Our last day in Michigan started with a hike. We headed back to sleeping Bear Dunes to complete the pyramid point hike. It is only 1.2 miles round trip but the elevation change makes you work. It ends at an overlook with a big warning sign. After climbing the Dune Tuesday, I was quite sure that it would take me more than 2 hours to climb back up if I was dumb enough to head down.
We didn’t do anything dumb and after taking in the views we hiked back to the car. Since we are preseasons, using the park is a breeze, we have not had any issues with traffic or parking. This was not by accident, I am a big fan of avoiding crowds. The trail is much better when it is just us and the forest. We did occasionally see other people but everyone was chill.
After the hike we stopped by Glen Arbor to walk the seashore, look at the boat ramp and see our friends the midge flies again. We also stopped by the local grocery for a snack. On the drive out I saw more post offices. Yes I had not totally forgotten. It does not seem fair, Michigan has 802 while Florida has 652, this means they have 8 offices per 100,000 people and we have 2.8. I just doesn’t seem fair.
We had one more Sleeping Bear Dunes hike left. The Sleeping Bear Point Trail looks easy at only .3 miles but it is up a sand dune and then down. We took our final pictures of the lake, did some selfies and shivered a bit. It had warmed to near 50 so we left the jackets in the car. What was a good decision in the parking lot looked less wise standing in the breeze by the lake.
We had been in Traverse City for 4 days now and had not really seen the city. We headed back to see the local botanic gardens. We have seen many and this one is probably not worth the stop. It had some nice plants and a big black cow but overall it is cut up and small.
We did take a side hike to the Hippie Tree. The tree is not itself a Hippie, but it has been graffitied. So it has been co-opted by the Hippies. The hike is through the urban forest and not too difficult. After completing our stroll through the garden we headed downtown.
Main Street, or as they call it, Front Street is nice but nothing spectacular. It is a mix of standard downtown and tourist places like Kilwins. It was a great day for a walk and the Cherry trees were in bloom. There was also another small movie theatre which had quite the limited schedule. They do have multiplexes at the edge of town but this had more charm.
We had one more stop for the day. We had seen an ice cream place on the way to the hotel. Barton’s has been selling ice cream since the 1950s. They also smoke BBQ. The local brand of ice cream is Moomers, made in Traverse City. It was our moral responsibility to give it a try. We both had the black cherry and it was quite good.
We also grabbed some BBQ for later and then headed back to the hotel to relax. I was still trying to decide the best route home. I knew departure and arrival was going to be fine, it was the middle that was gonna make me work. That front was still running across the country and it was unclear where the convective weather would be and what areas would be low IFR.
I did a lot of planning and studying route options and in the end knew I would not make a decision until the morning. Even though I could not make a final call, I did map out a lot of options. There was nothing to do but get a good nights rest and then point the plane in a safe direction.
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