We pulled into Chain O Lakes Campground in Bellaire, Michigan on Saturday June 29th after a pleasant and uneventful drive. The campground was really cute and had a beautiful pool that we were really excited about. The sites were a little small but were easy to get into, had full hookup, and had lots of shade so we were feeling pretty good!
Then, Sunday night, I started to feel sick. I had a scratchy throat that just would not stop. That turned into a runny/stuffy nose and an earache. I thought at the time that it was just a sinus infection but I’m glad we insisted on keeping our distance from other campers because I firmly believe now that I had COVID. I developed a cough a few days in that STILL hasn’t quite gone away almost a month later and it has taken me a really long time to fully bounce back. Not the best start to our stay in Bellaire. I spent most of the first week resting and recuperating at home. If this was COVID, I didn’t get as sick as I had the previous two times and never got a fever or headache.
Once I was feeling a little bit better, we did take a day and visit the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. After having attended several fairs and festivals on our travels, we had some pretty high expectations and were actually a little disappointed at the size of the festival. There were no arts and crafts vendors (it turns out they only have an arts fair one of the days of the festival and we had missed that) and only a few food options. They had one large tent with various cherry products inside and a few vendors with fresh cherries but I had been hoping for lots of cherry flavored items to sample. There were several carnival rides and games but we weren’t really into those. We got a piece of cherry pie and decided to leave to see what else Traverse City had to offer. It had taken us longer to park and walk to the festival than it did to see everything there was to see there!
We opted to head to The Village at Grand Traverse Commons for a bite to eat and a little shopping. This building used to be a mental hospital but was closed down many years ago. It was eventually renovated and turned into a series of office spaces, doctors offices, restaurants and shops. We had lunch at Red Spire Brunch House located in the basement and decided to try to make time to come back for an official tour one day in the future.
I was feeling much better but we still wanted to take things slow so we made a day trip to the town of Gaylord to do a little shopping (they are the closest Walmart to us and we needed some groceries). Gaylord is an adorable little Alpine themed town that has everything from the big stores (Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot) to a cute little downtown with small souvenir shops and book stores. They also (for some reason that I have not been able to ascertain) have a herd of elk that is managed by their city and housed near the Elk’s Lodge in town. We drove over and got to see several of their animals through the fence. They were REALLY into some of the long grass that was growing along the fence so we picked a few pieces that were outside of their reach and fed them through the fence and they absolutely loved it. Such a weird, random experience!
If anyone follows our social media, you know that we did end up buying some property here near our current campsite (more on that in a later post). You may not know, however, that we had been looking at various properties and keeping our eyes on real estate listings for a few months. During this time, John had his eye on a dilapidated church in Cheboygan so we took a day to drive over and check it out in person. We were REALLY interested in it (and it was priced right at $40k) but, after seeing the building in person and realizing the insane amount of work that would need to be done, we decided to pass. It was a beautiful building that had many of the stained glass windows still intact and a lot of its original woodwork and fixtures inside in addition to a belltower. There was significant water damage, though, from several leaks and the sanctuary was full of animal droppings and mold. John has always wanted to live in a church or school or other neat building but this one just wasn’t going to work for us. We could have easily afforded the building itself but it would have needed at least $100k in repairs to even make a portion of it livable and there was NO yard and nowhere to park the tiny house. We were really disappointed but ultimately had to pass.
After spending some time in the musty, moldy church we decided we needed some fresh air so we visited Harbor View Lavender Farm for some lavender and cherry picking. The farm is located on a peninsula north of Traverse City and had beautiful rolling fields with Grand Traverse Bay off in the distance. The air smelled faintly of lavender all throughout the property and there were fat little bees calmly buzzing about. We had a wonderful time walking among the plants and trees and brought home a bunch of lavender and a pint of cherries.
We also took some time to visit some beaches! After leaving the lavender farm, we drove on up the peninsula to the Old Mission Point Lighthouse and walked down to the beach there. The water was warm and blue and there was a sandbar that led WAY out into the water but only got about as deep as our thighs. Growing up in Ohio, I never had any idea that such gorgeous beaches were only a state away!
We also took time during these first few weeks to visit beaches at Barnes Park, Petoskey, Grand Traverse Lighthouse, Christmas Cove (all on Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse or Little Traverse Bays). These beaches were all wonderful for rock hunting and for cooling off on the hot afternoons. The Grand Traverse Lighthouse even had a little museum with artifacts from various shipwrecks and a little remote control diving machine in a tank that visitors could try to operate. We have now taken to carrying out swimsuits and a beach bag in the car because spontaneous beach visits just seem to happen to us!
We took time to visit the Willow Day Use Area on Lake Bellaire with Harley, too. A lot of the beaches are not dog friendly but this one is and it is hardly ever busy. We took Harley on a little car ride then stopped at the park to let her run around in the grass and check out the water. She isn’t really a water lover but I keep taking her in hopes that one day she will decide to jump in! I know it will probably never happen but a girl can dream, right?
