Our Michigan adventure would begin with the Lavender Fields just outside of Boyne City. First we needed to grab a picnic lunch so we stopped at the Hanover General Store. Stepping inside the little General Store was like stepping back in time. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. The first thing I saw when I walked inside was a cookbook titled Whole Food Cooking Every Day. It was inevitable that I would walk out owning Amy Chaplin’s award winning book. After browsing all around the store we grabbed a gourmet hand made sandwich and a cheese tray at the Hanover General Store and made our way to enjoy our gourmet lunch at Lavender Hill Farm. 

Lavender Hill Farm grows over 30 varieties of lavender, has a restored 100 year old barn where they host live music and weddings, and they even dry and distill the lavender onsite.

After our picnic we took a guided tour of the farm. We were excited to learn that our guide Paige is a student at Elon University in our home state of North Carolina. 

We really enjoyed Paige’s overview of how the lavender is actually distilled into oil.

After leaving Lavender Hill Farm we checked into our condo at Boyne Mountain Resort. Even though we were ready to call it a day we just had to ride the historic Hemlock chair lift up the slopes to check out the 1200 foot long Sky Bridge. The view of the resort and the valley below was beautiful.

We stopped at the entrance of the longest timber-towered suspension bridge in the world for a quick snap shot. 

It would be wrong for me to pretend that we made the trek over the bridge. None of us felt like spending $25 per person to walk across the bridge when William and I had already done the Chapilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver BC pictured below several years ago. Yes, that is me walking down the stairs to cross this suspension bridge!

Instead, we enjoyed the view outside the Eagle’s Nest before heading back down the slopes to call it a day,

We were up early on our second day to take Shepler’s Ferry over to Mackinac Island. I ordered our ferry tickets online, we parked in the free day parking lot, rode the shuttle to the ferry dock and were on our way to Mackinac Island with no issues or delays at all.

We were fortunate to board one of Shepler’s four departures a day that takes you under the 5 mile suspension bridge connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan. It took 3 years to construct the Bridge which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and I’ve read that if you have a phobia of driving over the bridge there is a driver assistance program available to take you and your car across.

The most iconic building on the island is the Grand Hotel which we saw as we approached the dock.

There are no motorized vehicles on the island so the only way to explore the island is by walking, riding a bicycle, or taking a horse and buggy tour. We elected to go on the most popular 2 hour tour of the island offered by Mackinac Island Carriage Tours. The tour took us all around the island stopping at the Fort Mackinac, Arch Rock, and of course the Grand Hotel.

I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the visit to the island. The houses were beautifully landscaped with flowers everywhere. There was a large park for visitors to enjoy and it had such a wonderful laid back vibe.

Sylvia and I both enjoyed the beautiful little church.

The Governor’s summer residence sat high on the hill.

I particularly liked the Doctor’s house.

Sylvia made a stop at the Post Office to mail her postcards.

Today, there are 13 fudge shops on Mackinac Island, and they’re making so much fudge that the island imports 10 tons of sugar per week! 

The weather was absolutely perfect so it was difficult to leave such a beautiful picturesque island.

I had noticed several uniformed girl scouts on the islands. Something like that would catch my eye as I was a Girl Scout leader for over 15 years. I learned that both boy and girl scouts come every summer alternating weeks doing service projects on the island, raising and lowering the flags, and helping visitors on the island.

As we made our way to the ferry dock we couldn’t help but notice Lady Liberty. We learned that the Boy Scouts of America donated the statue to the island in 1950. What a patriotic way to end our visit to Mackinac Island

On our third day in Michigan we visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We stopped at the visitor center for a map of the park and watched the presentation about the park. When we went in the auditorium William steered me towards the wall displaying a quilt. Yes, a quilt. I had to go up to take a look to verify and was astonished when I saw Ann Loveless’s masterpiece of the park.

We began our drive through the park on the Pierce Stocking Scenic drive, named after the lumberman that first began to offer tou in the park. It begins at the old covered bridge and winds for 7.4 miles through wooded areas with pull outs for many scenic views of the dunes and Glenn Lake.

The legend of the park is that there was a famine on the northern peninsula and a momma bear and her two cubs swam across the great lake to find food. The momma bear finally made it ashore, climbed to the top of the dune and waited for the cubs to make it to her. But the cubs got so tired they began to sink. The momma bear was so sad that she just laid there waiting. Eventually she saw them begin to surface but they just could not make it to her. There she waited for eternity and thus was born the Sleeping Bear Dune and both the North & South Manitou Islands. I borrowed the picture below from the park website so you can see the cubs and the dune where the momma bear waits.

Our next stop was at the Lakeshore overlook. There was a boardwalk at the top of the dune where we had the most beautiful view of Lake Michigan. I could not believe how blue the water was, it looked exactly like the Caribbean!

The view from the top is amazing but the real reason most people come to this part of the park is to run to the water at the bottom of the dune and then climb back up. It is not an easy task to do so as the sign warns.

Zoom in so you can see that the people coming back up the dune are actually crawling back up. We watched some of them coming back up for well over an hour and they still were only half way up the dune.

There is a smaller dune in the park and I braved climbing it, that is until I my feet couldn’t stand it anymore. I thought running bare foot was the best way to tackle the dune but the sand was so hot I had to give it up.

The Maritime Museum was our last stop in the park. Many ships would become shipwrecked trying to pass through the treacherous Manitou Passage. The US Lifesaving Service, later to become the Coast Guard was stationed here where they would practice rescue routines daily.

Just a short drive north of Sleeping Bear Dunes is historic Fishtown. It was pleasant walking along the waterway, listening to the water fall from the Dam, and watching the fishermen coming in.

When Sylvia asked us to come along with her and Buddy to Michigan I would have never imagined we would have such a grand adventure. Michigan is a beautiful state and I am so happy we are visiting here for the first time. We have one more day before going back to North Carolina and I do hope we have a great last day here.