Traveling with Pam: Petoskey, Michigan

After leaving the Upper Peninsula, I went to Petoskey State Park in Petoskey, MI. This area is known for the Petoskey Stone. This is a fossil of a coral that lived 350 million years ago. I found a few small ones. Below is a picture of 4 small Petoskey Stones, 2 Horn corals and one rock with some type of coral fossil.

There is a great bike path that goes through Petoskey. One day I went on a 22 mile ride and on another a 16 mile ride. For part of the trip, it is right beside Lake Michigan and goes past the marina.

An interesting sign along the bike trail close to Harbor Springs -

I’ve seen signs saying caution low planes, but never – Caution Jet Plane. The bike trail went right beside the end of the runway. I would hate to be on the path when a jet landed or took off!!

While in Wisconsin and Michigan, I have been intrigued by the black squirrels. I saw them for the first time years ago, but they still amaze me. They are fairly common in this area, but I am used to the gray squirrel. I never got a good picture of one, but they look just like a gray squirrel, but are solid black. ( Wikipedia Black squirrel info)

One day, I drove to Charlevoix. One of the reasons was to look at some homes. I had read about the “mushroom” homes and I was curious about them. Earl Young designed and built these homes starting in 1918. These homes have become a tourist attraction in the area. The first one I saw is called Half House. I expected to see a hobbit or munchkin come out the door. Some people call these “Fairy Tale” homes.

Mushroom house is below. I read that some of the walls inside the house are 3 feet thick!

Another of the homes was built with huge boulders. I really liked this home. While it didn’t have a wavy roof like the others, I loved the use of the huge rocks.

Front view -

Rear View – (note the view of Lake Michigan)

This home is for sale, so if anyone has 1.25 million they want to give me I would gladly let you visit when you are in town!!!

On the way out of Charlevoix, I saw this -

At first I thought it was a building, but then I realized it was the Draw Bridge that was raised. According to the locals, I was “bridged” (had to wait on the bridge).

Every morning I would walk in the park about 3.5 miles. A couple of mornings it was cool and there was dew on the plants on this sand dune.

When driving or biking through Petoskey, I would pass the Bay View Association. This area is a National Historic Landmark and is associated with the United Methodist Church. Apparently in the late 1800’s this was started as a “camp meeting”. (Info on Bay View) All of the homes are Victorian and I enjoyed driving/riding around the area. One of my favorites was this green home on a hill off the main street.