Brisk good morning~ 60* 🌬️Windy & Overcast 🌫️ Beautiful relaxing morning. Enjoyed our coffee & tea outside. Then made a few meals up for the up coming days. Packed up, filled up water tank and visited the waste station to flush & dump!
Took the scenic route up the coast. Passed Howmet Aerospace Plant in Whitehall. Stopped at McDonald’s for our daily Diet Coke 🥤Drove through some really cute towns like Stoney Lake. Now the scenery is a lot of hay & corn fields, lots of cows and dairy farms. Then a red-winged hawk flew right across the road in front of us! Now seeing vineyards, lots of fruit orchards.
All of a sudden at the end of these orchards we see Cherry 🍒 Point Farm & Market….so of course we stop! Nothing else around as we looked down the streets. Oh and it smelled so good for the bakery was baking fresh cherry turnovers, pies, muffins etc. Jams, jellies & lavender products all made there too. The owner introduced herself and we talked with her a while about how she’s grown up in this area and has been selling in this location for 61 years now. She explained the different orchards that surrounded us….tart cherry trees, regular cherry trees, apple & pear trees, hops fields and asparagus plants! We left with a cherry turnover (which was warm), a jam and lavender spray.
Next adventure, we drove through Silver Lake Sand Dunes. No place to park the dually & trailer so we drove slow through the area. Did stop at Little Sable Point Lighthouse! Parking lot wasn’t a through lot and we didn’t find that out till we got to the end, so with a lot of patience Tim was able to back up and maneuver several times till he got it out and we parked way up in the beginning of the parking lot! Phew 😮💨 $16.00 for both of us to climb. The lighthouse stands 100 ft tall…..130 stairs! Beautiful up at the top & sand dunes as far as you can see.
Back on the road where we passed lots of wind turbines and quite a few deer with fawns alongside the roads.
4:45pm with arrived at Ludington State Park, site 54. Lots of trees, paved site with electric. The campground was completely full! No cell service here. After setting up it was happy hour and time to walk the campground. By 7pm it was 54* so time to go in for the night. We traveled 85 miles today.
Howmet Aerospace – is a world-class producer of aero engine and industrial gas turbine components, including airfoils, rings, disks and forgings. They excel in vacuum-melted superalloys, machining, performance coatings and hot isostatic pressing for high-performance parts that enable the next generation of quieter, more fuel-efficient aerospace engines and cleaner power generation. Howmet Aerospace innovation has been behind major milestones in the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, consumer electronics and industrial markets over the past 120 years. Among the solutions Howmet Aerospace markets are flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, as well as wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems in addition to its expertise in other light metals such as titanium and nickel-based super alloys. Howmet Aerospace employs approximately 59,000 people in 31 countries across the world.
Cherry Point Farm – is one of the oldest operating farms in Oceana County, Michigan. The Bull family began operating the farm in 1949 and soon after opened a fruit market. From seed to service, enjoy homegrown goodness and farm-fresh flavor from the orchards and gardens. The market offers a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs. Homemade cherry pie, bread hot out of the oven, turnovers filled with orchard-fresh cherries, and their famous cherry strudel, jams, jellies, fudge, cookies, muffins, donuts, and other goodies are made right there at their bakery.
You can walk in the labyrinth and herb garden beside the market. The labyrinth is an ancient spiral pattern which, when walked, is thought to be a spiritual journey, and symbolic of one’s path in life. In recent years, labyrinths have undergone a dramatic revival as a meditation, relaxation, and spiritual tool. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth is a continuous circuit and you cannot get lost.
Little Sable Point Lighthouse at Silver Lake Sand Dunes is a 107′ brick structure, constructed in 1874. The foundation is 109 wooden piles, driven into the sand. The walls of the tower are 5 feet thick at the base and 2 feet at its zenith. This lighthouse is one of the tallest in the state of Michigan at over 100 feet and 130 steps to climb the tower. About 30 miles north, is another “Point” along Lake Michigan which is home to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse located within the Ludington State Park.
Originally named Petite Pointe Au Sable, it cost $35,000 to build and contained 3 rooms. The rare third order Fresnel lens emitted a constant white light, and flashed a brighter light at set intervals, visible 19 miles into Lake Michigan. The early 1900s saw some changes to the lighthouse. In 1900 the tower was painted white, and an access road and storage building were added in 1902. The name was changed in 1910 to Little Sable Point Lighthouse, meaning “little point of sand,” representing its location which juts into Lake Michigan. In 1977, the tower paint was removed and the original brick exposed. Over the years, the lighthouse has had 15 keepers; and for one month, a woman took over when the original keeper took a temporary leave. The Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers Association took over the maintenance of the lighthouse in 2005, and it is open to the public.
Wind turbine – is a windmill-like structure specifically developed to generate electricity. They can be seen as the next step in the development of the windmill. The first wind turbines were built by the end of the nineteenth century in Scotland (1887).
Ludington State Park is comprised of nearly 5,300 acres of scenic sand dunes, shoreline vistas, ponds, marshlands and forests. It is situated between Hamlin Lake and 7 miles of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline. The park is Michigan’s premier camping destination offering 352 sites, at 3 different campgrounds and 3 mini cabins. There are also 8 non-electric tent sites and 10 rustic hike-in backpack sites. There are sand dunes, 21 miles of trails and the iconic Big Sable Point Lighthouse. There is a river that flows through the park too.
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Beautiful pictures!
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