Today was a relatively late morning getting started. Dave and Cheryll started the day early for us getting coffee and showing us around. Our goal for us today was to get north to Mackinaw Bridge. This drive today included us going through two golf courses and the famous bear Dunes National Seashore on the west side of Michigan.
We started by stopping at a local gas station for coffee and some pastries of which they paid for. Our first stop of the day was an incredible golf course of which we were allowed to drive around called Crystal Downs, which is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in all of the country. As a golfer I knew this was hallowed ground, however ashley was not exactly the most impressed since she was not a golfer. Either way I believe she enjoyed the scenery and we were off to the maintop for the day…. the Bear Dunes.
Now Dave and Cheryll were familiar with this area but we were not so there were actually acting as a bit of a tour guide though they themselves had never actually been to the Dunes. They are not outdoorsy people, so with the misty rain blowing and lack of things to do other than drive the scenic drive and look around, they determined at 11am it was time for a drink! Either way they went ahead of us and told us where to meet them, while me and Ashley finished the scenic loop drive around the place. This short rive encompasses multiple overlooks and opportunities to walk down to the beach area of the Dunes, even though they are almost 500 ft high! Once we were done here we headed to the place Dave and Cheryll told us to go.
This took us for about an hour drive up to Arcadia Bluffs golf club. This is an incredible golf course on the waters of lake Michigan, and one of the most spectacular courses Ive ever seen at that! wE were only able to have lunch with them however. We decided to just half half of a sandwich and a bowl of soup, with a beer. This ran us $0 which was a little better than expected, however it was worth it considering what we were able to do the night before, and the good company we could be around.
From this point it was time for us to head north to Traverse City. This is where we ended up having a late lunch (second lunch), and we decided to stop at the ….. restaurant. This is where we had a full mean, we decided it was time to split and let dave and Cheryl have the rest of their day as they were going to be staying in the city for the night. This was a fabulous restaurant. Upon leaving we said our goodbyes and headed north with some advice from the couple to take the West scenic byway, stop at the Legs Inn restaurant and to go through its small town, which had fabulous houses and restaurants, and full of history. Since it was late we ended up taking this scenic drive and enjoying the sunset through the woods, since the road takes us through the upper northwest peninsula of Michigan. I highly recommend this route if one is looking for less populated areas of the state to view. On this road was a restaurant called ….. and it was extremely historic. We were to stop there, and we did to have a beer. This place was awesome, as it had many taxidermies animals and historic artifacts inside. This place was called The Legs Inn, and I highly recommend.
The rest of the drive was us heading north and east to get to the city of Mackinaw. We had to check into a small hotel and it was a nice stop considering we had been driving all day. We were hungry however, and decided to take a walking tour of the historic downtown of Mackinaw city. This town square was touristy but still historic in its own right. With that in mind we explored the shops and the restaurants and ended up eating at a pizza parlor which was well worth the visit…especially if you are traveling with a family. At this time is was almost dark, so we decided to head to the coast (which was walking distance), where we could see the sun setting behind the famous Mackinaw bridge (one of the largest bridges in the USA). We knew this would be where we would start our journey tomorrow, and with that it was time to head back to the hotel and relax.
EXPENSES
20.07 gas
45 lunch
3.37 snack
77 hotel
20 pizza
5 ice cream
Total – 170.44