Sunday Drive............

Mother's Day was nice and sunny not that warm but perfect for a drive. We wanted to go to the drive up dunes but began in the usual fashion by heading to Sutton's Bay. From Sutton's Bay to Lake Leelanau to the Peddling Beans for coffee. They had some great baked goods this day. I also took my camera in this time because they get some pretty birds at their feeders. The baked goods are fresh and delish.


Fortified with coffee and baked goods we headed to Port Oneida.
Passing the Lake where we always stop we caught some Red Winged Blackbirds courting.and these four turtles sunning on a log. A lady had been watching them and said there had been eight of them but four jumped off.





We had to stop there on the way to the drive up..... Then we carried on to check on the Beavers progress and hope someday to see them working. Laura and I did once. The usual characters were there. The Canada Geese, two pair and two pair of SandHill Cranes. We believe the geese are nesting as she was in the same spot as last week.


We didn't stay long and headed to Piers Stocking scenic drive. That is a lovely drive that goes right up the dunes. It goes through woodlands and picnic spots to overlooks and scenic views. Here is a selection.






It's prettier when the sky is blue and not so overcast but was just nice to get up there again. You can see a long way from the top of the Dunes. There is a great trail that goes down into the dunes and some nice climbs to catch the views. It's fun to look down on the town of Empire hidden in the trees and North Bar Lake.



There were not a lot of wildflowers out yet but I found some Dutch Mans Britches, just a couple of Trillium (soon the woods will be carpeted) a Lung Wart and some Periwinkle






We will go back up there several times during the summer as it's always changing. We didn't go to the look out because it was windy. We didn't want to get sand blasted.
From there we went through Empire and took a few pictures there.





I didn't want to head home yet so we took a back road to Esch Rd Beach.



I wanted to look to see if there were any fish in the river and there were. Later these will be very large fish.



We saw these guys on our way home.





I take so many pictures that I can only share a small amount. The woods were quiet and we didn't see any deer this day,but that's OK we still got a few critters and that's my goal. I always hope for the unusual and dream of seeing a Bear or Fox or Bobcat or coyote. I am happy for anything and just enjoy the wonder of nature and this beautiful area. Thing is it's changing. It's hard to find places that the tourists have not yet found. Ah well.........
Look at this close up of the Turkey's tail feathers.

They are very large strange looking critters but have their own form of beauty as all things do.