Vacationing along the Edges of Florida: The edges of Grand Traverse Bay

We spent a day driving along the edges of Grand Traverse Bay, MIchigan, after leaving from Mackinaw City. We were headed to Glen Arbor for a night at the Homestead Resort so we would be teed up for exploring the Sleeping Bear National Dunes the next day.

We took the scenic route along the M-119 starting at the Tunnel of Trees. The Tunnel of Trees is a 20-mile winding narrow road that is lined with trees creating the sensation of driving through a canopy or tunnel. It's a really fun road to drive, too.

Here are some pictures from the drive (taken by DH as I was driving).

The Tunnel of Trees comes out just north of Petoskey. We planned a stop at the Petoskey State Park to take a look at the beach and do a short hike on Old Baldy trail. I was hoping to find a Petoskey Stone while at the beach, but the older Navy veteran that I talked with told me I wasn't likely to find one there as they've been picked up. He did tell me a few places we might find some, but we didn't have time to go treasure hunting. This is the beach.

We left the beach area and went to the trail by the camper registration that was about a half-mile hike. It was a beautiful day temperature-wise and low humidity which was great. The hike to the top of Old Baldy consisted mostly of boardwalked steps, but thankfully the walk down was not so steep and it had sand which was actually helpful in getting down. Here are a few pictures from the hike.

From the Petoskey State Park we drove through Charlevoix, Michigan, where they have the World's Largest Cherry Pie (1976-1987).

Then we headed to Traverse City to get gas at Costco, and then headed north where we stopped in Sutton's Bay. Here are a few pictures from the drive.

There were two shops that we went in while in Sutton's Bay: Bay Gallery and The Painted Bird. At Bay Gallery, we bought one of these owls. And in the Painted Bird, we found they had a basket of Petoskey Stones that were for sale as a contribution to the local food bank - so I got me a petoskey stone!

We continued on to Leelanau State Park and up to Grand Traverse Lighthouse. There were some beautiful blooming trees along the way. You can tour the lighthouse for a fee and can climb to the top for a view. We did that, but most of the pictures from the top were marred with midges. But the lighthouse and grounds were pretty. And the beach was not sand but stones. And there were some #flowersmakemehappy flowers.