A Weekend Away, MI Way

By the time we were finished cleaning up a few odds and ends on Friday, it was after 2 PM when we hit the road. Undecided which direction to head, we elected to spend our hard earned dollars in our home state and took north bound I-75 out of town.

At 6 PM, we were up near the tip of the ring finger. We'd thought about going a little further north into da UP, eh, but given how little we packed temperature wise, we were north enough. We landed smack in the heart of cherry country in the middle of the 5th annual Traverse City Film Festival. Not so bright given that we had no hotel reservations.


No worries though, we stayed on the street side of Grand Traverse Bay and snagged a room at the Hampton Inn. It was pretty chilly for July, but after dinner, we bought a bottle of Cab, 2 wine glasses and a bottle opener and walked across the street to a park. It was a perfect night to be out of doors, out of town and out of the car.


Saturday was cold and dreary but we didn't let that stop us. We got back in the car and drove to that inlet above the deer's tail, Charlevoix. It felt like someone had snagged up the residents of Grosse Pointe and dropped them smack in the middle of this town. We had lunch in a little spot near the marina where we watched yachts go in and out in the rain. I'm amazed anyone still has enough money in this state to operate those monstrosities, but they must.

Sunday dawned with a few beautiful clouds, but mostly sun and blue skies. We hung out at the beach that's part of a state park that includes a campground and a small stretch of beach. It was beautiful. The birds are a little aggressive while looking for food. There are no trash bins in this park-strictly a carry in and carry out policy, but that didn't stop those birds from looking. Some people were feeding the birds despite the signs requesting they refrain. Feeding the birds increases the chance that the beach will become polluted by e-coli. Makes perfect sense to me.


Locals say it's the coldest summer they can recall up north. Even with the sun yesterday, it didn't get much higher than 70 degrees. The breeze off the bay was chilly and I was thankful I'd taken a bit of wool along with me. We didn't take in any of the movies since we didn't want to be indoors. The festival did have one late night outdoor venue with a giant inflatable movie screen that showed older movies. Situated in the park along the bay, it looked like it would have been fun to watch a movie there if we'd brought coats, blankets and a lot more wool. Maybe next year.


Back home and refreshed, I'm thinking it's not so healthy to wait so long to take a mental health break and play footsies on the beach.

Photos: Michigan map courtesy of State of Michigan and Google Images. All other photos from Rudee K and a Nikon D40 Digital Camera