Adventures around Traverse City
This is going to be a familiar site along Grandview in the coming months:
For now, they are tearing up part of the median between Division and M-72. I believe they are going to have a turn lane onto Elmwood, but I could be wrong. I don’t know that this will help with anything, but some MDOT employee in a cube in Lansing decided this is what we needed three hours away, so this is what we get.
Ferns are one of those things I think of when I think of “Up North”. Sandy trails running through pine forests that end at fields of wildflowers and ferns – that is an ideal trail. My quiet morning walk at South Long Lake Nature Area was a wonderful way to start the weekend. The paths were empty and the day was cool and the late summer flora was a rich green. All too soon this will be covered with white, so I am enjoying this beautiful mornings before they hide for another year.
Cherry Festival 2023 is a wrap. We made a decent showing this year. I know many locals (and I must consider myself one now that I live here) avoid the crowds, but I find the Cherry Festival a great event every year.
My highlights:
Watching the air show from Greilickville Park.
On the Fourth of July, we listened to Skillet and Theory of a Dead Man from a boat floating on the bay outside of Open Space. An adult beverage or two was consumed.
That was followed by fireworks over the bay:
Wednesday was Candlebox and 3 Doors Down. Andrea and I saw 3 Doors Down at Common Ground in Lansing many years before, before the new city market existed. It rained a bit, but that didn’t stop anything.
Thursday was a low-key day – I rode my bike down from the hills into the festival to the food vendors, paid $10 for an Italian sausage, and listened to some music.
Saturday we watched Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy.
My one regret is that I didn’t have an Elephant Ear. I need more fried dough in my life. I will not make that mistake again.
Sunday was National Ride to Suttons Bay. I’m 99.9% sure I made that up, but there is that chance that there is actually such a thing. I actually didn’t stop in Suttons Bay as I usually do but kept on going north a few miles north of town. The Leelanau Trail continues for about 1.5 miles past town and makes an undramatic end at Dumas Road. I kept on heading north on M-22 and decided to stop after getting halfway to the North Pole.
Sunday was also the day of the Cherry Festival air show. The best views were from bay, but we could see the Thunderbirds doing their routine from our house.
Down at the bay, the barge is ready for the 4th of July fireworks show.
Those are a few of my favorite things, and I was able to do both on Tuesday. Despite a smokey evening because of the Canadian wildfires, it was time to get outside.
I visited the Lost Lake Pathway for the second time this year. From my house on the Leelanau Peninsula, there isn’t a straight and easy way to get there, having to come around Long Lake and passing through a neighborhood, but it’s worth it, especially this time of year. With the summer crowds having arrived in Traverse City, I spend more of my time heading north and west onto the peninsula than east into town or to the east bay.
Lost Lake has a very “Up North” feel. The trail is sandy and winds through a pine forest with plenty of ferns for ground cover. And it also felt like Up North because of the mosquitoes. They have been a mostly unfelt presence this year because of the lack of rain, but recent storms have apparently refilled the mosquito ponds, so they were out in force and looking for blood. Literally. So if you plan on spending time in the north woods, I recommend a head netting to keep the bugs away from your face.
After the exercise portion of my night, it was time to replenish those burnt calories, so it was to Rico’s I went. This was my first time there and I was pleased with everything. The beef nachos were good and a nice amount of food. You can see my giant beer in the background, in this case a Summer Fling by Ludington Bay Brewing Co. I hadn’t tried this one before and it’s one I would have again. The people were nice and there were zero of the gaudy colorful flags you too often see around TC, especially in June, just a nice place for a meal.
My evening ended with a beer at Fresh Coast Beer Works to visit my mug – I have not spent enough time with it recently – and a walk along the way to see the waning summer light over Leelanau. Not a bad day.
We’ve had a couple of bridges under construction for a while (North Cass, South Union), but now, the fun is getting super fun. Starting Monday, Division between Grandview Parkway and 10 Street will be repaved. If you’ve driven down that stretch of Division / US-31, you know it’s in rough shape. Hopefully it will not take too long to complete, but I’ll be taking the back way home for a few weeks.
The trails at Hickory Meadows are getting some TLC:
Thee were spreading some gravel on the muddier sections of the trail near the eastern part of the park. That should mean less slipping and slider in these, the wetter, muddier months of the year.
Remember, though – it is still frowned upon if you walk at Hickory Meadows without a dog.
Traverse City is not short on breweries, but there is always room for one more, and we have a great addition, Loco Boys on West Front Street. I like the location, away from the crowded area of East Front Street. As an added bonus to me (and this is my blog), it’s the closest brewery to my house! We were given a very friendly greeting by a gentleman with excellent taste in clothing (he was wearing an MSU Spartans shirt) and given our choice of tables. We chose one near the back with views of the brewing equipment.
However, I found this view much better:
We started with the garlic tostaditas which looked like deep-fried crackers. They were crispy with a hot green dipping sauce, and were tasty. Our main courses were tacos. Andrea went with the cochinta pibil and I decided on the barbacoa. You can’t go wrong with either one, but we both that the barbacoa was the way to go. So much flavor. And just these three tacos and the appetizer was enough to fill me up.
Of course, this being a brewery, we had beer. My first, a pineapple IPA, was decent, though a touch too tart for me. The “El Mexigander”, a dark Mexican lager, hit the spot. This is one of my new favorite TC beers. There are no strange ingredients, just a well-crafted beer. This is the one I’ll be drinking over and over again.
I was very happy to see how great Loco Boys beer and food was. Traverse City’s newest restaurant has instantly become one of my favorite.
Cass Street has a new bridge over the Boardman River. Well, kind of:
There are still months’ worth of work yet to be done, but there is something there. I would assume sneaking on the bridge is a no-no, as tempting as it is.
Nearby, the Beadle Building which contains the currently closed Mackinac Brewing Company has been purchased by the owners of North Peaking Brewing Company (and others). I am very interested to see what will be happening on the corner of Cass and Front the next few months, but I have a feeling I will be pleased with the results.
And for you mug club members of Mackinac Brewing Company, you can head over to Fresh Coast Beer Works and purchase a reduced-price mug club membership there. The beer is fantastic and the bartenders are great. As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, do it! Do it now!
With the recent news of the possible addition of over 500 more acres to the Brown Bridge Quiet Area, I got to thinking about all the new trails that such a large addition could make. I have a yearly list of “new to me” trails, and I still have many more trails to explore since moving here less than three years ago. But enough about new trails, this post is about the existing trails at BBQA.
My favorite time of year to hike the BBQA and the Boardman Valley Trail is autumn. The views from the bluffs are amazing. But any time of year is a good time to hike this area south of Traverse City just north of Kingsley.
The problem with winter hiking is ice. Unless you’re out after a fresh snow, the melt-freeze cycle often leads to slippery walks. Mine started at the Brown Bridge Road parking lot south of the river where I headed east into the woods. Narrow, uneven trails required careful steps to avoid a downhill tumble, but I’m happy to report that no hikers were harmed during this walk.
The trail turned north and then west and crossed the Boardman River. The remaining trail followed the river as it wound its way downstream, mostly exposed to open sky. That sunshine also meant better footing as I returned to my car.
Brown Bridge / Boardman Valley Trail is a popular trail, though not as busy as the trails closer to town such as Pelizzari and The Commons. It is worth the drive out of town to enjoy the views.
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