We drove a short distance from the campground to the entrance of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Once inside the park you come to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. It is a 7.4 mile scenic drive with 12 stops to see various sites. It is a very beautiful area.
The name of the park is derived from an old Indian story that a mother bear and her two cubs were trying to cross Lake Michigan from Wisconsin to escape a raging forest fire. As they swam the cubs cried out from exhaustion. The mother bear urged them on. Seeing the white sand dunes across the lake the mother bear continued until she got to the shore. From the shore she saw her little cubs sink beneath the water and drown. The North and South Manitou Islands are supposed to be the remains of the cubs. A large sand dune is where the mother bear laid down watching the water and grieving the loss of her cubs.
After leaving Sleeping Bear Dunes we traveled east to Traverse City to find the Moomers Ice Cream Shop. They are nationally recognized and named the best ice cream in America by Good Morning America and USA Today. I had one of their best selling flavors "Cherries Moobilee" and Bill had a butterscotch sundae. I can't say for sure if it's the Best Ice Cream in America but it was really good.
After our ice cream treat we continued northward skirting the edge of Lake Michigan to the little town of Charlevoix. One of the most intriguing things we saw was a neighborhood of "Mushroom Houses." We saw two or three of them and didn't learn until later that there are actually over two dozen of these unique homes in Charlevoix.
The next destination on our whirlwind trip through Michigan was the Tunnel of Trees. It is beautiful and adding to the sights was a group of at least ten old Model T cars making the trip in the opposite direction. However, whether it was misdirected GPS directions, a missed turn on our part, or road construction and detours it turned out to be a long drive on a very narrow road that really tested Bill's nerves and patience. He has never been so relieved to get off of a road.
When we finally got back on track we headed for the Mackinac Bridge and onto the Upper Peninsula.
We found a space at the St. Ignace/Mackinac KOA and drove there immediately after crossing the bridge. I got us registered and purchased our ferry tickets for the ride to Mackinac Island in the morning.
We were directed to our space and no sooner got parked and set up before it started raining. It has continued to rain, quite heavy at times, all evening.
Tomorrow we will catch the free shuttle to the dock and take the ferry to the island for the day.
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