Leelanau Trail

Michigan has awesome bike trails.  The Leelanau Trail is a 17 mile paved trail that runs between Traverse City and Sutton's Bay.  We decided we would drive to Sutton's Bay, park the car, and ride our bikes south as far as we wanted to go on the Leelanau Trail.

We left the camper around 11 am.  Just a few miles south of Elk Rapids where our campground is located is a field of sunflowers with their big yellow heads shining in the sun.

We drove through Traverse City again and then began heading north along the shores of Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.  We still can't get over how blue and clear the Great Lakes are.

We parked the car at the Sutton's Bay trailhead and began heading south on the Leelanau Trail.

A lot of the ride was in the sun and it was very warm (for here) -- in the upper 80's.

But there were some nice shady areas too.

We rode by some beautiful old farms...

...and a lot of orchards.

There were beautiful pink flowers and big cattails along parts of the trail.

After riding about 6.5 miles, we stopped to rest and drink some water at this perfect little bench under some perfectly cool shade.  :)

After resting for about 15 minutes, we began riding back to Sutton's Bay.  We noticed this snowman.

And within a few feet of the snowman was this tiny little snake on the edge of the trail.

Now that's something you don't see every 88 degree day:  a snowman and a snake!  :)

Other than being a little hot, it was a perfect day for a bike ride on a nearly perfect trail.

After our bike ride, we stopped at Subway for lunch at what has become our typical lunchtime:  2 pm.  And then we rode north in the car to the upper tip of the Leelanau peninsula.  As we drove through the town of Northport, we noticed this cute little store with all kinds of colorful blown glass in its front yard.

We entered the Leelanau State Park and drove to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.

There was an old U S Coast Guard boat on display.

We walked out to the shoreline of Lake Michigan.  Look at the bird sitting on top of my head.

.I even got him to sit on my hand!  :)

As we walked back up to the lighthouse, I noticed this beautiful little rock stairs going up to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse keeper's children made these stairs using the rocks of Lake Michigan and several art objects around the lighthouse when they were living here.

This lighthouse station also had a fog signal building.

Unfortunately, this beautiful little lighthouse was replaced by an automated light station in 1972.

The automated light stations are not nearly as pretty as the old lighthouses.

We made a couple of stops on the way back home.  We stopped for some more fudge.  (Our Mackinac Island fudge is almost gone.)  We shared a scoop of coconut-almond ice cream at the restaurant that was voted to have the best ice cream in Traverse City.  It was very good.  And our last stop was to buy another quart of those sweet cherries.

Another great day in Michigan!  :)