Over on our Absolute Michigan web site, we're featuring Leelanau's own National Lakeshore in Dig Michigan: Sleeping Bear Dunes. It begins:
The October 21, 1970 Act of Congress that established the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore declared that "...the Congress finds that certain outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena, exist along the mainland shore of Lake Michigan and on certain nearby islands in Benzie and Leelanau Counties, Michigan, and that such features ought to be preserved in their natural setting and protected from developments and uses which would destroy the scenic beauty and natural character of the area."
Before it's all over, you will have hopefully enjoyed the photos, maps and links and checked out 5 "must-do" ways to experience the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. (I'm hoping folks who know and love the Dunes can add many more tips for visitors!)
Check it out - I'm really happy with how it came out!
Photo: canyon of trees by metrolens
The Leelanau County Cherry Blossom Tour has been scheduled for Saturday, May 10 from 11 AM - 2 PM. The Tour is sponsored by the Leelanau Conservation District, Leelanau Conservancy and the Leelanau Enterprise, with several other organizations presenting a tour of orchards with a leisurely FREE bus ride for folks of all ages (wheelchair lifts are on every bus as well!).
The event will start and end at the Connie Binsfeld Building in Lake Leelanau and features a free ride on busses provided by the Bay Area Transportation Authority. Tour takers can stay on a bus throughout its journey or get off at preplanned stops and catch the next one! There will also be a free lunch with cherry brats from Pleva’s Market in Cedar and those famous Cherry Republic Boomchunka cookies. Highlighted on the tour will be the views offered from a vantage point at St. Wenceslaus Church and the Gregory family's Cherry Bay Orchard.
Years ago, a Blossom Tour was offered annually by agricultural leaders in Leelanau County at about the same time the "Blessing of the Blossoms" ceremony was celebrated in Grand Traverse County. While the blessing event remains today, the blossom tour has long been discontinued — until this year.
Contact the Leelanau Conservancy at 231 256-9665 for further information or to volunteer and get more information from Cherry Blossom Tour web page from the Leelanau Enterprise.
Photo: Spring Will Come by Andy McFarlane (check out this Cherry Blossom Slideshow too!)
The photo is Daffodils II, and I'd like to wish everyone out there a happy Earth Day (and tell you that the daffodils came out yesterday!).
Come to the parade in TC Saturday too!
The Grand Traverse Lighthouse is located inside of the Leelanau State Park on the Lake Michigan shoreline at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. The lighthouse was occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard from 1941 until it was closed in 1972. It has since been restored to resemble the keeper's house of the 1920's and 1930's. The Lighthouse and Fog Signal Building both have exhibits on the maritime history of the area.
Cool things to do: check out the exhibits on shipwrecks and local history. Climb the tower and look at Lake Michigan and the northern Leelanau Peninsula. Listen to the restored air diaphone foghorn every Saturday. There are 8 1/2 miles of hiking and skiing trails, with picnic areas and a scenic overlook. There is alot do here.
There is also the Volunteer Lighthouse Keeper Program at The Grand Traverse Lighthouse which provides the perfect opportunity for people who love lighthouses. From April through December, you can spend one or two rewarding weeks staying in the lighthouse as a lighthouse keeper.
According to the Leelanau Conservancy "Glen Lake, framed by a dramatic rise of Sleeping Bear to the west, and surrounded by high-forested moraines to the east and south, presents one of the most recognizable landscapes in Michigan. The waters of Glen Lake are so pure that with increasing depth, on a clear day the water colors shift from sandy hues of the shallows through aquamarine to some of the deepest blue known anywhere." A better description of Glen Lake cannot be found.
Local legend says that Glen Lake was recognized as "the most beautiful lake in the world" by National Geographic Magazine, (the magazine denies ever having published such a ranking), but anyone who has cast their eyes upon this body of water would agree with the legend. Glen Lake actually consists of two lakes: Big Glen and Little Glen, with a bridge that stretches over the narrow bit of water connecting the two. Little Glen Lake is below the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Big Glen is less than a mile away from the town of Glen Arbor.
Cool things to do: canoe or kayak (rent one from Crystal River Outfitters), sail, paddle, or just hang out on a pontoon (rent them from On the Narrows Marina), waterski, wakeboard, wakeskate, or tube (rent the equipment and boat from Glen Craft Marina), or just relax in the water at the public access sites on the lake.
Check out the Glen Lake Association for in depth info about Glen Lake.
The Glen Lake Yacht Club is a great way to meet people and enjoy your favorite summer sports, from sailing to tennis.
Head into Glen Arbor for some great food and shopping.
This photo is part of Joe Burda's Fishtown set (slideshow) and also a part of the Manitou Islands group on Flickr.
And yes, it's wallpaper-sized!
Yesterday at The Leland Report Molly Grosvenor wrote:
This morning George Firestone Grosvenor, our Bumpa, passed away. He went peacefully in the company of his children and with the kind assistance of all the great people at Effie's Place. This truly marks the end of an era. I know that many people have a story or two or many about Bumpa. It's great comfort to know that he will live on in these stories... may we all keep telling them. May the seas be calm in heaven! In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the South Manitou Island Memorial Society's project "relight the light" or to Munson Hospice.
You can share your memories here or over at the Leland Report's tribute to George Grosvenor. George captained boats that went to the islands, most recently the Manitou Isle to North Manitou. My favorite tales from him were those of delivering the mail across the ice to the Manitou Islands. He said his dad would tie a rope to him and make him walk in front of the mail truck as they crossed the ice.
Was it true? I don't know but I do know he was a great guy who will be missed.
Photo credit: NMI Pickup by migolfer who writes: North Manitou Island. For those of you old enough to remember the island pickup/dropoff point off the beach by Bourniques. This was before the fancy dock they put in. If the weather was bad, the drop off point was on the south beach off The Big Windfall. The boat is the "Manitou Isle".
The photo is by Chris Burda, part of his Fishtown Docks photo gallery (view slideshow). The University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web's entry for the Mute Swan (cygnus olor) includes photos and information and begins:
Mute swans are large birds, measuring 144 to 158 cm. The wingspan is 2 to 2.5 meters. The two sexes are alike in appearance, except that males are generally larger than females. The plumage is white. They are best distinguished from North American swans by the knob at the base of the upper bill, and the color of the bill itself, which is orange, with the tip and base colored black. The head and neck may sometimes be stained brown from water and mud containing iron.
The photo is North Lake Leelanau by greencottage. He has a lot more very cool photos from Leelanau County that he's added to our Leelanau(dot)com group on Flickr.
Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the outdoors!
Over on Absolute Michigan we have a post titled Full Moon (cabin) Fever - February 20, 2008 Eclipse that gives you most of what you need to know about tomorrow night's total lunar eclipse. A look at the weather suggests that it's actually not completely impossible that we would be able to see it!
By happy coincidence, Ed Hannenberg introduced me to the web site for the Hahnenberg Observatory of Lake Leelanau. He says he has the largest telescope in the area, a 14" Meade LX200GPS-SMT Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope, an 8" Orion refractor, and a Coronado h-Alpha telescope for viewing sun flares and prominences, along with CCD and digital SLR cameras for optimal planetary and deep-sky photography.
With features like photographs such as the one to the right and a monthly sky report for our area, you'll probably want to bookmark it!
