Loverly

This has been a most excellent, loverly day. We began by going to recycling, and then to McDonald's for decaf and iced tea. Then we headed to Suttons Bay to put out three new caches in area parks on the bay.
Dick's description of the first cache site, which is located in a sweet little park on the edge of town:

The plaque in front of the rest rooms indicates that Suttons Bay was established by Mr and Mrs Sutton in 1854. That plaque, placed to commemorate a centennial celebration shades the history of this spot a bit. Harry Sutton did establish a station for the shipping of wood from this well protected and deep harbor in 1854, and did own the land together with his son-in-law. They named their little settlement Suttonsburg. The village proper was laid out by a missionary priest Father Herbstrit who hoped to found a Catholic settlement which would include a church and a school. With hopes that exceeded reality he planned a college he tentatively named National University. It was to be the focal point of his town which he named Pleasantville City. The church and school survive.
By 1880, the village, now known as Suttons Bay, was home to more than 250 people and had daily stagecoach service to Traverse City and Northport. It was a bustling place with two hotels, a sawmill and a number of stores.
The cache is among the rocks between the rest rooms and the water.

Here Dick is preparing to hide the "Sutton" cache in a Suttons Bay Township Park.

Dick organized a cache to place in the Vic Steimel Park near Suttons Bay. The road leading up to it is called Lover's Lane. Here's Dick's description:

Suttons Bay Township actually has a street named Lovers Lane. Where the short street meets Grand Traverse Bay there is a park dedicated to Vic Steimel who arranged the transfer of the property to the township thereby guaranteeing access to the public forever. Although at this time the park lacks a sandy beach and playground equipment, it is a very pleasant spot for a picnic or just to pause and enjoy the view of the water.

We placed a micro cache at this pleasant little park. Can you read the sign? Don't you think they should have put "Have a Nice Day" at the bottom? ;) Dick's cache description:

This is a log-only micro at Hendryx park near Lee Point on Grand Traverse Bay. You can drive to within 10 feet but bring your own pencil. If you try to get much closer you might hit a rock.

Then it was time for lunch, and we took back roads to Glen Arbor to try the soup at Art's.

Art's Tavern, a Glen Arbor hangout.

Dick took a picture of the light over the famous descending pool table (on an elevator).

Chip's alma mater is proudly displayed on the ceiling at Art's.

The friendly waitress spotted our camera and offered to take our picture. She's saving her money to move to Colorado to become an elementary teacher - she just graduated from college and is working two jobs.

This is the interior of Art's Tavern - it's comfortable with a great staff and always good food.
It's always fun after leaving Glen Arbor to stop by the sand dunes and watch the climbers. There weren't many climbers today, but we saw cars from all over - Georgia, New York, Alabama, Texas, Massachusetts, as well as the usual Big Ten States. It's amazing how many tourists come here from all over the country.
After the Sleeping Bear, we always drive on the Pierce Stocking Trail - you can't have one without the other! There was moderate traffic on the Trail today. The day was sunny and clear, and the woods were deep and dark. "This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks, bearded with moss..."

I told Dick I didn't know what a hemlock looks like. Ever the ecologist, he found a tree and took a sample so I could ID it. This is on Shauger Hill Road, right next to the Pierce Stocking Trail.

Hemlock, up close and personal. Notice the size of the cones! The needles are flat and friendly, just like a fir tree.

We had a little cache maintenance to do at one of our S2S cache sites at Garey Lake. Both campgrounds were totally deserted - made me wonder why people complain so much about muggles here.















On the way home, we stopped at Moomer's for a treat - the most enjoyable treat in our area! It's also enjoyable since this means that we won't be cooking dinner. Yaaay!














Back in Traverse City, we were treated to a beautiful blue bay, and picturesque white sails.