Michigan, Day 27...Happiness Comes in Waves

 Tuesday, June 27, 2023

       It was a foggy morning n Traverse City.  While taking the first load to the car I quickly realized it wasn't fog.  The local news broadcast playing in the motel's breakfast area confirmed it.  The Canadian wildfire smoke was back.  The news was warning about prolonged exposure for "sensitive groups."  Over the course of breakfast, I decided perhaps spending a day hiking in a state park wouldn't be the best idea for the day.

     Instead, I drove out to the coast to check on a few lighthouses.  The gate was still closed outside the Point Betsie Lighthouse.  

     A few miles south, sits the channel from Lake Michigan into Betsie Lake.  That's where you'll find the Frankfort North Pier Lighthouse.  At first glance I considered walking out to the light.  The wind and the waves crashing across the breakwater made it seem a bit less appealing..  

      A random overlook from Hwy 22, south of Frankfort.
   

       The town of Arcadia has a number of pullouts to access their sand dunes.  This is from their public beach.

      It was pushing noon by the time I rolled into the town of Montagne.(pr; Mon-TANE) In a small municipal park is where you'll find the World's Biggest Weather Vane.  It was even rotating in the breeze. 

      Montague Metal makes all kinds metal signs, plaques and yes, even weather vanes.  This one is forty-eight feet tall with a representation of an old lumber schooner.  The arrow, ten feet.

    According to the people at Guinness who keep track of such thing, the one in Jerez, Spain is actually the biggest.  It's also forty-eight feet tall, but the arrow is twenty-six feet long.   

      Seen in the local coffee shop...

            Muskegon State Park has plenty of trails and sandy beaches.  They've also got an artificial channel between Lake Michigan and Lake Muskegon, turning it into a harbor.  And where there's a harbor, there are lighthouses.

     And today, plenty of windsurfers...

      On the opposite side of the channel sits the WWII submarine, USS Silversides, alongside a museum dedicated to the submarine service in the war.   During WWII, the Silversides took fourteen combat patrols against Japan, with twenty-three confirmed sinkings.  

       Eventually, I did pull into Grand Rapids.  6th Street Park runs along the Grand River.  As you can see, the smoke was still an issue.  

      But, I couldn't come here and not check out the rapids that gave the city it's name.

      Yeah, not exactly rapids.  There is a movement to restore them to what they once were.  One plan included simply placing large rocks under the water to create artificial rapids.  That plan was shot down in May.  

      Dinner was in one of the many local breweries, of course.  The Mitten Brewery has a baseball theme with the servers wearing Detroit Tigers jerseys.  Their pizzas were way too big for one person.  So, dinner was a stromboli.  The choice of fillings was mostly the usual suspects.  This was the first time I had seen shredded carrot as an option.  Chicken, mushroom and shredded carrot certainly was an odd mix of flavors and textures.  But, it worked. 

     My home for the night was a pretty generic Baymont Inn on the outskirts of town.  It was clean and quiet.  What more could I ask for.