Day 7: Traverse City to Auburn – by car
Friday, October 7th
Cold, wet and windy. Some afternoon sun. 7C
We were surprised not to see snow flakes in the air this morning when we peeked out from behind the curtain in our room. The ground was still wet and the wind was blowing hard from the north. We had planned to go for a walk to warm up anyway, so we bundled up and drove down to the beach at Clinch Park. From there we took a brisk walk along the waterfront, watching the white caps roll in off of the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. The sun was struggling to come out and when we had a bit of shelter from the wind it was quite nice to be outside.
We walked into downtown and along Front Street past many interesting looking shops. It was still a little early and not many of them were open yet so we drove back to the hotel and ate our oatmeal in the room. After we packed up and checked out we went back downtown to do some shopping. Traverse City has a great looking downtown and there were all sorts of people bustling around.
Our next stop was The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. This is and old insane asylum-cum-hospital complex built in 1884 that has been more recently redeveloped into a commercial district with shops, dining and offices. There was also a bakery there! We browsed through the shops and listened in on a guided tour before they descended into the underground tunnels. We ate lunch at the bakery and then planned our route for driving to Auburn.
We really had good intentions to do some riding today but neither of us could muster enough drive to overcome the cold and biting wind. On the other hand, when we ride we usually don’t leave ourselves much time to sightsee, so we were happy with strolling around in the city. In fact, part of this trip was to do some research into future destinations for bike trips and we definitely have a serious contender in Michigan.
We gladly would have spent another night or two in Traverse City but the weekend rates for accommodations are astronomical. With only a couple of days left on our trip we are starting to work our way south, setting up a shorter drive to the border and back home when the time comes.
eimajeyn 