Excursions: Traverse City and Grand Rapids, MI: September 6-7, 2023

The perfect weather we'd had so far began to deteriorate as we began the leg of our trip that brought us into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. To be clear, what we had from here on out was what I'd been expecting the whole time for this part of the country in early September: 60s, grey, and intermittently rainy. The sunny 70s and 80s had been just a nice extra treat.

And so it was that we headed out into the rain on that Wednesday morning, headed for Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sleeping Bear Dunes is one of only three National Lakeshores in the U.S. Another, Pictured Rocks, we had been to just days earlier, and the third, oddly enough, is in Wisconsin. The two states we picked for this trip contain all of the National Lakeshores in the country. How about that!

A former National Lakeshore is Indiana Dunes, which is now a full-fledged National Park.

Sleeping Bear Dunes are a collection of gigantic sand dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan on the northwestern side of the Michigan Mitten near Traverse City. As you might gather, the topography of such a place is not what one would expect in this part of the country.

We arrived while the rain was still trickling down:

And then began the climb:

This was far more arduous than you might think! Not only is it a steep, lengthy climb, but the composition of the ground means about 5x the effort per step, as the sand crumbles away beneath your feet. My assessment was, it was actually fortunate that it was raining - it meant the sand held together just a little better than it otherwise would.

Made it to the first plateau:

A nice view!

The dune stretched on endlessly before us:

It really was like being in the desert.

Here's a pano from atop the next little hill:

Really great! A strong recommendation, even in the rain.

After the dune, we got back on the road heading south, stopping for lunch in the town of Mesick:

and then finally finished our driving for the day in Grand Rapids. Had dinner at a brewery called City Built:

and then took an evening stroll along the river:

There were a few art installments to see:

And then we partook of the hotel reception:

That was it for the evening. Grand Rapids had really been chosen as a stop just to break up a long drive, but there was one interesting thing we decided to check out on our way out of town the next morning: the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park:

This is Frederik Meijer of Meijer grocery store fame, and it was him that donated the land for this admixture botanical-garden-and-outdoor-art-museum. Kind of an interesting result!