💞 “No Plans, No Agenda” 🥰

Saturday, June 17th, 2023 ~ Up at 8am….62* & sunny. Love when we have full hookups…I enjoyed a long hot shower & washed my hair & didn’t have to worry! Great way to start the day. ❤️ We enjoyed our coffee & tea outside with a slice of marble pound cake. 😋 The campground is so fragrant! We’re surrounded by lilac bushes. 🪻🪻10:30 and it’s 68* so that means it’s time for shorts but with a long sleeve light shirt because of the cool breeze off the water. No agenda kind of day, so off we went exploring. As we drove along Lake Michigan on this beautiful, clear day in Petoskey, we noticed that the air was crisp and clean. We saw signs for a Master Gardener Plant Sale so you know I wanted to check it out. We met the nicest people, they shared their knowledge regarding the plants & flowers that they grow in Michigan and all about being a Master Gardener which I so would like to do one day. Across the room we found a flowering plant and it had 2 butterfly picks…..yes we bought it for our picnic table! As we walked back to the truck we did another high five for unbeknownst to us it was the last day of this plant sale and everything was 50% off! Score! Continued on our drive through town when we saw a Farmer’s Market. We strolled in & out of all the locals tents when one particular one amazed us. This couple collected Petoskey Stones & Yooperlite Stones and made bowls, trivets, jewelry etc and we were amazed. Tim bought a polished stone of each so we knew what to look for when walking the beaches in Michigan. Driving through town, I was in awe of all the flowers…hanging on lamp posts, in pots outside businesses, it was so beautiful. Ernest Hemingway was a big influence here in this area that in this big beautiful park there was a statue of him. Came across a Blarney Castle Oil EZ Mart, so it’s time for our Diet Coke’s and yes I’m using my punch card! It was another high five ✋ moment for we earned a free soda!

Off to Petoskey State Park where we walked the “beach” of Lake Michigan looking for the famous Petoskey stone! The water was brrr cold so we walked up the lakeshore. Lots of people looking too for these stones that can only be found here. Most had sifters of all shapes and sizes. Hand held ones or some on long sticks. Another High Five ✋ moment…Tim found a small Petoskey stone on the “beach”. Good enough for us for it was cold and windy out so time to celebrate. On the way back into town we stopped at Petoskey Brewery. What an amazing place, this old building from 1898, 4 stories tall (70 ft tall and 26 ft wide)! I tried a Michigan Cherry Hard Seltzer which was amazing & Tim had a Horny Monk then his 2nd beer was a Mind’s Eye IPA. 🍺 We split a pulled chicken pretzel sandwich that was out of this world. I had basil & pesto sauce, Swiss cheese & tomato on it! 🤩 WOW that was an amazing sandwich. Walked out to the Beir Garden….beautiful fragrant flowers everywhere and on the water. Next we continued exploring the town, found Bay Front Park, that we walked through…gardens with big waterfalls, big grassy areas that people were having picnics and just enjoying the beautiful day outdoors. We walked to the marina & saw the big clock tower. The cold & wind then chased us away. We passed a lot of areas for Cross-country skiing, fat tire biking, snowmobiling and ice skating! 🥶 Stopped at Walmart to pick up a few supplies then back to the campground. Did 2 loads of laundry…$2.00/W&D = $8.00. Sat outside for dinner and admired our new plant and enjoyed the fragrance of the surrounding lilac flowers. Our gourmet dinner was grilled turkey & cheese sandwiches and chicken pot pie soup with the last of the rotisserie chicken in it. Brought our chairs up to the club house for the campground had an outdoor concert for the night. We enjoyed “Charlie’s Root Fusion Band”! That wraps up today. We traveled 32 miles today.

