Luge sledding, kayaking, South Manitou Island, and I'm famous!

Luge sledding down Crystal Mountain in the summer!!!

You can see the bottom of the track on the left.

Up we go!

Pick your sled and away you go! We road 3 times (because once was not enough) by the third time we didn't even use the brakes! Cindy lost her hat and I heard some kid on the ski lift yell "Go Grandpa Go"

These Pic's are of historical Fishtown in Leland where we caught the boat to South Manitou Island, it is still a working fish port.

Our boat to and from the Island the Mishe-Mokwa. The trip over was great, smooth seas, on the trip back we were in four and five foot swells. While Cindy and I thought it was fun bobbing around like a cork, the crew were handing out garbage bags to the green faced passengers of which there were many!

The channel light between the two Islands.

The still working light house on the Island built in 1858.

The oldest tree in Michigan is on the island, it's a white cedar, over 700 years old and is in better shape than me :)

PEEK!

We hiked out to a bluff to see the wreck of the Franciso Morazan lost in a storm in November 1960. You can read about it here:
http://www.nps.gov/slbe/historyculture/shipwreckmorazan.htm

We also rented a two-man kayak and went down the Platte River all the way to Lake Michigan.

 

Clouds over Loon Lake, this was a bit of work to get though, we were bucking a head wind but we made it through and back on the river on the other side and finally to Lake Michigan. This is where the famous (well not really) part comes in. A man from the Friends Of Sleeping Bear Dune took my picture after we got out of the kayak and posted it on their website. You can see it here:
http://friendsofsleepingbear.org/2012/06/06/platte-river-point-cell-coverage-improves/

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Our new digs at Sleeping Bear. We are staying at the only National Forest campground in Michigan that has electricity, so we're only slightly roughing it :) It's been a whole bunch of years since we have been here so its like seeing it for the first time...truly beautiful! Here's some pic's we took yesterday.

The covered bridge on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive

Large tree with the roots exposed from the shifting dunes.

500 feet above the beach. One of the two Manitou Islands in the background. We will explore them later in the week!

Sometimes Cindy and I take the scenery in Michigan for granted.
Here's the legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes.
http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/bearlegend.html