DigitalRoadtrip: Michigan, Day 26...Sleeping Bear Dunes

Monday, June 26, 2023

First off a huge shout out to Dave at the Traverse City T-Mobile store. The S-21 was beyond hope. But, since I had the phone with me, I was able to save a few bucks on a trade in. Unfortunately, the back-up wasn't set up correctly and I lost...everything.

As I write this, I'm not too worried about the photos. I got in the habit of emailing the best photos of the day to myself off the phone. I just don't do this every day. From now on I'll be downloading all the day's photos every evening. Lesson learned.

My contact list is another thing. I can rebuild that. But, all those conversations are gone. There are a few from friends who are no longer with us that I will truly miss rereading. Just writing that weighs a bit heavy.

Back in the car, I started making a list of apps I'd need to re-download. As the day progressed, the list grew and grew. It's amazing how much stuff was on that phone.

The forecast from the night before called for stormy weather all morning. When I woke up, it was due around noon. By the time I left T-Mobile around 11A, the rain was due by mid afternoon.

I had been hearing raves about Sleeping Bear National Seashore for a while. It's the reason I came to Traverse City. There are multiple access points, the closest was a little over a half hour from the phone store.

But first, remember the World's Biggest Pie Tray from yesterday?

From downtown, it was an easy shot down Hwy 72 to the shore of Lake Michigan. But first, I had to get out of town and through the detours. These are simply from me being stuck at a really long light.

Eventually, I did make it, with the fog rolling in as I pulled up. Sign of the day.

Depending where you access the lakeshore, there are plenty of trails. With the thickening fog, they suddenly seemed a bit pointless.

Not something I expected to see on a beach, deer prints in the sand...

One nice thing about having a real phone back instead of the Wal-mart burner is the ability to get up close and personal with photos again.

The original plan was to head north and hike a trail called the Pyramid Point Loop. With the late start and fog, I decided against it. Daisy Rae did the hike and wrote about it on her blog. On a clear day, this is what I would have seen..

Instead, I drove south to the town of Empire, named for the Empire Lumber Company that operated in the area. On the north end of the beach is where you'll find the Robert Manning Memorial Lighthouse. He was a local resident and avid fisherman. After his death in 1989, friends decided to build the light as a tribute since he often mentioned how difficult it was to navigate into the harbor when visibility was low. It was built and lit the next year.