Tunnel of Trees and Harbor Springs

We decided to take a drive along the Heritage Road "Tunnel of Trees" It goes from Petoskey through Harbor View and north to Cross View, Michigan - about 27 miles along the western edge of Michigan along Lake Michigan. We started out in drizzle but by the time we were on the return trip, the sun was poking through. It got its name "Tunnel of Trees" because it goes right along the lake shore but the trees cover over in a canopy. Unfortunately, we were about a week early - next week they will be beautiful as the maples were just starting to show their bright oranges and reds. Once we got past Harbor View, we were no longer on the bay shore, but were on the lake shore. You could not see the other side of the lake (Wisconsin) and the waves were huge from the wind. The road is narrow and twisty, but such a beautiful drive.







These scenes are of the harbor at the town of Harbor View.



The homes in Harbor View were just as beautiful as the ones in Petoskey.













When we got back to Petoskey, we had a lovely dinner at Stafford's Bay View Hotel and Restaurant. The food was delicious and the view was super.



This is the view as we ate.



I caught Doug checking his iPhone.

Petoskey, MI

We traveled north on Thursday and got into northern Michigan. We stopped at a Walmart for the night in Gaylord, MI because there were no campgrounds nearby. It started pouring during the night and it poured all day Thursday so we made a slight detour to the west to Petoskey, MI which is right on Lake Michigan. It is know for its famous pebbles that are made into jewelry and all kinds of things. It poured all day yesterday and most of last night. It is quite windy (25 to 40 MPH winds) so we are not able to cross the Mackinac Bridge (third longest suspension bridge in the world) due to the wind.

We decided to take a drive through Petoskey today - it is full of quaint Victorian homes and beautiful flowers. The waves were crashing onto the stone shoreline due to the wind. Here are some photos:

Augusta, MI

We left Indiana and headed north to Augusta, Michigan where we camped at Fort Custer State Park during the Alliance national homeschool convention which was just north of Augusta at Gull Lake. I realize now that I didn't take any photos except for this unique home that we passed each day traveling to the conference. We saw several homes in similar architecture throughout southern Michigan.