Day 13 - Boyne Highlands to the tunnel of trees and back to Petoskey

Well, our pampering is over. We woke up to warm sheets and a fantastic breakfast buffet! We left the resort feeling great after resting for a day. The weather today was perfect for a ride into Harbor Springs where we got some delicious cookies from Tom's Mom's Cookie shop. From there we headed around the bay, through some beautiful residential neighborhoods, and onto the tunnel of trees. The road was breathtaking! With a sharp ledge and bay view to the left, and perfectly preserved home gardens to the right, we had a blast rolling up and down the gentle hills and chugging slowly back up them on the way back. We noticed that many of these homes were for sale, which gave us many long conversations of how we should move to the area. We can dream big right!?!? Anyway, here are some pictures from the day.

Thanks!
R+L

P.S.- We are being picked up in Burt Lake State Park in Indian River tomorrow evening. Should be home soon!!!

 Pretty little traverse bay from the Harbor Springs shoreline before hitting the trail. 

After traveling through a beautiful neighborhood, we found our way to the Hwy-119 Tunnel of trees. It was gorgeous!!!

I had to stop and take a picture of this gentle giant. She sat patiently while I tried to get her to come to me. 

 Our bay view of Hwy-119 

On our way back to Petoskey State Park. 

Our descent back into Petoskey! It looks much slower than it felt. We love hills like this! 

Finally, beer! After setting up our tent in the state park we set out to the brew pub. 

Beer sampler!

Lydia loves her Cider! 

Day 12 - Petoskey to Boyne Highlands Resort....11miles!

We completed a whopping 11 miles from Kevin's home in Petoskey to Boyne mountain. We were again pampered by plush beds and great food! We plan to go see the tunnel of trees on Wednesday! Here are a few pictures from our day.

Riding to downtown Petoskey in the morning

quick photo of the view of the bay from downtown after having breakfast 

Riding through a nature reserve off the little traverse wheelway

Riding along the little traverse wheelway from petoskey to Boyne

Though we did not stay at Petoskey State Park the previous night, I had to snap a picture of the sign as we sped by. 

Our new digs! Big thanks to one of Mickey's long time friends for getting us a room at the Boyne Highlands resort! The stay was great and the food even better! 

I liked their plant arrangement in the front walk way! 

Noshing hard on a venison burger before watching horrible old movies in our room! I enjoyed the black bean burger and chilli! 

Day 11 - Bellaire to Petoskey

                                      

Well, our relaxing off the saddle vacation has come to an end. Just a few more days of riding until we reached our goal destination of Mackinaw! We had a great weekend with Ryan's parents, Mickey and Steve, but it was time to hit the trail. We discovered that the more we lounged around, the more we stressed about work related issues. All those worries seemed to melt away once we got back on the saddle! On our way from Bellaire to Petoskey, we stopped to watch the sail boats in Charlevoix and visit the fisheries research station in downtown. When we arrived in Petoskey, we were THIRSTY! So, Ryan did a quick search of the area and found Beard's Brew co in downtown Petoskey. Boy, did we have a wonderful time. After a few delicious pints, we got to chatting with the man behind the bar about living and working in northern Michigan. He talked about the business him and his wife own and operate, delivering locally raised foods to people in the Petoskey area (check  it out: localeatsdelivery.com for some great info on local food!). Of course, Ryan got to talking to him about the state of the craft brewery industry in Michigan and learned that there is a lack of Michigan grown organic hops and about incentives that the state and MSU are providing for people looking to begin producing and processing the bitter bud! We were both very inspired by the idea and have been doing some research on hop production and the industry in general in Michgian. Lastly, we had the great privilege of staying with one of Ryan's past colleagues, Kevin, because the temperature dipped a little to cold at night. Kevin was kind enough to welcome us into his home AND gave us some delicious eats the morning after. Thanks Kevin! 

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our de-stressing ride and the beautiful towns we stopped at on the way. 

Peace through pedals!

-R+L

Moments before leaving the comforts of Mickey, Steve, and the summit house in Shanty Creek Resorts, Bellaire. 

The first part of our journey was a little dull. Lots of open road and shoulder though! 

Made it to Charlevoix. Such a beautiful town! 

Downtown was gorgeous! I bet it would be so much fun to attend a concert here in this pavilion. We stopped to take a break near Round Lake and saw a huge sail boat head out of the bay towards Lake Chalevoux. 

We stopped by one of the DNR's field stations. It is located near the canal connecting Lake Michigan Round Lake. Ryan lived and worked there for a few weeks during his grad schoolin'. What a view!

 After leaving Charlevoux, we hit the Little Traverse Wheel Way trail. This is a picture of a beautiful board walk we road on. 

Finally! Beer! We went to Beard's Brewery in Petoskie. Not only do they have a fantastic logo, their beer is great too! They use local hops for brewing and serve samplers on a beard shaped tray! 

We thought we were being sneaky by putting our bikes in the walk way of the brewery, but the tap tender laughed and said it was alright. 

Here is a look at what the whole brew pub looks like. Nice, cozy, and allot of fun! We had a great time sharing stories and drinking great beer with Dan and Kevin. Dave, the bar tender at the brewery, was a wealth of knowledge regarding beer, local businesses, and the locavorian movement. He and his wife run a business that delivers local food right to your door! If you live in the Petoskey area, you need to check them out. More information can be found at localeatsdelivery.com!!!

