Follow the Lights ... Day 4

Starting Tripometer Reading: 726.1
Ending Tripometer Reading: 873.0
Lighthouses Viewed: 3



Day 4 was another truly BEAUTIFUL day with simply GORGEOUS weather!! We started out heading north on the Leelanau Peninsula towards the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Since this was the only lighthouse we truly visited today, it easily won the Lighthouse of the Day title for Day 4. We actually "saw" three different lighthouses today, but two of them were very distant views. We did get a couple of descent zoomed-in pictures, but not good enough to share.



On our way back from the light, we saw another winery, and just couldn't pass it up. So, we took a few minutes and tried a few wines from the Gill's Pier Winery. My favorite was the Apple Wine (probably understandable to most of you since I prefer apple ciders)!! We then made our way to the Sleeping Bear Dunes, but only walked up about half way. We were told it was about a 1.5 mile hike, uphill and through the sand in order to see Lake Michigan. We decided it wasn't worth it, and we're glad we did. As we were leaving, we saw a sign for The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. This was a 7.4 mile self-guided auto tour that provided insight to the history of the area, a sampling of the vegetative communities found within the park and, best of all, spectacular overlooks of the Glen Lakes, the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan. Here are a couple of pictures from one place we found overlooking Lake Michigan (450 feet above the lake).

We then came back to the condo, enjoyed a glass (or two) of local wine, and the watched the sunset. We then made the decision to grab a bite to eat, and decided upon the local burger joint called Don's Drive In. We had a delicious hamburger, and chased it down with an amazing chocolate milkshake. And yes, the diet starts again on Monday ... HA!!

Okay, now for the moment you are all waiting for ... the lighthouse of the day. Again, we technically saw three lighthouses, but the two Manitou lights were so far away, that the winner had to be the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Here's a picture of it:

No, that's not a real picture of it ... that's actually a reproduction of the lighthouse made entirely out of LEGO bricks (I know GrantBob will enjoy this). Below is a real picture of the picturesque lighthouse. The present Grand Traverse Lighthouse was built in 1858, replacing a deteriorating tower that had stood only since 1852. A fog signal building was added to the station in 1899.
Deactivated in 1972, the lighthouse was replaced by a light atop a metal tower. The light is located at the northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, marking the entrance to Grand Traverse Bay from Lake Michigan

Tomorrow is going to be a longer day for us, and we're not sure how many lights we're going to see. We are currently planning on heading up to Mackinac Point which is about a two hour drive from where we are staying. We know there are a couple of land based lights we can see, and many off-shore that we might or might not be able to see. I guess you'll have to check back and see for yourself which one we saw!!