Traverse City, Michigan - July 25th and 27th, 2021
Traverse City was on our way from Sleeping Bear Dunes from Mackinaw City. We had as much fun getting there as we did inside the city. We didn’t spend much time the first time through, but we came back a couple of days later to spend some time in the downtown area of Traverse City.
Sunday we drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes from Mackinaw City by way of Traverse City. Of course we took the backroads to get there. From Mackinaw City, we took Trails End Road over to E. Wilderness Park Drive, which followed along the shoreline of Trails End Bay of Lake Michigan. At Cecil, we dropped down south to pick up W. Lakeview Road to Sturgeon Bay Beach. As we approached the beach, the road got pretty rough. It was a quilt of small patches, with plenty of potholes that needed patches. To be honest, the road needed to be repaved. After Sturgeon Bay Beach, we headed south on N. Lake Shore Drive and the road conditions improved some. At Cross Village, we picked up M-119, also known as the Tunnel of Trees road. We were pleasantly surprised by the Historic Legs Inn in Cross Village. It is a beautiful structure with a lot of character.
The Tunnel of Trees is barely two cars wide with no center line, but the pavement was in excellent condition. The road is popular with cyclists. It winds around, surrounded on both sides with dense woods. A view of Lake Michigan appears every now and then to remind you that you are following the shoreline. It is a road to take slowly and enjoy, watching out for cyclists and vehicles coming the other direction. It is not a road for large rigs.
After passing through several small towns, we stopped in Harbor Springs to get out and stretch our legs. The town has a cute Main Street, lined with shops and restaurants. An old train depot has been turned into a restaurant. Large and unusual homes face the bay. The marina was very active, with lots of boats coming in and out.
There were also a few historical sites. RB thought it was nice that the plaque outside the Andrew J. Blackbird Museum was in both English and the native Odawa language. Near the museum is the Shay Hexagon House, built in 1892 and made mostly from stamped steel. In the park next to the house is Shay’s restored steel boat, the “Aha” ship.
The end of the Tunnel of Trees is Harbor Springs, but the M-119 continues to Bay View where it dead-ends into US 31. Following US 31, we stopped in Charlevoix for lunch. There is a draw bridge on US 31 where the Round Lake empties into Lake Michigan. The draw bridge was up when we got there so we had to wait, but not very long. For lunch, we drove down to the Michigan Beach Park to have a picnic. There was a nice picnic shelter to give us shade with a nice view out over Lake Michigan and of the small, red lighthouse in the park. However, the wind was pretty strong. RB caught her tortilla before it blew away.
As we were leaving the park, LB noticed the Thatch House on Park Avenue and made a quick turn in the opposite direction to check it out. Oh yes! Our friends Andrea and Dave had told us about the Mushroom Houses in Charlevoix, but we had forgotten all about them. There are 28 Mushroom Houses in Charlevoix. The unusual stone houses were designed by Earl Young who was influenced by Frank Loyd Wright. We only saw a handful of them on Park Avenue and Clinton Street. There are guided tours that will take you to all 28 homes.
We continued on US 31 through Traverse City. It was time for ice cream, so we headed out to Moomers Homemade Ice Cream. It is not located in town, but out in the country on the farm. Moomers is the same ice cream that we had on Mackinac Island. Many stores and ice cream shops carry Moomers Ice Cream, but the store outside of Traverse City is where the ice cream is made. The line for ice cream was wrapping around the building when we got there. Even though we had to wait longer for the ice cream than on Mackinac Island, we liked the Traverse City location better. It was nice to see where the ice cream was made and it seemed more authentic to be on a farm.
The farm location also sells their milk. It is low-temperature vat pasteurized and not homogenized. Their process is supposed to leave more of the healthy enzymes of the milk in tact. LB bought a small bottle of chocolate milk to try it out. Yup, it tastes like milk. It was only twenty minutes from Moomers to our campground for the night, Indigo Bluff RV Park in Empire.
The weather forecast for Tuesday called for rain, so we thought that would be a good day to head back into Traverse City to get our bikes repaired. Kurt, a fellow VanDOit owner, lives in Traverse City and recommended his favorite bike shop, Wild Card Cycle Works. LB emailed the shop owner, Dan. Dan thought it wouldn’t take very long to fix our brake lines. The shop opens at 10 am and we arrived a couple of minutes later.
The weather forecast was wrong. The day turned out to be nice and sunny. While our bikes were being repaired, we took a walk around downtown Traverse City and along the bay front. Front Street and State Street are lined with old, historic buildings and store fronts for about half a dozen blocks. There is a nice park right along the bay shoreline. The sand volleyball courts were filled with players. We’re not sure if they were just having fun or if it was a competition.
Wild Card fixed our bikes in less than an hour. They were ready for us when we returned from our walk. Dan came out to look at our damaged bike rack to help us figure out how to fix it. We then realized that the worn pads on the bottom side of the mount could be swapped with the pads on the top side. The pads were just friction fitted into a slot; however, we needed to loosen up the mount to get the bottom pads out. Dan loaned us a couple of tools and we had the pads interchanged in no time. Thank you, Dan, for going out of your way to help us!
We were all set with plenty of time to walk over to Sleder’s Family Tavern to meet Kurt for lunch. Sleder’s is Michigans oldest continuously operated restaurant. Inside and out is decorated with historic decor. They even kept the original front doors from 1882. They are mounted on the wall back by the restrooms. The front doors had to be replaced because they didn’t meet fire code. They opened inward instead of outward. The old doors reminded RB of the front doors of her grandmother’s Victorian home. The one door has a deadbolt and door knob, while the other door has a bolt into the floor and another bolt into the top of the door frame, with a pull chain to release it.
The thing to do at Sleder’s is to kiss the moose, one of the mounted heads on the wall. Kurt offered to film us smooching the moose, but we both declined. Maybe if it wasn’t for COVID we would have.
Moomers was on the way back to Sleeping Bear Dunes, so of course we had to stop. Since it was a weekday instead of a Sunday, the line was shorter. This time they had a double chocolate flavor, so RB was happy.
The journey to get there is often just as exciting as reaching a destination. There is so much to see and do in the area surrounding Traverse City. Some people may like the city itself better. Others may find other places in the area more to their liking. Explore both and find out for yourself what you like the best!
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(RB)