Bruce was at the bookstore yesterday, and the sun was shining, so I was inspired. Starting out from town with dog and camera, I planned to map out a color route for weekend visitors. My tour route began, naturally, with 201 through town (note to drivers: you have to get off the top of the M-22 loop to come into and through Northport), which turns into 640 up by the Bells of Christmas. From there I turned west onto Peterson Park Road, newly paved (a smooth carpet to drive!) and beautifully lined with maples in full color.
It was Peterson Park that pulled me off-task. The sun called me down on the beach, and the stones pulled me farther and farther down the shoreline.
South Fox Island (can you see it on the horizon?) kept me pinned to the waterline.
Fossil after fossil caught my eye.
I need to get out that Michigan fossil book today to see what I was seeing on the beach yesterday, but as for my private Wednesday color tour, I never did get to Christmas Cove beach, where David and I had stopped last Sunday, or to Kilcherman’s antique apple orchard and stand or past Black Sheep Crossing to Kehl Lake or out to the lighthouse. There was, after all, housework waiting for my “day off” attention. The drive did go to show, however, once again, that my own Leelanau Township “backyard” is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Lucky weekend tourists will be at leisure to do the full, beautiful, meandering circuit. There will also be Fall Festival activities in town on Saturday (see 10/13 post), Haunted Lighthouse on Saturday and Sunday, Northport Etcetera on Friday and Saturday, chicken dinner at the school on Sunday. Am I forgetting anything?
7 comments:
Lovely post, P. I suggest visitors get themselves a cup o' joe and a pumpkin donut at Barb's, then at lunchtime perhaps a cup o'joe and a slice of Zingerman's cocoa coffee cake at the new Willowbrook (or a fabulous locally-made scone), then top it off with a latte at Brew North, with lunch at Eat Spot or the Treasure Chest or the Drive-Thru BBQ or take-out from Trish's Dishes. Wow, the food and beverage options in Northport are amazing!
Not forgetting to visit the Visitors Center to see pumpkins decorated by our schoolkids while waiting for a turn around town in the horse-drawn wagon!
I'm glad you had a pretty day to ramble in. That pretty blue water is giong to be pretty cold water pretty soon. October is a gift.
I had never added up all the places for treats in Northport. Oh my.
Pamela, I love those days when nature pulls you in and you can freely participate in its wonders.
Fox island would have kept me peering on shore for some time too. Devil's Island often has that effect on me here. Somehow you think if you gaze long enough, the image on the horizon will become clearer. Islands are magical that way.
The fossils are exquisite finds.
Gerry, the Northport nosh options have definitely been on the increase this past year, and it's been exciting for all of us. Amy-Lynn, my husband likes to claim that our offshore islands (North and South Manitou, North and South Fox) migrate, changing position, and you can almost believe it, since their sizes and shapes and nearness to the mainland vary so much, depending on where you're standing onshore. Devil's Island? There's a name! Tell us more sometime on your blog, will you?
Pamela, I am so impressed that you mapped out your color route before the weekend visitors arrived. That was above and beyond your role as hostess. The fossils are so intriguing...makes me want to go out and look for fossils. Leelanau Township sounds like a beautiful place!
My having mapped out the personal color tour would have been impressive, maybe, had I finished that task, which I did not. Oh, well. Yes, our Leelanau is beautiful. And I held back (for another day) my best fossil find. It was a perfect Petoskey stone (hexagonaria), just the right size, very clear markings, but what made it special to me was that I found it by a new method that occurred to me on the spot, i.e., turning over larger rocks at the edge of the water. The third rock I moved had been hiding the Petoskey.
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