SLEEPING BEAR DUNES AND THE UPPER END OF THE LEELANAU PENISULA Part 1

 We were 3 miles from the National Parks Visitors Center for the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, so we left to go check it out.

This is a small Visitors Center as National Parks go, but they had the info we needed and a couple of items from the gift shop to purchase. A quick visit and we were on our way to the Sleeping bear Dunes.

The drive took us along the drive down (or up) the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. The area and road had beautiful trees overhanding the one way roadway. It was very serene and a lovely drive for the morning.

 

                                                              There was a covered bridge.

Lovely wildflowers.

                        Another stop was was a view overlooking Glen Lake which still had a layer of fog.

                                                      

The next stop was the Dune Overlook. We had some walking up to do from the backside of the dune to see Lake Michigan. The dune sand was deep and soft, although not difficult, but it was definitely uphill all the way.

We decided not to go up all the way to the top of the overlook. Now I wish we had.

This warning sign says it all. We were so high up at this drop off that we couldn't actually see the edge of the lake due to the way it drops off straight down. 

 Here's video of what you don't see on my pictures.(76) Sleeping Bear Dunes climb. 2 min down, 30 min up. $3,000 if you don’t make it. - YouTube

                                        The beauty of this bright blue lake in over whelming

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 This whole area is so gorgeous and I don't have enough picture to do it justice. This video shows a little bit more about it.(76) Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Empire, Michigan - Things to Do and See When You Visit - YouTube 

This photo was taken at Lake Michigan Overlook which gives a beautiful view of the lake.             The next stop was the Dune Climb, which we of course did not do.

After our visit to Sleeping Bear we drove to Glen Haven, a historic village with old buildings, boathouses and a path to the beach. I took a walk over to the beach and some jokester had put a nude Barbie sun bathing in the sand on the beach. The water was crystal clear and clean and bright blue.

I'll finish up this day in the next post.