Sand Hill Cranes..............

I saw on the news last night that the Sand Hill Cranes were back and there was a picture of a pair on Glen Lake.
Today we had Tristen, it's Spring Break. Well he and Cooper wanted to go to the childrens museum. Cooper as it happened stayed at Deidre's last night so he wasn't here. I didn't think Tristen would want to go but he did.He was sort of lost. He has outgrown it. The kids were all or at least mainly small children. I had a feeling he would be past it but he needed to know himself. He was a bit disappointed, said "It's changed" I said "No, you have grown up since the last time we were here". Well, I didn't have the heart to just go home so we filled up with gas and went in search of the Cranes.



Another sort of dull day, the sun didn't come out till later on. We had decided to eat lunch at the Tavern in Empire but was too early yet so went in search of the Cranes.
We stopped at Inspiration point, the view out over the Narrows and Big and Little Glen Lake.

It was really windy so we didn't linger. The old leaves from last year were blowing over the road as though it were still Autumn. We went through Glen Arbor to Glen Lake to search out the SandHill's. They were there.


They are so elegant and majestic.

I bet they will nest close by. They tend to find a spot and hang out there. I know the ones at Port Oneida are usually in the same fields every time.

When we were done looking it was time for lunch. We headed to the Tavern in Empire. Now, I have my favourite places to eat. Back a few years ago and this was my go to place for Mushroom, Swiss burgers. The best around. The last couple of times though I must say the prices are now exorbitant. The burger was 12.50 and fries were 4.50 extra. That is way too much for a burger. Not that good either and the service was very very slow even though they were not busy. I think they put the prices up for tourists. Well that's the last time I will stop there because although I don't mind paying for a good meal, combine that with lack of service and no thank you.

Tristen got Mac and Cheese and ate the whole thing so there was that. Usually a job to get him to eat. Well we kept busy so I guess it wasn't a wasted day, and I got to see the Cranes.

Spring is in the air....................

Saturday was a lovely day with blue, blue sky. Too nice to stay inside.

Tristen came for the day and we had promised a day out, so off we went. I think they enjoy going out with us (Cooper came too) because first off we stopped at Enerdyne in Suttons Bay, science and nature.
Tristen loves that shop. Cooper is beginning to. The lady said they burst through the door all full of energy and she just loved that. They got away from us haha. Phew!!! It's a great place to explore and they each got a trophy.

We found when we got back to the van that in their excitement they forgot to close the door. Sheesh.......
so next on the agenda was to stop at the cafe in Lake Leelanau where they got a hot chocolate with cream on top with drizzled chocolate. I bought them one of the huge peanut butter cookies to split. They are the size of 4 cookies. Tristen said to Cooper "Grandma's are just the best".


We all enjoyed our drinks on the way to Sleeping Bear lakeshore and our first destination. We stopped at Port Oneida in order to go down on the beach. We get some exercise walking back up those steps at least. It was cold and windy so they didn't want to stay there long but went up into the trees and sought out adventure there. We had shown them the progress the Beavers had made and Tristen took a picture of their lodge.





The water was very blue this day. The ice gradually melting



We saw deer in one of the back fields but had seen so many when Gerry and I went earlier on in the week that I didn't disturb them. On our way out we saw several in the open fields on both sides of the road.

Look at the ice balls.

Frozen snow balls created by the water


We carried on towards Glen Arbor, it's so nice to see these places free from tourists. They will soon be back.
Next stop was Glen Haven. The boys enjoyed that beach more, not so windy.





After they expended some energy there we headed for the dunes.

I was worried about the wall of ice. Gerry doesn't think about the "what if's" like I do. I was worried the wall of ice would fall like an avalanche, kids have been killed on the dunes when things happen unexpectedly. All was well though and they climbed almost to the top before sliding down.


Next we headed to Empire and they played on the playground while I got pictures of the beach. I met this lovely chap and got a kiss.




The ice is really melting fast and I enjoyed watching the swath of broken ice balls bobbing in the waves under them. A few years ago we had ice caves when Lake Michigan really froze. There were a couple of ice bergs out there haha.

All of that is water under the ice. The loose pieces were churning in the waves

We didn't see any deer today in town. The last couple of times we went into Empire there were deer out in plain view. This is Bar Lake right there in Empire. North Bar is a great place to take kids to swim. Back in the day, no one knew about it and now, well you really can't go there and be alone. As I keep saying, I like empty beaches.

Tristen had to be home by 6.30 and so we had to leave. We stopped at the Hayloft for supper.
COOPER

TRISTEN



Poor Cooper was tired out with all the walking, playing, climbing and excitement. He loves being with Tristen. Tristen is coming on Wednesday they are on Spring Break, we said we would take them to the children's museum. Cooper went to bed early and crashed he was so tired.

Misty day in the County.............

Leelanau county that is............we had decided to go for a walk today. It wasn't that cold but unfortunately it was wet and nasty. It was not at all pretty but hey ho off we go. We went the usual route expecting to end up at the Hayloft for supper. It's our wedding anniversary today, March 21st. Instead we came home and went back out to Ricco's.
The Bay is frozen but only just, the ice is very thin. Still frozen right up to Suttons Bay.

We stopped at the coffee shop in Lake Leelanau on our way, skipped going to Leland because it was so drab and didn't seem worth it. So we headed towards Port Oneida. Well, the Beaver has been very very busy. I am wondering how they will handle that this summer. The trees are all chewed and down and the lodge has doubled in size.



The Beaver will have this land flooded up to the road before long. One road is already closed but this is on the main road going to the camp.
We went down the road to the beach steps. They were clear this time so we went down. We had stopped at a couple of other places looking for ice formations, nothing worth talking about. This beach was better. Not like in summer with its Aqua waters, dunes and sand. The ice was breaking up here too.


Not much to see with the mists. Still I took some pictures of the ice breaking up.




As we went down towards Innisfree we could see the deer up in the mists.


It was that kind of day, they felt safe in the mists. The fields here were bare of snow so they could eat freely.
They seemed quite healthy, not skin and bone at least. While on one of the beaches I saw this footprint, along with some dog tracks but this is not a dog.......what is it?

We headed off towards Glen Arbor but skipped the Glen Haven beaches. On to Empire passing the Dunes

Here we took a quick look but the beach was not interesting today. Just the mounds of ice and fog but in the village these ladies were eating at the kiddies playground.



We saw curious deer in quite a few fields, all as far from the road as they could get. We could have walked in but they need to eat and get fat again.

A few more pictures from today.

It was only pushing 3pm so too early to eat. We did walk a bit on the beach, well I did, but not far and hard going. So we didn't get the exercise we anticipated but going up those steps did a number on me. I asked Gabby to join us and we went out to Ricco's in Grawn to eat. They have a great menu and reasonable prices with good service. We beat the crowds to, that was a bonus.