North to Traverse City

We said our good-byes to John's sister and continued our journey north along the shore of Lake Michigan.

First stop was the light in Manistee, MI.


We lunched on the beach in view of the Betsie Point Light.



The afternoon was spent driving through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.


The Empire Bluffs



Along a scenic drive we took a walk along the highest point in the park. The hardier souls slid down the 450 ft to the lake. But then they had to walk, crawl - whatever to return to the top. We just watched!



The Legend of Sleeping Bear

Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.

We arrived in Traverse City late afternoon. After an early dinner we went out for a bike ride. We discovered a TART (Traverse Area Recreation Transportation) trail right behind the hotel.