Walloon Lake and Petoskey

Michigan – Saturday, November 16

Taryn and I headed out for a short walk to the bakery right by Walloon Lake and had enormous cinnamon rolls for breakfast (deer season opened yesterday and Jared was out hunting with some of his family, although he got his deer by 7:15am yesterday morning), then we took Tula on a river walk near the little town of Walloon Lake. We passed a sign that explained Ernest Hemingway’s family had a summer cottage in Walloon Lake so he spent a lot of time in the area, and the people he met often influenced his writing. Taryn and I walked all over the place near Walloon Lake and up into the hilly neighborhoods – we covered almost 4 miles before walking back to her cabin. Then we went over to some woods and fields that are part of a big nature conservancy program and walked another couple of miles with Tula on the paths through the woods. From there we headed into the picturesque town of Petoskey and walked another 3+ miles all through town and out into more historic neighborhoods. Petoskey was being decorated in its Christmas finery and it was a pretty town to walk through – there were lots of people out and about doing some shopping. By then we had worked up an appetite so we went back to Walloon Lake to a water-front restaurant that had just opened during the summer – they even have docks right outside so people can park their boats there. In the summer the glass walls open up to the lake and fresh air, but they were closed today of course. The waterfront views were still pretty – and who knew brussels sprout/bacon/cheese appetizers could be so good?!?

I won’t be making a donation this weekend since 5 of my Michigan donations are done, and the last 2 will be in my hometown of Chelsea on Monday, which will be the final day of the journey. I’m trying not to think about that!

Taryn and I still wanted to do a little more walking today, so we drove back to Boyne City to walk a couple more miles in that town by daylight. That gave us a total of 10 1/2 miles of walking for today, and with that accomplished we went to see the movie Gravity and enjoyed some good popcorn to cap off the day.