"Last Photos Of My MI Visit....."

Driving into Traverse City, MI, via Silver Lake Road, allowed me to turn onto the new road leading into The Grand Traverse Commons.  I stopped and took this photo.  The storm out over West/East Bays and Mission Peninsula brought a sharp contrast against the spires of The Commons.

I drove through The Commons and over to the marina on West Bay, taking another photo of the rain over the Bay and Mission Peninsula.

The marina still had a few boats in it, but no activity...... as I guess one would expect on a day in early October.  I decided after taking this photo to drive up Leelaunau Peninsula along M22/ West Bay Shore Drive, which follows, as the name implies, the shore of West Bay.   ;)

I decided to drive all the way up to Northport and see if I could find a house that we'd seen online and thought interesting.  Interested as vacation renters, not to buy.  ;)  Check the link to it....you'll see why.   ;) (http://www.vrbo.com/88488) I was quite lucky and found it almost immediately.....the Village of Northport isn't too large.  :)

I tried stopping at the coffee shop in Northport, but seems this late in the season brings about "unusual" hours for the local shops.  So, disappointed that it was closed, I headed back to Traverse City, stopping when I saw this small bayside park.  When I Googled the 45 Parallel I came up with this:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_parallel_north), and followed it to this: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City,_Michigan), which brought to my attention some information that I hadn't known.

I hadn't realized just how much last Summers drought affected the water table until seeing how far away the water was from the "normal" shore.  So amazed in fact, that I walked out to the waters edge to take some photos.  Granted, the "drop off" to the water isn't very steep, but to see this large expanse of what should be underwater was quite an eye opener!

Here is what it looked like to the North.......

And to the South towards Sutton's Bay.  Hopefully, the rain that we've had since last week has started the trend to bringing back the water table to where it should be.  Here in Wisconsin, we're still 8" behind normal.......

On my way back to Brethren, I stopped at another road side park to take these next 2 photos.  The body of water is the Manistee River, but the Hodenpyl Dam, which is located south of this roadside park, has backed up the river creating what is called Hodenpyl Pond, which is what you see in these photos.

I thought these photos really showcased the beauty of Fall color in Upper, Lower Michigan.  ;)

The following morning, I headed back to Wisconsin.  I had a wonderful visit!