Photos in and around Suttons Bay

New this time are 'words by Becky'. She volunteered to help me get more postings by adding the descriptions -- hence the difference in 'style' you will see.

Came across these unique wild flowers along the path to the cherry orchard.

Water lilies, to inspire any nature artists among us.

Now, all is needed is a frog.

Cherries, kissed by the morning dew. Can't you just taste them.

Lavender fields forever. A popular eatery in Northport.

He loves me he loves me not.

Show off!

Summer rain shower freshens everything.

Sail boats galore.

Shades of blue, for me and you.

Northport dockside view.

Here's the church, here's the steeple.

Around Suttons Bay

We were off to 'the city' today (Traverse type) to do a little shopping and have the truck serviced.

Along the way we stopped to pick some raspberries. We picked about a quart and as we were paying for them I noticed this hollyhock. It is a real beauty don't you think?

This is what they look like up close.

Before we went I had to capture the 'fruits' of Becky's labor yesterday. Since we can have all the cherries we want just by picking them she could not resist trying her hand at cherry preserves. This was her first venture into home canning and the results were outstanding!


First you start with a bunch of cherries - note there are two varieties shown. In reality, these are both a variety of 'sweet' cherries and the preserves are made from 'tart' cherries but Becky had these spread out to dry and I couldn't resist a photo.

These are the 'tart' cherries. They are slightly smaller, more perfectly round and, to me, a brighter red. Much easier to tell the difference by taste!!!!

After using the 'pitter' (see photo above) and mashing, adding sugar and pectin and then cooking, you get these.

And up close and personal with a jar of Becky's finest.

We also stopped along the shores of Lake Michigan to capture photos of some of the sailing vessels that ply the waters here.

More 45th Parallel

We moved west along the 45th parallel into wine country. The region is also known for its cherries - it is home to the National Cherry Festival held every year over the 4th of July. We plan to enjoy both!


Here is a branch of the 'dark' sweet cherries. There also have some sweet cherries that are more red. Photos of them later.

Here are some of the'tart' cherry trees on the farm where we are staying - Wild Cherry RV Resort. One of the little benefits of staying here is you can pick all the cherries you want.

We chose to travel about 15 miles to the town of Cedar for our 4th of July parade. The town is a Polish town and has a marvelous meat market. The parade reminded us of our 4th of July in Creede, CO. Great little parade of all locals.

Note the Knights of Columbus leading the parade. A sign of the dominance of Catholics in the town. I guess I never thought of Poles being mostly Catholic and perhaps it is unique to this area.

A couple of shots of the resort and our spot here. The large log building is open at all times and is available for the guests to use. It has a large screen TV, a library of books, fireplace and tables for potlucks, games, etc.

The small building in the foreground is the Resort Office. Definitely the smallest office we have encountered!

This is also the view out our rear window.

This shot was taken 'in the valley' and our rig is one of those on top of the hill.

We made a run over to the west side of our little peninsula (about 15 miles) to the town of Leeland. Their small park caught our eye with this large tree as a feature. Note the border at the bottom of the tree.









This closeup shows the 'tiles' which make up the border. They are available for purchase as a memorial or whatever. Quite a few still available on the back side of the tree.

Leeland sits on the river that is the outlet of Lake Leeland into Lake Michigan. They do not have a lock and the lake is at a higher elevation than Lake Michigan so they have a 'fall' instead. The old Fishtown (see above photo) lies along this waterway. It is currently used by private fishing boats and fishing Charters.







You can see the falls and the old buildings of Fishtown.







A better view of the falls and one of the very beautiful sailboats anchored along the walkway of the town.





This is a new bird for us. Our bird book identifies is as a Limpkin, distinguished by the red on its head. Our book also gives its location as only Florida. Oh well, books can be wrong I guess.