Petoskey

This week we went to Petoskey with Don and Diane. We stayed at the beautiful historic Perry Hotel! Believe it or not, the guys left their golf clubs home! Biking was great, but after four days,they were itching for the golf course! Our view of Lake Michigan was amazing!

We biked from Petoskey to Bay Harbor!!!
Wow! Amazing!! Beautiful!!

The next day we biked into Harbor Springs! The trail goes right along the lake and through a Nature Preserve. Beautiful sights! On our way home we stopped in Charlevoix to look around. I'm entranced by the bridge that rises every half hour for the boats to pass through! So very amazing!

This week, Kay and I headed to the Mackinac Island. She hadn't been there in 25+ years, so we decided to do the 'tourist' thing and visit for a day. The weather was cold and drizzly, but we had a big time!! We shopped, sampled, sauntered, and shivered, but loved every minute of it!!
Kay and I rented bikes and rode around the island. The vistas were breath-taking!
The flowers on the Island were amazing! I guess the cooler temperatures contribute to their beauty. Brrr...it was only in the 60's while we were there!!
While it sprinkled, we sat on the Grand Hotel's porch - - staying nice and dry! Notice the beautiful Big Mac bridge in the background of this picture! Amazing sight from any angle!!
As we sat on the porch, we admired the 'taxi' as the guests arrived at the Grand.
The storm was creeping closer and closer to the island - - time to head for the mainland! It was a fantastic day, despite the chilly temperatures!

Charlevoix sunsets

Going...

Going...

Gone!!

The sunsets in Charlevoix were amazing! Watching the sun set at the end of a wonderful day filled me with anticipation of God's blessings. What an marvelous gift ~ wrapped so bright.

Charlevoix

CHARLEVOIX!!! Marvelous!!

Jack, Craig, Julia, Kim, Steve
Cathy, Kathy, Liz, Stephanie

30l Nichols St. ...Downtown Charlevoix

We are so blessed! The Steve and Kathy invited us, and Jack and Cathy, to Charlevoix to hang out for the week. We stayed in a beautiful home one block from Lake Michigan and the downtown area. It was a week of relaxation and renewing!!

The first day we rode our bikes from Charlevoix to Petoskey on the bike trails. It was a 30 mile breathtaking ride along Lake Michigan. We stopped at Bay Valley to have breakfast at the Pancake House. Delicious!

Liz, Steph, and Julia waiting for our table!
Riding along Lake Michigan...Brrrrr....

We finished our ride in downtown Petoskey. We ran into several friends from FlintTown. It was fun seeing everyone there! :) That evening we watched the sun set into Lake Michigan. Amazing!

The girls watching the sun set

The next day Craig, Steve, Kathy, and David Leyton went golfing. Jack, Cathy, and I went shopping downtown Charlevoix. What a sweet, inviting little village! A highlight of our time in Charlevoix was being able to sail on the Neumann's boat. Eight of us boarded on their sailboat and traveled into Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. The water was tourquoise and the clouds looked like giant puffy pillows. They even opened the downtown bridge for us to pass through! It was amazing!!!

The bridge opened for US!! Ahhh...

Craig and I are very blessed! Our friends are special and dear to us!! They are the kind of friends that could sit together on a porch, never saying a word, but we'd walk away feeling like we'd just had the best conversation! Love them! :)

Happy 4th of July!!

Ok, this morning Craig suggested we ride our bikes into Flushing for breakfast. I thought it was a great idea! I'm always excited to go out for breakfast! Plus, it makes more sense to me to ride to SOMEWHERE... as I don't understand just taking a 10 mile bike ride for nothing! I'll gladly ride 20 miles TO an ice cream shop or TO breakfast!


OK . . . we ride to Flushing to ChooChoo's restaurant. All the while I was pedaling, I was vacillating between French toast, or a Swiss and mushroom omelet . . . We pull up to the restaurant and all I saw was CLOSED!! OH MY WORD!! I've ridden 10 miles and the restaurant is closed??? Craig QUICKLY suggested riding downtown to Kathy's and see if it was open. Ok, I love breakfast at Kathy's! NO!! It was closed, too! The bakery across the street was closed, the Elbow Room was closed! Skip's was closed!! The pizza shop was closed!! I'm close to spazing out, so Craig suggested checking out the A & W!! FINALLY, something was open in Flushing! It was only 10:30am, but I thought a hamburger and fries was better than riding to his next destination. . . The Hollywood Diner on Corunna Road!

Phew . . . finally somewhere that's open!

Notice the water bottle on my bike is filled with Diet Root Beer!! :)
(Not exactly the biker's code of ethics!!!)

All in all, it was a great ride. . . but the next time we head out, I'm packing a snack pack for emergencies!! Geeeze!!!