Saturday, June 6, 2009
Platte River CG, Sleeping Bear Dunes Natl Lakeshore, MI: May 20-27
We chose this stop because we could park without reservations, which is important over a 3-day weekend. The reservation loop had been full for months, but they had 2 non-reservation loops. We had no idea what to expect here, or whether the week we had planned would be too long. This turned out to be not a problem, since there was more than enough to keep us happy. We even extended our stay one day, even after arriving a day late. After choosing a site & setting up, we drove to & hiked along, & then watched the sun set over, Lake Michigan. From the name (Sleeping Bear Dunes), we were expecting an area dominated by sand dunes. However, the dunes only extend a couple of hundred feet into the park, the rest is devoted to maintaining the lake-shore ecosystem, which is amazingly beautiful & diverse. We got an in-depth look at the diversity on a combination bird/plant walk sponsored by Plant It Wild, an organization that encourages people to landscape using native plants, which then attract native bugs, which attract native birds, etc. We learned about this trip and other local events on the excellent Public Radio stations that we like to listen to. Michigan has an abundance of NPR stations, often more than one in an area. Currently we were near a station sponsored by Central Michigan University and another from the famous Interlochen College (known for its music programs), which specializes in classical programming. Later during our stay, we went on a park-sponsored wildflower walk which was quite fascinating. Part of the enjoyment was walking with a biology grad student & her mother whom we randomly befriended at a stop along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive the day before.
We found the lakeshore to be amazingly lovely, very reminiscent of the seashore but without tides and the salty smell & taste. The waves aren't as big, but the winds are almost constant and the water is quite vast. Because of the way the land was formed, there are many inland lakes, so there are miles & miles of lakefront property with an abundance of lovely homes & attractive community beach parks. They call Minnesota the "land of 10,000 lakes", and they may have them, but it's hard to imagine more water around than Michigan has. Maybe Michigan's lakes are less numerous but larger. We'll report back on this after we see more of Minnesota.
During one scenic drive south of Sleeping Bear, we visited the charming town of Frankfort, which had two small lighthouses and a nice city beach park, where we spent some time. They even had two-person swings for relaxing & enjoying the view. Back along the road home, we stopped at Point Betsie Lighthouse, which was built in 1858 52 feet above Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes have numerous lighthouses, and we will enjoy seeing as many as possible while in the area.
For old-times sake, we joined in on an astronomy gathering in Traverse City that we heard about on NPR, combining it with a shopping trip. It was fun to chat with fellow amateur astronomers again, and we realized that what we really enjoy (& miss) about astronomy is the social aspect. We haven't had a desire to have a telescope and look at objects on our own, but it was really fun to be with a group of astronomers again. There seems to be an instant camaraderie when they find out we're also astronomers.
We devoted another day to a scenic drive north of Sleeping Bear up the Leelanau Peninsula to the northern tip, where Leelanau State Park and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse are located. We decided to get an annual state park pass, since the cost was so reasonable ($29 for "foreigners"), and it was obvious that there would be many opportunities to use it while in MI. We enjoyed visiting the lighthouse and walking around the lovely state park. We noticed that the campground wasn't full and found out that tourism was way down this year, which most attributed to the economy (although some said it was that Memorial Day was too early this year and also blamed the cooler than usual weather). The towns of Empire, Glen Arbor, Northport and Leland along the drive were all quite charming and looked worthy of future visits.
Spring warblers were arriving in the area, and we heard many an unusual song while hiking. With the leaves almost fully out on the trees, it was hard to get good looks, but we did see a few beauties. While in the trailer (with the door open), Willie was going through warbler songs in order to TRY to familiarize ourselves with a few of them, when suddenly one song was answered from outside. This was a Cerulean warbler, which we had not seen before. We went out & hunted around and could hear it but could not find it. We don't like to count a lifer bird unless we actually see it. The next day we heard it again and got lucky and were rewarded with a quick view of one. We also saw (not lifers but gorgeous birds) American redstart, Chestnut-sided warbler, Blackburnian warbler, Black-throated blue warbler & Magnolia warbler. We have seen a pair of Mute swans with cygnets and a Killdeer family with two chicks. We are hoping for Loon chicks riding on mom's (or dad's) back soon.
We found the lakeshore to be amazingly lovely, very reminiscent of the seashore but without tides and the salty smell & taste. The waves aren't as big, but the winds are almost constant and the water is quite vast. Because of the way the land was formed, there are many inland lakes, so there are miles & miles of lakefront property with an abundance of lovely homes & attractive community beach parks. They call Minnesota the "land of 10,000 lakes", and they may have them, but it's hard to imagine more water around than Michigan has. Maybe Michigan's lakes are less numerous but larger. We'll report back on this after we see more of Minnesota.
During one scenic drive south of Sleeping Bear, we visited the charming town of Frankfort, which had two small lighthouses and a nice city beach park, where we spent some time. They even had two-person swings for relaxing & enjoying the view. Back along the road home, we stopped at Point Betsie Lighthouse, which was built in 1858 52 feet above Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes have numerous lighthouses, and we will enjoy seeing as many as possible while in the area.
For old-times sake, we joined in on an astronomy gathering in Traverse City that we heard about on NPR, combining it with a shopping trip. It was fun to chat with fellow amateur astronomers again, and we realized that what we really enjoy (& miss) about astronomy is the social aspect. We haven't had a desire to have a telescope and look at objects on our own, but it was really fun to be with a group of astronomers again. There seems to be an instant camaraderie when they find out we're also astronomers.
We devoted another day to a scenic drive north of Sleeping Bear up the Leelanau Peninsula to the northern tip, where Leelanau State Park and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse are located. We decided to get an annual state park pass, since the cost was so reasonable ($29 for "foreigners"), and it was obvious that there would be many opportunities to use it while in MI. We enjoyed visiting the lighthouse and walking around the lovely state park. We noticed that the campground wasn't full and found out that tourism was way down this year, which most attributed to the economy (although some said it was that Memorial Day was too early this year and also blamed the cooler than usual weather). The towns of Empire, Glen Arbor, Northport and Leland along the drive were all quite charming and looked worthy of future visits.
Spring warblers were arriving in the area, and we heard many an unusual song while hiking. With the leaves almost fully out on the trees, it was hard to get good looks, but we did see a few beauties. While in the trailer (with the door open), Willie was going through warbler songs in order to TRY to familiarize ourselves with a few of them, when suddenly one song was answered from outside. This was a Cerulean warbler, which we had not seen before. We went out & hunted around and could hear it but could not find it. We don't like to count a lifer bird unless we actually see it. The next day we heard it again and got lucky and were rewarded with a quick view of one. We also saw (not lifers but gorgeous birds) American redstart, Chestnut-sided warbler, Blackburnian warbler, Black-throated blue warbler & Magnolia warbler. We have seen a pair of Mute swans with cygnets and a Killdeer family with two chicks. We are hoping for Loon chicks riding on mom's (or dad's) back soon.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 7:55 AM 
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