Sleeping Bear Dunes

We started by driving to the Visitor Center at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  They have some nice displays and an introductory video.  We drove around the 7.5 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.  It was mostly through dense forest, with overlooks at places where you could see Lake Michigan or one of the smaller lakes.  The dunes are huge, and have steep drop-offs to the lake below.  The lake water is gorgeous in shades of blue and turquoise.  It looks pretty shallow near the shore, but we didn't get near the water!

We stopped at the Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum.  There was a volunteer at the boathouse, who gave a wonderful explanation of how the rescue boats worked, and how they used the breeches buoy.  The station house had displays of how the surfmen and keeper performed their duties.

Our last stop in this area was to make the hike up to Pyramid Point.  It’s a fairly steep climb to another dune high over the lake.  The dogs went with us on this one!

On our way back to the campground we stopped at the Crystal Lakes Alpaca Farm.  They have 43 alpaca and a gift shop where they sell items made from alpaca wool, which is amazingly soft.

After a stop-off at the motorhome, we drove through the small towns near our camper: Beulah, Elberta, and Frankfort.

View of Glen Lake

This is what most of the drive looked like.

First dune overlook

Hard to tell, but the lake is WAY down there!

See how tiny the people look down there?
Wonder if they made the long climb back up?

One of the life boats.
They didn't go out in the boats unless the wreck
was too far out for them to shoot the line to.

Breeches buoy

Main building at the station:
the office and where the keeper lived.

Hike up to Pyramid Point

Looking straight down.
Look at the color of that water!

They know how to grow poison ivy here!

Alpaca....I looked up the ones for sale:  $12-$15K!!

Beach at Beulah