To get to the top you first climb these tight circular stairs …
… and then two ladders.
The view was worth the climb even if it was a hazy day.
Beach walk on Lake Michigan
An unusual planter on the lighthouse grounds
We stopped for gas at a station in Northport and saw pumps we have not seen in a long time. A young couple was trying to pump gas at the same time and figured out how to turn the pump on just before we got out to show them.
Friday morning we began our trek across the state over to the east coast of Michigan. It took all of about 4 hours including several stops for some sites and one for groceries. It was another beautiful drive filled with cherry and apple trees, sunflowers, lakes, mushroom houses, another lighthouse and a gigantic pie pan.
We drove by acres and acres of fruit trees …
… and sunflowers.
Almost every town and village we drove through had hanging baskets of flowers lining the streets.
As we were driving to see the Charlevoix Lighthouse we saw a sign that read “Mushroom House”, so we had to check it out. We found them on the hill overlooking the lighthouse. This one is called The Thatch House. All of them can be rented.
This one is called The Chalet. We didn’t go around back to see the third one.
We just stopped for a quick photo of the Charlevoix Lighthouse.
This was the most unusual thing we saw. The World’s Largest Cherry Pie (pan) is in Charlevoix. The pie was baked in 1976 and was 14’4″ in diameter and weighed 7 tons. It was baked in this specially constructed pie pan in an 18′ oven. It held the record until 1987.
We left you Tuesday in Ludington, MI at the close of our last entry. Tuesday afternoon we decided to head up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore. If you are looking at a map, we were just working our way further north along the western shore of Lake Michigan. It was a cloudy, gloomy drive most of the way except for the times when it was raining. There was a silver lining. The rain brought a significant drop in the temperature – to the upper 60’s. You all know we go north to get away from the heat but it hasn’t worked so well this year. Tuesday afternoon was a real blessing.
We knew before we left Ludington that the northern Sleeping Bear campground was full. However, it looked like there were still one or two sites available at the southern Platte River Campground. We just had bad connectivity and could never get a reservation made. We had Gumby with us, so we just drove the two hours or so to Platte River. Asked the Ranger for a one night stay and she said, “Let me grab it for you because I’ve only got one left.” The site was ours. We love traveling spontaneously!
Our first site at Platte River Campground
After getting checked in, we decided we would head to the visitor center located in Empire. There we picked up our maps, stamped our passport book and then headed into the park. The Ranger recommended that we first drive the scenic loop which we did. First stop was for a covered bridge. Nice. Of note, the height of the bridge was raised to 13’ 6” when they had to replace the side boards because the porcupines ate them. Seemed the porcupines preferred the man-made structures more than the native wood of the forest. From the bridge there were eleven other stops on the drive. Overlooks of lakes, dunes, a drive thru the cottonwood trees, the beech maple forest, a pine plantation etc. The stop of most interest to many was the Sleeping Bear Overlook (doesn’t look like a bear anymore). Here you are at the top of a really, really, tall sand dune. At the bottom of the dune is Lake Michigan. The sand is extremely fine, hot, and difficult to walk. The signs warn people to not go down the dune because if you must be rescued it is a minimum $3,000 bill. Of course, people go down it every day, and for young, healthy people, while it is an exhausting climb back up, they make it back to the top without problems. We choose to not push our luck since we had made the very difficult climb at Indiana Dunes a week earlier. There is a second dune for people to climb that looked almost as tall as the Sleeping Bear Dune but the second dune you began at the bottom and climb up as high as you can or want, and then turn around and come back down, thereby avoiding needing to be rescued and the $3,000.00 charge. There are a lot of other things to do in the park. There are many interesting, preserved buildings to tour, trails to hike and beautiful scenery.
The covered bridge at the beginning of the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive
One of the views from the scenic drive
The lake is a lot farther down than this pictures shows.
This is the dune you don’t want to climb down unless you are sure you can make it back up – or can afford a hefty rescue bill.
The official Dune Climb
After the dunes, we went back to the Platte river campground and asked for two more nights. They had had a new cancellation and we were in for a total of three days. We needed some time to rest. We also had to move BB out to a place beside the Platte river on Wednesday night so we could have connectivity for our Bible study. Thursday we did some touring of the area outside the park, but that’s information for another blog entry.
