back home again

Hello all, we are back from an extended weekend
in Traverse City. Had to wait to post,
no wi-fi at the campground.
There we stayed at Traverse City State Park
For those not familiar with Michigan,
Traverse City is about 3 1/2 hours north of Lansing.





See the green arrows on the map.
We left Saturday after work,
and arrived around 6.
Had reserved us a nice spacious site,
right near the entrance.
The campground was packed!
Not an empty site!



But Traverse City is a popular summer destination.
And this park is called an urban campground,
because it's right in the city.
Only 2 miles from downtown.
And the main road into the city divides
the campground from the beach.
You use a skywalk to get to the beach
because of all the traffic.



One day, we went to Leelanua State Park.
See the orange arrow on the map.
It's at the tip of Leelanau Penninsula.
Didn't camp there because the campground
is a rustic one. That means no electric.
And the other tenters frown if you run your generator.
And I didn't buy a motor home to "ruff it'

But we came up here in search of the ellusive Petoskey Stone!
What is that you say? Michigan was a shallow sea, millions of years ago. A lot warmer than it is now, and had coral reefs.
The Petoskey Stone is remnants of that reef. Click the link for more info.


Here's Craig on the shoreline of beautiful
Lake Michigan .
It's kinda like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Look at all those rocks!
And all the people we saw,
had not found any.
But it was a beautiful day,

and so we searched and searched.
And then, after about an hour,
were we rewarded!
Right on the edge of the water,
I spotted it!
One the size of my palm!
Here's Craig with it.
Usually they are quite small,
Being a soft rock,
they wear down easily.
And they are hard to find,
because until they are polished,
They don't look a lot
different than other rocks.

Here's a closer picture of our find.






Here's me back at our
campsite, sanding it down.
It's a 3 step process.
Coarse sanding to remove rough areas,
fine sanding to smooth the surface,
and then polishing to add a shiny finish!
Isn't it a beauty!
Craig also found a smaller one,
So the day was good!
The one in my hand,
sells at the local stores
for about $30.00!
Click on the pic to see the intricate details!




We also toured some of the small towns in the area,
and the last day, wandered along the beach
at the campground.
Had the best weather, good food, and a safe trip home.
But now back to reality.
Have a 12 hour work day tomorrow.
As they say, you play, you pay!