Traverse City, MI Adventures

 Another leg of our journey north was to Traverse City where we explored many lovely things!

First off, Traverse City is simply beautiful. Just beautiful! There on Lake Michigan where you can't see anything in the distance across the great lake, this precious town sits and it just feels like a happy little get away waiting to happen!

We spent a few days here. We got warmed up to the town by attending the Cherry festival, riding rides for Ellie, and swimming in the Traverse Bay. We also went to dinner which I sadly say due to the state of our poor government, NOBODY wanted to work. So. Restaurants in this town were booked for the night by 5p.m. - (they don't take reservations). We would show up at 5 or 6 for dinner and the answer they gave me and the hundreds of people pouring in behind me at a normal dinner time was, "We are no longer accepting names, our wait time exceeds our close." They close at 9. These people who were lucky enough to be on the wait list to eat would be waiting 3-4 hours. And again, THEY DON'T TAKE RESERVATIONS so I guess you have to show up for dinner at 2 p.m. ridiculous. (Excpet for this restaurant called Harrington's by the Bay. It had long wait times, but they did take reservations and their food was worth the wait.) All restaurants are immensely short staffed because...our new government and the precious stimulus checks. But that's another story. Meanwhile, we made do at Sleder's Family Tavern....and I do mean made do. Allegedly, Sleder's is the oldest restaurant in Michigan. 139 years old to be exact come this September 15, 2021 (also Eric's birthday!!) They had about 2 waitresses on staff and one host and to quote them on the reason? "Nobody wants to work anymore because they have a stimulus check." Sad. Anyway, our waitress was terrible and she didn't care, but we were all laughing...it was that bad a service that we were laughing so so so hard at our misfortune but enjoyed the company of one another because that is what really mattered after all! And most likely, under better circumstances, they probably would have their act together. One prays. So at Sleder's, unbeknownst to me prior to our arrival, there is this tradition to "kiss the moose." It has been a tradition 39 years now. The tradition began when a journalist wrote a fictional article titled "McGuire and the Moose" which is also framed and hanging within the restaurant. The author of the fictional article wrote the piece based upon an old friend of his named Frank McGuire, who told the author's wife once that the next time she went to Sleder's (a restaurant Mr. Frank McGuire loved) she was to kiss the moose for him. It was something one does not literally mean, but one receives jokingly and understands. It's kind of like a thing of "if you know, you know." Well, the journalist of the fictional article was inspired by Mr. McGuire's passing statement and therefore; wrote the little story in the paper, informed Sleder's owners in the 80's of the little tale, Sleder's approved, and the story was printed and got around. And as such, one night, a patron of the restaurant, a young woman, declared she was indeed going to kiss that moose! She did, and now there is a ladder kept behind the booth under the moose and a bell is rung at the bar any time the old moose gets a smooch. There is even a T-shirt. So. You know. I had to kiss the moose....and Ellie did too. 😘 I left Sleder's a little sweet and spicy Carolina girl sugah.

Our first big adventure was to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. There, we climbed the dunes all the way to Lake Michigan's shore. Once at the shore, we searched for Petoskey stones, climbed the dunes and slid down (SO STEEP), and walked the beach! Then we climbed the dunes back to the park. 6.2 total miles I clocked that day just doing the dunes and the beach. That's fine, I run 6.2 5 times a week. But I do NOT run 6.2 miles in steep up and down, up and down, and up and down again shifting sands. Woooo-weee! My thighs were on fire by then end. And I'm a strong runner and hiker! That was quite the exercise but beyond worth it. It was fun, beautiful, spectacular, and stunning! No picture could do that experience justice but I took plenty  photos just the same. And of course, Ellie worked to receive her Junior Ranger badge for this national park. Yay!

After the dunes, we ventured to Leelanau State Park to tour the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. It was so neat! It seems every lighthouse I've seen is vastly different than the last. I find them so interesting and obviously beautiful. After the lighthouse, we stopped at Black Star winery (super beautiful place) for a glass of wine. Ellie was given sparkling raspberry juice. She loves to go to wineries because she knows it means she gets to drink from a fancy glass, smell wine, and have fancy juice. (She only gets water and milk on the usual.) 

Trying a wild cherry!

Our next exploration in Traverse City was Mission Point Lighthouse which was sadly not open to tour the inside because surprise, surprise, nobody wanted to volunteer or work it that day. Slackers. Go to work, people. Lazy. Anyway, it was super beautiful and we were on the 45th parallel. After wine touring, where we saw beautiful green rolling hills, endless lakes scaping across the horizon, and had plenty of snacks, we went back to the Traverse Bay for a sailboat tour on Lake Michigan. SO MUCH FUN!! I've been on a few boats but never a sailboat. This was an awesome experience. It was a private tour and it was peaceful, happy, exciting, and beautiful. Afterwards, dinner, then back to the hotel to rest up for another grand adventure traveling further north! More on that in Another blog post coming soon about the Upper Peninsula, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island.