Rock hunting

Naomi showed up Wednesday at noon minutes after I returned from my morning ride. Fancy crepes in Bay Harbor it is.

We walked on the pier. Clear turquoise water

who does this boat belong to?

multimillion dollar mansions surrounded the bay, some with 2 yacht garages

all northern towns have flower baskets. These were big

We took the car to Charlevoix where I had ridden to and back that morning. These are the Earl Young mushroom houses, a self taught architect. There is probably 30 of these spread through the city

She wanted to go to an inland lake, preferably Torch Lake which we had ridden by on a bike ride when she was 13. Torch Lake is beautiful, the 2nd biggest lake

For dinner, we went to Short's brewery in Bellaire. She doesn't like beer so she could choose 2 ciders. 3 beers for me.

Naomi in Torch Lake

waterfall on my path to Harbor Springs the next morning

The trail runs from Harbor Springs to Charlevoix along the Bay. Nicely paved

The next day we headed north after I dropped my bike off in Harbor Springs (only 12.5 miles ). We stopped for breakfast in Good Hart, population 10

I liked the sun filtering through the leaves

Inside was an art gallery and a tea house, Outside was a crepe truck. You could eat on the patio or on little tables near the road

cute porch

me and my blueberry, almond, goat cheese and maple syrup crepe. Note new sunglasses

drove further north through the tunnel of trees to Cross Village which has a long, fairly deserted beach

lots of rocks and clear, cool water

Up on the bluff, is a Polish restaurant, Leg's Inn, chock full of carvings and gardens

One advantage with the school so far from town that there was little competing light for the stars. Someone else took this photo. And I was up on a higher level without any lights from the school. Only my trusty solar stake. I'd get up in the middle of the night and just stare at the skies

Naomi playing with focal lengths. Crepe

And the crepe sign

my Petoskey stones

Legs Inn gets its name from the stove legs that form a frieze along the middle. It gets very busy despite being in the middle of no where

after lunch, a stop at an art gallery in Cross Village featuring northern Michigan artists. Yes I got something

Naomi came up for a bit more than a day. I had some relatively free time so it was a good break and we had perfect weather. I had assumed her route had taken her along the Bay, which is quite spectacular. Nope no water but as we headed down the long hill from hell towards the Bay, suddenly it was in view. She wanted to take a picture immediately though I assured her we would be much closer later. She isn't a map reader and relies very heavily on her phone for directions. Some problems with that: no service between tiny towns up North and her battery was dying. I since got her a car charger.

I had gone downtown with my new friend the night before to try out different beers while overlooking the Bay. Good times.  She wanted to go to Torch Lake which the phone said it was 49 miles away. Well plenty to see in between. First stop, fancy recently built enclave of mansions complete with fancy stores though the pancake house was reasonable. My bike tour doesn't include lunches and wasn't going to  include dinner that night as we were in a 'restaurant town'. The Petoskey school had particularly nasty food which they doled out in very meager servings. Fine with me as I didn't want any of it but the man who hung around us wanted a bigger scoop of eggs (powdered...yeck) Nope, one serving per person. A woman nearby told her that he could have her eggs as she wasn't going to eat them. Nope, no bending the rules. So she took them and dumped them on his plate. We have a new ride director who needs some feed back if she wants return customers. 

We walked around the harbor looking at yachts and mansions before visiting Charlevoix. Steve and I have stayed there several times in the past few years so I know where most things are (though not the mystery rest stop that the bad map wouldn't show us the way there, had to google its location). Showed Naomi the mushroom houses. Of course they have a nice beach right there (though crowded) but she wanted Torch Lake.

We went through the cute town of Alden whose bakery makes the best cinnamon buns using a recipe of my hairdresser's aunt. But as they only make them on weekends. No a muffin won't do. I did get a cinnamon bun later on in Harbor Springs though this is a 'forbidden' food. Naomi was quite happy in Torch Lake which had clear, warm turquoise water. I had my beach chair to sit on the shore though I did go in for a while.  Instead of driving back to Petoskey right away, we went to the cute town of Bellaire which we had stayed in on the 2nd ride I did with her. Shorts Brewery now is a major destination place but we got there before it was crazy busy. We had a nice selection of ciders and beers and I had an artisanal pizza. I offered to share it with her but no, it was covered with cilantro which tastes like soap to her. There is a gene for that, which we obviously don't share.

Back to our campgrounds. I had gotten up very early (4 am) so off to sleep. She was out and about until it got dark. She tried to take a photo of the stars but needs a tripod and long exposure. She was still in the tent after I finished breakfast. One thing the ride still does right is hiring a coffee lady who makes sure there is gourmet coffee out by 5:30 am. I can overlook a lot of flaws as long as I have good coffee. I brought her some very diluted with cream and sugar. It was time to take down camp so she could help me take down the tent. I was just going to ride for an hour to the next town while she went to the park on Petoskey's long bay area. I locked the bike up and up through the tunnel of trees which she never been on. On one of our rides, we had gone from Mackinaw City to Petoskey but we took the inland route (which was very sandy, now gravely). Very pretty past interesting homes, trees, bluffs overlooking beautiful water. Jutting out the farthest west is Good Hart, a great place for breakfast.  On to the beach at Cross Village. Aside from going in the beautiful much cooler water, I looked for Petoskey stones which if fossilized coral left over when everything was an ocean. For some reason they are found along the coast of Northern Michigan. We did look for some closer to Petoskey at a roadside Park the day before with no luck. Naomi amassed a pile of potential skipping stones. Flat light weight ones work the best. From her years as a fast  softball pitcher, she can spin these things to amazing length and speeds. I tried to upload a video of her handiwork Sometimes they would skip 10 times

Then back up the hill for a good Polish lunch at the Legs Inn. I had the Polish plate full of homemade sauerkraut and mushrooms. Yum.  She found even more crepes. After our trip to the nearby art gallery, I was dropped off  at the school and she went home. but we had a very nice time.