Days 7-10: Traverse City rest day, then travel to Bellaire and off-the-saddle vacation

We apologize for not keeping to our normal posting schedule. We have been taking it super easy in Bellaire enjoying the luxuries of home living at Ryan's Parent's home. So, what have we been up to? Well spent two nights and a full day in Traverse City, relaxing and healing our sore legs! Spent most of our time there cycling easy around town, using the Traverse Area Recreational Trail (T.A.R.T) to stay off the roads and view the town at a slow pace. On Wednesday, we had lunch at Northpeak Brewing company and spent the rest of the day resting by the Boardman River with cappuccino and craft beer sampling interspersed. We weathered a pretty intense thunderstorm on Wednesday night while camping in the Traverse City State Park. Some of the thunder claps were loud enough to actually shake the ground but the real threat that night was the rain. In our rush to set up a tent in the dark the night prior, we had mistakenly made camp on a slight incline. This meant that, during the Rain storm on Wednesday night, our tent was right in the path of the flow of rain water through the park. The water gathered and moved swiftly through our campsite, keeping us up all night with the concern that the water might overflow into our tent. However, we learned that the bottom of our tent was waterproof. Free waterbed!!! Still, the constant sound of the rain on our tent made sleep pretty difficult. We woke up late the Thursday morning and set about slowly packing our bikes (and finishing a whole bottle of mead!) in preparation for our ride to Bellaire. The route we chose took us east along the T.A.R.T trail and then into agricultural land surrounding the city. Unfortunately, we had to ride eight miles on M-72 which was did not have much of a shoulder and had some pretty fast moving traffic. We were very relieved when we were able to leave M-72 and head north and east past Lake Skegemog and along Torch Lake. After 36 miles or so, we finally arrived in Bellaire. Below are a few photos from the last several days, hope you enjoy it!

Peace through pedals!

-R+L

Viewing salmon in the Boardman river

Sampling some tasty beverages at Mackinac Brewing Company

He says "Hey, wanna see my cool tricks?"...I looked over to this! 

A spot by The Boardman river where we relaxed for a bit

The State theater in Traverse City

Beautiful trail leaving Traverse City

Stopped for a freshly pick Honey Crisp apple and donuts!

Made it to Torch lake! Took a quick break in Alden.

Had to stop at the Alden Mill House on our way to Bellaire. We packed their delicious Miracle Blend and Malabar Island Black Pepper on our trip, courtesy of Ryan's Nonno, Tino! A very unique shop.

 
The steed taking a break in the Alden Mill House garden


Arrived at the Summit House! Ryan's parents's home in Bellaire.

Had artichoke dip, pizza, and a few pints at Short's Brewing Company in downtown Bellaire on Friday evening.

Lydia enjoying a glass of Soft Parade

We found a brown bat on the back deck on Saturday afternoon. This little guy was probably knocked out of its roost on the house or perhaps a nearby tree by the storm Friday night or perhaps by a pesky blue jay. Lydia has a few years of experience handling small mammals and carefully inspected the bat for wounds (and cooed over it for a bit) then placed it on a shady branch. Hopefully it makes it! 

Day 6 - Frankfort - Glen Arbor - Traverse City or... Sand Sand Thank You, Ma'am!

Another big day on the bikes! Woke up in the beautiful Betsie River Campsite and had a fantastic, locally grown breakfast made in the welcome center building. This campground was beautiful and with close river access and fish cleaning station, it is perfect for anglers! Your next fishing trip needs to be to Frankfort MI and Bestie River Campsite.  After leaving Frankfort, we rode M-22 around Crystal lake and through to Glen Arbor. The entire way, we had a wonderful 4-6ft shoulder of smooth clean road to guide us through the gently rolling hills up to sleeping bear dunes. Our next stop was the Sleepy Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Glen Arbor. The bike trail that ran parallel to the dunes was breathtaking! It began at the famous dune climb and went about 4 or 5 miles through dune grass, deciduous/coniferous forest, and finally to Lake Michigan shoreline. Afterwards, we decided to head east towards traverse city. Our route was mostly on CO-616. While, the hills were not steep, they were long! For the cycling buffs following this page, one of the climbs was a category 4 and lasted for over 5 miles! By the end of our 70 mile journey, we were very happy to reach Traverse City. Here are a few pictures from the day and as always, there are more on Ryan's Google+ album (in the "Photos" link at the top of the page)! If you are interested in our ride report and route, click on one of the ride reports on the right of the page. Enjoy! 

Local eggs, veggies, and cooking! Betsie River Campsite knows how to spoil their campers! 

Their shop was great too! Tons of local products. 

Crystal Lake beach! 

On a roll!

Sleepy Bear Dunes Lakeshore trail. 

Ryan saw some Salmon in the river. Nearly took me out to take a look!

First look at Traverse City. So many sail boats! 

We made a new friend! He was traveling by longboard and used a rubber tipped paddle to push around. 

Finally! Drinks at Seven Monks Taproom. Their hard cider, nutbrown ale, and nachos were to die for! 

Our campground! YAY! We will be staying here 2 nights so we can take a day to see the city. Our camping neighbors are great and have shared their fireplace with us. We look forward to hanging out with them tonight! In the mean time, we are going to enjoy our day checking out the local breweries and bicycle routes in town. Easy day ahead!

Sneak peak: