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I have completely rethought my initial impression of this northern LP territory. Here’s the thing - I came expecting to see another Door County, Wisconsin. Door County is very much like the amazing Holland in that everyone, and I mean everyone, is a talented horticulturalist and landscaper. Every old building, barn, out-building, and shed is meticulously restored and adorned with flowers and tastefully cropped shrubs. Door County is sublime.
This whole vast northern LP area is different, and it was silly of me to come here looking for another Door County. It is glorious in its own, more subtle, wilder way. The lakeshore dunes aren’t the majestic take-your-breath-away hoodoos of Utah, but they have a dreamy delicate beauty all of their own. The rolling forested hills promote a pleasant calm. The abundant lakes are blue and jade jewels. The tiny towns and villages have a near-perfect laidback quaintness. Even the wealthy small cities like Traverse City, Petoskey, and Charlevoix present themselves in a solid clean midwestern manner.
If you use Central Lake as your midpoint and drew an arc 80 miles out from Wilderness State Park in the north along the western Lake Michigan shoreline down to Sleepy Bear Dunes National Shoreline you would encompass the vast territory that has now captured my heart. Yes, I like the northern LP. I like it a lot.
I have only one complaint. Northern Michigan has a lot of badly maintained roads. Patches are patched on top of patches. When you find a smooth section, enjoy it. It won’t last long. But, on the bright side, the potholes do force you to slow down and soak in this blissful environment.
With all that said, on to this day’s exciting adventures.
We paid for yesterday's splendid weather with an all-day soaker today. We verified that we brought our umbrellas and drove off to just roam. Today, our target was the largest peninsula north of Traverse City. It contains the QTs of Suttons Bay, Northport, Leland, and Glen Arbor. And, of course, there is the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula. Technically, we had already visited Suttons Bay on Wednesday when we toured Traverse City, but I forgot to add it to my journal. I will rectify that in today’s journal.
Highway 22 hugs Lake Michigan up and down the tall peninsula. There was little need to veer off on side roads to enjoy the coast. We blew through Suttons Bay as we had already been there. Rain was only threatening by the time we reached Northport. We stopped to stretch our legs.
A vast open green space surrounded the harbor and marina providing a nice picnic park. Curiously, there was one half-acre carved out of this public space where a private resident seemingly must have refused to sell out to the town. Good thing too. He must have been a railroad nut as his house, yard, and outbuildings had a fantastic railroad motif. His guesthouse was an actual caboose re-sided in a natural Northwoods style. Of course, I loved it all.
The Mitten Brewing Company was the center of attraction in Northport. It was more than a craft brewery. It was everything that Central Lake’s Mammoth Distillery coulda - shoulda been. Along with the usual zillion craft beers with clever names like Triple Crown Brown and Docks No-No, it served nice-looking food including wood-fired pizza. Drinking and dining seating started indoors and spilled out to the large patio outside where you could watch your pizza sizzling in the outdoor wood oven. Not surprisingly, the place was packed even on this crappy day, unlike the empty Mammoth Distillery.
Oh yeah, I am a little slow, so it took me a while to figure out why this microbrewery gave itself such a non-clever name to match its clever beer names. It turns out that it was kind of clever. The entire LP is shaped like a Mitten. Other businesses capitalize on this shape like Mitten Realty and Mitten Antiques.
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