Dick cooked breakfast for the four of us - he did the banana/pecan thing again - best pancakes in the Western World. He also cooked both bacon and sausage, so we had a most agreeable breakfast. We never run out of things to talk about with Bill and Jan. It was fun to hear about their new condo, all of their grandsons (4), and Belleville gossip. They had to leave early to be back down in Wayne County to pick up Mike and Kim at Metro at 5:45 p.m. So we waved good-by at around 10:30, and they were on their way.
Dick bundled up all of the cardboard out of the garage, loaded up the trash and we went to the dump. He swept the floor of the garage, which still had remnants of sand and salt from last winter.
On the geocaching website, he discovered 3 new caches in Alden, put out by the Alden Search Party. After a second trip to the dump with a forgotten bag, we were off to Alden.
As we entered the village, we couldn't help but notice all the cars and trucks with boat trailers that lined the road on both sides. Of course it is the 4th of July weekend, but we never expected such masses of boats! The boat launch is right at the end of the main street, and people were still launching, and trying to find a place for their trailers. Alden has about a block and a half of "downtown" with little shops and cafes - it's a really unique little place. The villages in Leelanau County, like Glen Arbor, are really a lot more upscale and boutiquey, while Alden maintains a village atmosphere. It was busy, busy, busy - people everywhere. (see link above)
The first cache we attempted was in the Helena Twp. park - a great little park with tennis courts, a nice play-structure, a fitness center, basketball, clean bathrooms, and swings. Our target was over near the swings, and the swings were totally filled with small children being pushed by their dads. So we decided to save it for later. Too many muggles.
Next we went back woodsing to the Helena Twp. Cemetery to find cache #2. This place was deserted, and so we found the cache easily. It seemed to me that the cemetery was way out in the middle of nowhere - kind of unusual. It was also unusual in that there were several plots that had benches as well as headstones.
Back to the park, and the swings were empty. The cache was cleverly hidden, the coordinates were right on, and we had no problem retrieving and replacing it this time.
The 3rd cache was at the Coy Mountain Preserve, which is a hop, skip and a jump from downtown. Dick hiked up the hill a quarter of a mile to find the cache, and that one was easily found also. I stayed in the shady, cool parking area and called Jana on my cell.
Having found all three, we started driving around the lake, and miracle of miracles, we wound up at Docksides for an early dinner. We found a table on the deck. The sun was warm, and the boats on the river were fascinating. You can see just about any kind of watercraft imaginable while sitting out on that deck. There was a profusion of boats on the lake, and the beach by Docksides was jammed also. It's very satisfying to be at Docksides on 4th of July weekend. Of course we can go there anytime we want to, year around, but there's a certain energy abroad today.
We drove home through Torch River, and we could see masses of boats at the Torch Lake sandbar. I've never seen so many people at the sandbar - the boats were in a huge clump 25 boats wide and 5 boats deep. It's quite a scene. http://www.torchlake.com/trr/Torch%20Lake%20Sandbar%20Large%20Photo.html
When we got to T.C. we did a modified Subaru Cruise - downtown Traverse was amazing - we saw huge groups of people (maybe 40 in one group) wearing matching t-shirts - we have no idea what that was about. Front St. was loaded with people - it has to be the busiest time of the year. The Cherry Festival started today. Discretion was the better part of valor, and we didn't go down on the Parkway. I heard on the radio later that the Parkway was bumper to bumper and barely moving.
This was a gorgeous day weather-wise, and activity-wise. We had a great time.
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