It was another perfect weather day, though ... so I can't complain about that at all. We arrived 15 minutes before the lighthouse tours began, so we walked around the beautiful grounds and enjoyed ourselves hugely! 
I think that Michigan is every single bit as lovely as Hawaii. I think we live in quite a Paradise! Of course, the only time I have ever been to Hawaii, it rained five out of the seven days we were there; so perhaps it's not a fair comparison. But look at the beauty right here in our own state! We visited for awhile with the four women who were keeping this lighthouse for the week. The state of Michigan has a Lighthouse Keeper Program. If you want to stay at a lighthouse for a week and take care of it, you just have to pay $200! The four women who were staying at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse this week were good friends who are from Kalamazoo. Wouldn't it be a fun adventure to be a lighthouse keeper for a week?
We toured the lighthouse museum and climbed to the top of the tower. The picture above was taken from there. It was such a clear day, we could see Fox Island as well as both North and South Manitou Islands.
The shadows were playing tricks on me and I had a hard time adjusting my camera to get a good picture ... I'm going to have to read up on that I guess!
"... if we are living in the LIGHT of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other; and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin." I John 1:7 NLT
There was a really nice gift shop here at the lighthouse. I bought a really nice book about all of the Michigan lighthouses, as well as a 500 piece puzzle of the lighthouses on the Great Lakes. I'm going to work on it during the long, cold winter months that are coming way too soon!
Is that a swan in flight? I've never seen a swan fly before, so that's why I'm asking! Perhaps my friend, Judy, can answer that question.We left the lighthouse at Grand Traverse and drove down the west side of the Leelanau Peninsula to Leland. We wanted to look around and enjoy some lunch! Here are pictures of some of the amazingly beautiful flowers we saw in almost every little town we drove through!
There were tons of "cherry" shops in Leland. We stopped in one that had free tasting of all kinds of cherry delights ~ chocolate covered, yogurt covered, dried, various jams and jellies, etc. But they also had samples of Honey Roasted Cinnamon Peanut Butter, as well as Pear & Cinnamon Preserves (as well as lots of other yummy stuff) that I just had to bring home with me!
" ... at the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only Almighty God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He alone can never die, and He lives in LIGHT so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No one has ever seen Him, nor ever will. To Him be honor and power forever. AMEN!" I Timothy 6:15 and 16.
We decided to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes in the afternoon. WOW. None of the photos I took captured the depth or the beauty of this place! We took the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and stopped along the way at the various lookout points.
This is a 450 foot dune! There is an overlook here and you can watch the people running down this enormous sand dune right down to the Lake. There are warnings posted for people NOT to go down because the ascent back up is SO difficult. They say that on an average of 1x per week, a helicopter has to come and rescue a stranded tourist (to the tune of $10,000 the tourist is liable for!) ... but it was terribly tempting to go down there anyway! The beach stretched for miles and was so pristine!
Later in the afternoon, we drove to a place in Empire and we walked for a very long distance down the beach.
What a perfectly beautiful day we had! No rain! Warm sunshine and blue skies.
We sat on the beach for a long time just enjoying each other's conversation and watching the sun dance across the water ... we drove back in to Traverse City and ate dinner near our hotel.
I have so many pictures from the rest of our retreat, that I might just put a whole bunch on a post with no comments at all! Stay tuned ...
We enjoyed a mighty fine lunch at a place called The Cove, right on Carp River that runs into Lake Michigan, next to a little historical site called "Fishtown." We looked around all of the shops there as well.
There were tons of "cherry" shops in Leland. We stopped in one that had free tasting of all kinds of cherry delights ~ chocolate covered, yogurt covered, dried, various jams and jellies, etc. But they also had samples of Honey Roasted Cinnamon Peanut Butter, as well as Pear & Cinnamon Preserves (as well as lots of other yummy stuff) that I just had to bring home with me!
" ... at the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only Almighty God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He alone can never die, and He lives in LIGHT so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No one has ever seen Him, nor ever will. To Him be honor and power forever. AMEN!" I Timothy 6:15 and 16.
We decided to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes in the afternoon. WOW. None of the photos I took captured the depth or the beauty of this place! We took the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and stopped along the way at the various lookout points.
This is a 450 foot dune! There is an overlook here and you can watch the people running down this enormous sand dune right down to the Lake. There are warnings posted for people NOT to go down because the ascent back up is SO difficult. They say that on an average of 1x per week, a helicopter has to come and rescue a stranded tourist (to the tune of $10,000 the tourist is liable for!) ... but it was terribly tempting to go down there anyway! The beach stretched for miles and was so pristine!
Later in the afternoon, we drove to a place in Empire and we walked for a very long distance down the beach.
What a perfectly beautiful day we had! No rain! Warm sunshine and blue skies.
We sat on the beach for a long time just enjoying each other's conversation and watching the sun dance across the water ... we drove back in to Traverse City and ate dinner near our hotel.
I have so many pictures from the rest of our retreat, that I might just put a whole bunch on a post with no comments at all! Stay tuned ...
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