Biddies Gone Biking: July 2022

The Michigan ride officially launched when we met up with Kathryn in Brecksville. The four of us set out on Sunday morning for our six-hour drive to Maple City.

Our house had advertised that there was a path in the back yard - just a mile walk to the beach. I brought both bikes hoping maybe we could ride to the beach, but when we got there, this is the path I discovered.

The green paint on the trees marked the trail. It was pretty cool back there - kind of like the Bridge to Tarabithia forest. But not passable on a bike. In fact, when I ventured a few hundred feet in, there were even a few trees down that you had to crawl over. No bike was getting through there. Later I would discover many homemade bridges that were largely rotted out over marshy areas with quite a bit of coyote scat. Steve worried the wood would crumble under his feet. And after we passed over the river, the trail just stopped, probably 3/4 of a mile from the beach - as in, we'd only traversed 1/4 mile after 45 min of "strolling."

Meanwhile, the beach was pretty amazing.

Before my big ride, there were dinners, happy hours, and hikes.

Leland for dinner at The Cove

Hiking up the dune wall on the Pyramid Point trail

Then it was time for the ride! Steve dropped me off at Traverse City Central High School. It was a beautiful day - forecasted to be sunny all morning and 80-ish degrees.

I hadn't ridden more than a mile or two before I was stopping to take pictures. This was basically my view the entire time. Always water on my right. Egg-dye blue, tailwind (for the first 20 miles), trees arching in the breeze.

Narrow roads, but no cars. And expansive skies.

When the road meandered from the coast on rare occasions, there were vineyards.

Maple syrup farms...

And cherry orchards...

And more cherry orchards.

Approaching the top of the peninsula actually felt a little high - even though I never thought I climbed a hill.

Most houses were pretty cute and modest, but this one was over the top with the flowers and the stone wall.

I mean honestly. It was so beautiful.

Some vineyards had lake views.

The peninsula is called the "Mission Peninsula" because of this mission that was established in 1839. Rev. Peter Doughtery started a mission at the request of the Presbyterian Church in the below church and created the first permanent settlement in Northern Michigan. There's more info here and here. The aim of the mission: to convert the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Not really something to be celebrated. I didn't see any obvious commemorations for the Native People who had lived here. Eventually, everyone involved in the mission moved West toward Leelanau to establish a new mission, making this the "Old Mission" and that's what it's been called ever since.

Something refreshing about this area: despite the amazing views, the homes were fairly modest. I'm sure if I looked them up they'd be millions of dollars, but there was a charming rural feel to it. Mostly not pretentious. Mostly very cozy feeling. I especially liked this old red farmhouse.

Then I came across this inn--the Old Mission Inn. I bet it's pretty charming, but it actually had a bit of a carnivalesque feel to it. I still haven't spent enough time out West to get used to the emphasis on pioneers and covered wagons and shoot 'em up cowboy-type towns. So, this inn had a covered wagon in the front yard. Which made it feel like a little kids' park/playground to me.

Then there were these rural views of willowy fields.

Except for the "dead skunk in the middle of the road" which was so gross but just made me laugh so hard because of, of course: Loudon Wainwright III. Worth a listen.

But back to the views.

At the top of the peninsula, I reached Lighthouse Park, which includes the Mission Point Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was beautiful, simple, and quaint.

The grounds included an original, restored cabin.

I didn't expect it to have a beach - I regretted not having Steve, Kathryn, and Claire come up to enjoy it.

And more of these clouds.

I stopped here for my usual bar and rest. The Lighthouse was conveniently at the 20 mile mark, so halfway through the ride. And also at the 45th parallel - halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

On the drive to and from the lighthouse, there were little private parks where you could pull over on the shoulder and take a picnic, or maybe even a tent?, down to the beach. I think these spots also had picnic tables. It allowed users to have a private beach in this uber beautiful area. It seemed like such a luxury, and many of them were vacant. We don't see that kind of space in Northern Virginia.

Then it was back to crossing the peninsula through rolling fields.

There were these extraordinary views on the way back.

And more modest homes.

Steve, Claire, and Kathryn met me at the high school afterward and we headed out for lunch. But first, a lavender farm!

We got lavender ice cream (of course). And they had these extraordinary racks of drying lavender.

And again, there are funny purple painted animals at the lavender farm.

Which is strange because:

They had something similar at the lavender farm Deb, Deidre, and I went to on Deidre's 50th bday ride weeks earlier. What up with the cartoon farm animals at lavender farms?

Before lunch, we decided to check out the lighthouse together. It was closed when I was there, so we returned to see it together.

The crew at the lighthouse

I really appreciated that the park emphasized the work of Sarah Lane, the first and only female lighthouse keeper at Mission Point. She had originally kept the light with her husband but continued without him after he died. Doing the job together and then alone after the passing of a spouse makes the job sound so much more lonely.

And the steps were so steep.

Of course the views were amazing.

Next stop: the Bowers Harbor winery.

We all got a flight.

Mine was hung in the wrong order, which led to some interesting conversation about how dry or not each wine was.

This picture is actually the next day--at the Cherry Public House after a morning spent kayaking. Our routine was: morning activity, packed lunch, happy hour at a restaurant or the beach, then dinner.

Many hours at the beach were also spent collecting and skipping stones. Kathryn found a Petoskey stone which was pretty cool. More about those fossilized corals here.

On Friday, Kathryn and I snuck out for a little ride on the Sleeping Bear Dunes Heritage Trail.

We left early, which meant there was some really great light.

There was some good birding here. We saw the common yellowthroat, which I have "commonly" heard and picked up on Merlin, but had never seen. We also saw an indigo bunting, some gold finches, a few song sparrows. Later the next day, Steve and I saw a green heron here and some cedar waxwings--which are so striking in the binocs!