Sleeping Bear Dunes & Traverse City, MI

It was a beautiful Labor Day weekend. I honestly can't remember when the weather was this clear and calm. There was a frontal system waaay up north over Montana, and Hurricane Gustav was threatening New Orleans and the gulf coast. However, up here in Ohio and Michigan, there was a beautiful high pressure system that was responsible for tons and tons of clear air dropping out of the sky. Originally, my plans for this weekend were to fly up Saturday and spend Sunday and Monday camping and swimming on South Manitou Island (awesome photos of Lake Michigan at this link) with my brother Sam and his wife Kate. However, my wife was struggling with some serious congestion after a week of work in the germy middle school where she works, so to avoid a repeat of painful sinus infections and decompressions that she experienced on our recent trip to Hilton Head Island, we decided to scrub the trip. So, here I am sitting, looking at the NOAA website and all that calm, clear, air all over the Great Lakes, and I was starting to get a little wistful about missing the view of those lakes on that clear, clear day. Well, all was not lost. Beth's congestion cleared up on Saturday, and so we made plans on early Sunday morning to dash up to Traverse City for Sunday evening. South Manitou Island was out of the question, but Sleeping Bear Dunes wasn't! The flight up was fairly quick - only 2-3/4hours from I40 (even with a slight headwind!), and the weather was clear, clear, clear. Literally....not a cloud in the sky for that 330 miles. Beautiful! I finally got to see this wonderful area from the air without a rushed schedule or inclement weather - it was truly the most beautiful area that I have ever visited from the air. I'm usually a little let down when I fly down along the Atlantic - the water is too green and turbid for my liking. This water? Clear and cold with a million shades of blue ranging from deep dark midnight to nearly lumenescent sky blue. Awesome.

The twin lakes of Cadillac, Michigan from 8500ft MSL

Grand Traverse Bay with Mission Peninsula dividing the waters of the East and West Bay

Crystal Lake, Michigan - quite possibly the prettiest lake I have ever seen from the air.

Lake Michigan shoreline, just north of where the Platte River empties into the lake

Looking up the shore of Lake Michigan, with the Empire Dunes, then Sleeping Bear Dunes and the Manitou Islands further past them to the north

Sleeping Bear Dunes with Glen Lake and Little Glen Lake in the background

South Manitou Island from the south and about 4500ft MSL

Sleeping Bear Point in the foreground, with the sweeping shoreline of Glen Arbor Bay and Pyramid Point off in the distance

Wheeling over the natural harbor over South Manitou Island

The lighthouse at the southern tip of South Manitou Island

The remains of the Francisco Morazan, shipwrecked in 1960

The dunes at the southern tip of North Manitou Island

Look at how absolutely CLEAR that water is!

The steep sand dunes of Pyramid Point

Looking north over Lake LeeLanau

Cherry Orchards near Lake Leelanau

Suttons Bay on the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay

Grand Traverse Bay

West shore of the West Bay

Lots of boats in the water on the West Bay

Downtown Traverse City, Michigan

Final for Runway 18 at KTVC - Cherry Capital Airport

Clear, calm Lake Michigan at Glen Haven, MI

My beautiful wife relaxing by Lake Michigan, near Glen Haven

Pebbly beach near Glen Haven, with the dunes of South Manitou in the distance

The mottled sand dunes of Sleeping Bear Point

Waves slowly eroding the sandy shoreline at Sleeping Bear Point

My very best Michael Phelps impression - I'm going for the gold!