It was an overcast though warmish Saturday on the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. We left Traverse City and headed to the town of Leland. Its restored Fishtown area claims to be one of the most photographed spots in all of Michigan.
Though it is completely commercial now, you have to admire a town that preserved these fishing shanties to give you an idea of what was here 100 years ago. You can still do a lot of fishing, including from your hotel room.
Lots of folks touring Fishtown today, and then there was also an antique car show on Main Street, in addition to more cute shops. The town was hopping! Many of the antiques were dangerously close to the vintage of my first car, so that was concerning. But overall, a fun day in Leland, which we really liked. (Any votes on Don’s new fedora?)
Then it was off to the famous Sleeping Bear sand dunes of Michigan. They are the result of glacier activity and wind erosion and stretch all over this part of the lakeshore. We toured some and climbed one, and have a lot of sand to show for it.
This part of Michigan has a lot of vineyards (same latitude as Bordeaux, don’t cha know) and – even more interesting – is the cherry center of the universe. Naturally, we had to go to a roadside icon, the Cherry Hut, to sample the local cuisine. Observe old-timey favorites like stuffed pork chops, vegetable soup, and – drum roll, please – fabulous cherry pie with great vanilla ice cream. Not. Bad.
But just to balance out all the good cooking, we visited the farm stand next door for some honey crisp apples. Yes, it’s that time of the year, and the leaves here are turning. A good Saturday, in a lovely part of the world.
Love the new hat and the cherry pie. I see two cars I remember as a child, the wood sided station wagon and the green car with yellow hub caps. A friend of my parents had a car similar to the green one and it had a rumble seat. We kids thought it was great fun to ride in the rumble seat. And isn’t that red and white car a 1957 Chevrolet? My highschool boy friend had one only it was a convertible. We were so cool. Where did the time go?
There is just nothing like a woodie. Forget the time – where did all the interesting cars go? Can’t imagine a vintage car show 50 years from now. Most everything today looks the same, and comes in black, grey or silver – or maybe beige. Boring!!!!
I vote for the fedora – very dashing