When we actually spend time in a campground, we cook outside. And usually enough for several meals.
One of our favorite meals is shaved ribeye sandwiches on Sister Shubert’s rolls.
There was very little wireless coverage but a lot of tree coverage in our site, so for our Wednesday night online Bible study we drove out to a beach parking lot with a clear sky and set up Starlink.
We didn’t see much wildlife in the park, but we did see some deer …
We spent the night at a very welcoming Walmart in Ludington last night along with three other RVs. We awoke to a dense fog, so it was a good time to buy some groceries. We really like our little refrigerator in BB, but it does require more frequent shopping than Fred’s residential refrigerator. We frequently overnight at Walmart when we need groceries anyway.
We saw the recycling machines when we went into Walmart for groceries this morning. They give back money for cans and plastic bottles. We wished we had one to try them out.
It took a while for the fog to begin to burn off, but when it did, we drove out to Ludington’s North Breakwater Light. It is ranked the number one lighthouse to visit in Michigan. The concrete break-wall leading out to the light is popular with fishermen and those who enjoy walking the mile-long round trip. This morning there were many like us getting their morning exercise and enjoying beautiful clear water of Lake Michigan. It’s easy to forget you are looking at a lake and not an ocean. There were already fishermen out today as well, but we never say anyone bring in a fish. 2024 is the 100th anniversary of this light. It’s open to the public for viewing daily and since the light sits on top of the big breakwall, there are only 53 steps to climb.
When we first arrived at the half mile long breakwall leading out to the lights, we could barely see the north light and the south light was almost invisible.
We were surprised at the clarity of the water in Lake Michigan.
The North Light is open tours each day, but we decided not to stay around.
Anytime we were walking away from the sun, these little bugs covered the backs of our shirts. Thankfully, they didn’t bite.
This herring gull did not appear to be afraid of us.
At the end of our second hike out and back, the view was much clearer.
Next, we went to the Ludington State Park to purchase the Michigan Recreation passport. It is required for entry into all Michigan parks and we knew we would need it before we left Michigan. While we were there we checked out the campground but decided it was a little too busy/crowded for us so we just walked on the beaches and enjoyed our time there and headed to our next destination.
We didn’t post anything yesterday because we have been busy visiting with friends as we have been traveling. It’s been great to move around at a pace where we can make contact with some of our RVing friends. We thank them for welcoming us into their homes and taking the time to visit with us.
When we last posted we were back in Middlebury after visiting Indiana Dunes. We then drove to the Detroit area and then began making our way north. Today we stopped at Frankenmuth, Michigan and visited Bronner’s, “the largest Christmas store in the world”. The store was pretty amazing and if we were not full time RVing, we would have probably been even more interested in all the great Christmas items, but our actual favorite thing about that visit was all the things outside the store. There is a beautiful chapel and several Nativity settings around the property. So nice to see.
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. We appreciate the way they spell CHRISTmas and the message on their sign.
The Silent Night Chapel was one of our favorite features
The stained glass window in the chapel
There are several signs leading up to the chapel, each containing the lyrics of the song in several languages.
Inside the chapel
One of several outside nativity sets
Inside the store
The store sells ornaments for almost every profession and occupation.
There are also ornaments for every field of public safety and branch of military.
We bought an Advent puzzle as a Christmas present to ourselves. There are 24 small boxes of pieces inside the package and we are supposed to only put one little box of pieces together a day for the first 24 days in December. We’ll see.
While in Frankenmuth we also enjoyed the cruise on the Bavarian Belle – a flat bottomed river boat on the Cass River. We had some really good ice cream in fresh made cones and enjoyed walking around all the shops.
The crew has to lower the top part of the smokestacks to cross under the bridge. The smokestacks are just decorative since the boat is now powered by diesel instead of steam.
Using the rope and lever the smokestacks can be easily lowered and raised by one crew member.
The paddle wheel is not just for show. It actually propels the boat. The captain was very skilled with it.
Enjoying the cruise
The covered bridge in Frankenmuth
The Shops at River Place
Hard to resist a fresh made waffle cone
From Frankenmuth we drove to Ludington to get ready for tomorrow. We both enjoy spontaneous travel and today was a good example. Fun day and we would recommend these stops to anyone up this way.
RVing With a Purpose 