Fun in the North Woods

This is the lovely view I had each morning this week as I had my wake up cup of coffee. Before we went up north though, we spent Friday and Saturday at the Detroit Highland Games where we saw some friends who we hadn't seen in a couple of years and where we spent Saturday selling CD's for our friend, Alex Beaton.On Sunday, we followed our friend Bob up to his cottage on Deer Lake near Boyne Falls, Michigan. We've been up there several times but this time was kind of bittersweet since Bob has sold the cottage. When we went last year it was cold and rainy the whole week. This year, except for one day, it was gorgeous the whole week. Here are a few shots of the view from in front of Bob's cottage.On Monday and Tuesday, we drove around the area going to Petoskey, Traverse City, Charlevoix, and the Leelanau Peninsula. I absolutely love this part of Michigan. The are lakes everywhere! And of course there are lighthouses. And boats. And amazing flowers. And summer "cottages".Bob had read that a restaurant in Beulah had been named as having the best cherry pie in America. So of course we had to go!On Wednesday, we took a trip to one of my favorite places ever--Mackinac Island. Since it is an island and since cars are not allowed on the island, you have to take a boat over. There are three ferry lines and we chose the Star Ferry.We were all told to wave because we were being filmed by this boat for a commercial. Cool.We have stayed overnight on the island three times. Two were in B & B's and one time, we got to stay at the Grand Hotel. One of my very favorite movies, Somewhere in Time was filmed there.My other favorite place that we stayed was at the Inn on Mackinac--a beautiful old Victorian home which has been turned into a B & B. See the bay windows on the right just above the porch roof? That was our room. Amazing.Mackinac is not only known for the Grand Hotel and it's fabulous B & B's and summer "cottages" but also for it's lilacs. This particular lilac "bush" is over 200 years old!As I said, motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island except for an ambulance and two fire trucks. The UPS Truck is a brown horse drawn wagon. The Garbage Truck is, of course, horse drawn.And of course when there are horses, there is something else which needs collecting!! They have two methods of dealing with this.We had a wonderful week. Thanks Bob, for a great time.

Now it is time to dig in and finish the job of wrapping up the sale of the house, preparing for the auction, and deciding what we have room for in Florida.