We arrived at Lake Leelanau (LEE-lah-now) RV Park, Lake Leelanau, MI, on Monday, 5/31/2021. The park is right on the lake and has swimming and boating. We had a nice large site close to the water. It was time for the dogs and the car to have a bath. On Tuesday, we were able to find a PetSmart and got the full spa services (wash, brush, nails and teeth). I think the girls felt really good (and smelled great) after 12 weeks of just a hose bath every once in a while. The car also got a bath, because we ending up driving down a really dusty gravel road after we missed a turn on the way to the park. It’s hard to tell on a map where the good roads are. We’ve started to use Google Earth to look at roads and places to make sure we can use the road or park at certain places (especially gas stations). If we get stuck, we have to unhook the car, back up then hook back up. You can’t back up with TOAD (a towed car). It’s just one of the RVer’s terms I’ve learned.
On Wednesday, we visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We learned all about the history and culture of the dunes. It was really interesting. If you’d like to check it out, here are a couple of links.
The Story of Sleeping Bear Dunes and The History of the Dunes.
One of the dunes we stopped to see was incredibly steep on the down slope. Several people braved it and went down to the shore of Lake Michigan. Take a look at the gallery and you’ll see that they look like ants after getting all the way down. We didn’t stay to see how long it took them to climb back up. We also stopped at ‘Dune Climb‘ that wasn’t as steep but we saw families and groups of people trekking and running up. We drove to Glen Arbor, MI and had lunch at Boondocks. We ate fried asparagus and had Boondocks Lemon Squeeze Ale. Each place we visit we try some of the local beers/ale/ciders. Walt fell in love with ‘That’s My Cue’ (kick of cucumber) while we were in Hot Springs, AR. We have tried to find it every where we have gone, no luck. We did pick up a 4-pack of Cheboygan Brewery Blood Orange Honey that has a sweeter taste.
Walt rode the Lake Leelanau Bike Trail, 36 miles, on Thursday. He tends to take the longer rides alone so he can scope things out and see where we can ride together and even take the dogs in the trailer. He bought some asparagus at a stand on his ride. It is sold everywhere since Michigan is #2 in production in the US. We rode the Sleeping Bear Dunes Heritage Trail together on Friday for 16 miles and Walt pulled 50lbs. of puppies in the trailer. I think they are getting to like it.
Saturday, the Traverse City Farmer’s Market was open and we went to see what we could find. We bought some Applewood Smoked Butter and some Saskatoon (berry that looks like a blueberries) Apple Cider Vinegar and Ramp Cider Vinegar (onion that looks like a scallion and are foraged like truffles). We also got some smoked lake trout and smoked trout dip. Walt wanted to try some and thought it was really good, not me so much. We went and had breakfast and visited the Cherry Republic store. They have anything and everything cherry, BBQ sauce, summer sausage, salsa, cherry bacon spread, cherry creme honey, just to name a few. Michigan is the nation’s leader in tart cherries and the National Cherry Festival is held in July in Traverse City. After visiting the Farmer’s Market and Traverse City we drove the M-22 Scenic Highway. It was a fairly warm afternoon and Walt got in the lake with his floating arm chair to cool off. We left Sunday morning and headed to Rippling River Resort Campground on the Carp River.
The Dune Climb 
Lake Leelanau 
Everything Cherry 
M-22 Scenic Drive