Grand Traverse Bay

Well I titled this Grand Traverse Bay, however if you look at a Michigan atlas you will see there are actually two very large bay’s. The Bay’s are very deep & colorful if you didn’t know it you would think you were in the Caribbean with the beautiful blues & greens. Sailboats dot the bays & fishing boats motor back and forth with there downriggers in place. The surrounding land is dotted with orchards of many types vineyards/winery’s & farms.

We highlighted a few of our favorite places to visit on the largest bay. This posting covers our visit to Traverse City & Sutton’s Bay then we headed north to Charlevoix, Petoskey & Harbor Springs. I took many more pictures than I attached as always…….

Traverse City was our second port to visit this summer. I think we enjoy it so much because it offers so many activities. The area has many bike paths, the cross town runs all directions through and around the city. There is also a path that runs from Traverse City to Sutton’s Bay & another Traverse City to Acme. These bike paths are filled with folks biking, rollerblading, long boarding & runners. Then in the winter months cross country skiing & snow shoeing keeps the area bustling. They also have tons of great places to dine, grab a coffee a drink or a movie.

We arrived just after the huge Cherry Festival had wrapped up. We enjoyed a relaxing bike ride to Sutton’s Bay. A wonderful view of the cherry orchards along the path with trees barely able to hold up there branches with the amount of fruit packed on them. Our ride took us to Sutton’s Bay with a stop at our favorite art gallery and a walk around town before heading back toward T.C. Of course our ride wouldn’t be complete without a stop at Black Star Farms to pick up a bottle of Riesling and some of their homemade cheese Yummie! We only spent two days in T.C. this time through but I have a feeling we’ll be back in a week or two.

We moved on up the bay to Charlevoix we off loaded our tandem and ran it over to the bike shop for a tune-up. This town also offers a great bike path, it runs along the Lake Michigan water front as far North as Harbor Springs. We planned on riding to Harbor Springs in the morning and with the mileage we were going to ride we wanted the bike in great shape. (Oh the ride is 28 miles one way.) We headed out for Harbor Springs about 8ish, the bike now in good shape & we were ready to ride. Our journey took us through Bay Harbor then Petoskey & finely Harbor Springs. Bay Harbor is well…. was once a old mining site that was developed into a multi-????? Dollar developments of homes that include their own private shops, restaurants even a marina.

Petoskey is a pretty little town located on the waterfront, town offers a City marina & much of the same small town stuff. The gems of Petoskey are the homes along the water “old” cottages that can only be used 7 months of the year. Beautiful architecture with incredible gardens added to the enjoyment of our ride through Petoskey.

Harbor Springs is the end point of our bike ride today, also a small quaint town. During the summer months it is bustling with snowbirds (do they call them North or water birds) boaters & folks using the lake circle tour route to avoid the highways to the Upper Peninsula (better known as the U.P.) We enjoyed lunch & shopped before heading back to Charlevoix.

Once back from our ride we got cleaned up & feeling like we really earned a good dinner (after our 50+ mile ride) we set out to find Woody’s old waterin’ hole back from when he visited Charlevoix with his family some 40 years ago!
WoW got to tell ya he was right on, he pegged everything down to the end detail. It felt like Woody was gonna walk in the door any minute while we were sitting at the bar : ) well all of the above is true however he did forget one thing the place is Gray Gables Woody thought it was Brown Gables. Not to shabby Woody Thanks it was everything he said it would be….AWESOME

Sorry due to S - L - O - W internet photo's just won't upload and post's are running way behind.