Ernest Hemingway…The Nobel Prize winning author was born on July 21, 1899, and died on July 2, 1961. Hemingway spent his first 22 summers of his life in the Petoskey area. He married his first wife in Horton Bay in 1921. Hemingway’s first published fiction included a group of short stories, which featured the character “Nick Adams,” who has adventures in Northern Michigan. Petoskey Mayor John Murphy declared July 21, 2017, the author’s birthday, as “Young Ernest Hemingway Day”. He suffered life threatening injuries in World War I, and he came back to Petoskey to recuperate,”. “It was at that time he identified the opportunities in his talents.” Hemingway became known for works as “The Old Man and the Sea,” “The Sun Also Rises” and “A Farewell to Arms.” Andy Sacksteder, the artist who created the sculpture, said he learned about Hemingway’s young adulthood while doing the project. “My hope is that viewers’ curiosity will draw them to the statue, first of all, and then to learning more about young Ernest and his ties to the beautiful region around Petoskey,” Sacksteder wrote in his artist statement. The statue is based on a photograph of Hemingway taken in January 1920 in Petoskey. He was preparing to depart the town for a job in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Petoskey State Park, 303 acre park, its situated on Little Traverse Bay, is home to 1 mile of beautiful beach along Lake Michigan, two modern campgrounds and trails. The park is a popular destination for those wanting to find Petoskey stones. It is surrounded by heavily vegetated sand dunes that are excellent examples of parabolic dunes. The Old Baldy Trail is a half-mile loop to the top of Old Baldy Dune, popular for its scenic views. A slightly longer hike, the Portage Trail, is a 1-mile, out-and-back trail through a wooded dune area. The park land was originally deeded to Pay-Me-Gwau under an Ottawa Indian treaty in July of 1855. Later, much of the land was the site of the W.W. Rice Company. In 1934, the City of Petoskey purchased the land and named it the Petoskey Bathing Beach. In April of 1968, the beach was sold to the State of Michigan. On May 21, 1969, the state was given the title to the land.

Petoskey Brewing ~ The building known as the “Old Brewery” was first completed in 1898 and was used to brew Petoskey Sparkle beer until 1915. According to a 1973 article in the Petoskey News, the Petoskey Brewing Company was originally owned by Frank and Garrett Fochtman, A. Bremmeyr and John Zaiger, who also acted as the Brewmaster. The building owes its unique stature to the brewing practices of the late 19th century. With a total of four stories, it is over 70 feet tall, yet only 20 feet deep. The breweries of the day relied on gravity (thankfully, they have electric pumps today) to move water, wort and beer through the production process. The fourth-floor cupola likely contained a large water tank serving the brewery’s needs. The fire-brewing (probably wood-fired) took place on the third floor as evidenced by the chimney flues still visible today. Fermentation and packaging likely occurred on the 2nd and 1st floor as the production followed its way down.

The building’s location may also seem a bit of an oddity at first – especially given its isolation in the late 1800’s. Two factors contributed most to its location. First, the artesian wells on the property ensured a pure supply of water for the brewing process (today utilize a pure artesian spring as a source of water). Secondly, ice was harvested from Mud Lake (viewed behind the building) during the winter months and utilized throughout the year to cool the building and the finished beer.

The building is in amazing shape considering it is almost 115 years old. This is primarily due to its construction; the walls are 26 inches thick and made from solid red brick. There is also speculation that the high dunes on the opposite side of M-119 protected the building from the destructive winds of Lake Michigan. The building has remained, for the most part, untouched since its construction. The cedar shakes which now cover a portion of the exterior actually fill in the spaces where large windows once were. Porter Vaughan, who owned the building form some 25 years starting in 1973, performed restorative construction on the roofline that was damaged by years of water penetration. Since closing in 1915, the brewery building has served as retail shops, as warehousing and perhaps even as a goat barn. It wasn’t until 2012, under the new ownership of and complete renovation by Patrick Dowd and Lou Gostinger, that beer once again flowed within the walls of the “Old Brewery”.

Bayfront Park ~ located on the waterfront of Petoskey. This park spans over 25 acres. This former industrial site was reclaimed as a linear park featuring 7800 feet of public shoreline on scenic Little Traverse Bay. The park features various facilities and amenities. It is considered one of the “treasures” of the Petoskey. Waterfront Park Tunnel under U.S. 31 enables pedestrians to walk by way of a central promenade from downtown to the one-hundred-slip marina and waterfront. The man-made waterfall in Bayfront Park was big surprise after hiking down a tower to the water front. The water for the artificial falls comes from a drainage ditch running underneath US-31, falling over the cliff into a creek that eventually winds its way into the bay. The area also has access via a stair-tower to Sunset Park. Basic features include picnic tables, waste containers, nearby restrooms, green-space, and waterfall feature with stream. Petoskey’s famous Clock Tower is located in Bayfront Park just a short walk from the Little Traverse Historical Museum. Over 30 years old, the clock tower was restored in the summer of 2022. It’s an iconic sight!

Charlie’s Root Fusion Band ~ Charlie’s Root Fusion is an Americana/Rockabilly/Blues band from Charlevoix, Michigan. Members are Charlie Witthoeft (harmonica, vocals), Jeremy Biggerstaff (guitar, vocals), Jeffrey Boss (drums, vocals) and Eric Jaqua (bass guitar, vocals). Charlie started the band in the early 90’s and plays all over now!