Saugatuck

Twin Oaks Inn was our destination this morning. After an easy drive from Ann Arbor to Saugatuck without traffic surprises, we checked in at around 11:00, feeling that we had retreated!

We walked around, looked at the old-fashioned and very old chain ferry and all the yachts in the harbor. The ferryman cranks a crank that pulls the boat across the Kalamazoo River via an underwater chain.



Sadly, the Kalamazoo River is currently threatened by an oil pipeline breach upstream, but the water here is not yet affected, and we hope the oil can be contained.

We had lunch on the waterfront.



After lunch Len got our Bike Fridays out of the car -- they both fit in the trunk along with all our luggage. We discovered that a superb bike path has just opened that goes from just outside the town of Saugatuck to the Dunes State Park. It's wide, paved, and has wooden bridges where it goes over swampy creeks. The wood is so new that the bridges still smell like sawdust.



We locked the bikes to a tree in the park and walked over to the beach.



After a dip in the perfect-temperature water of Lake Michigan and a long time napping on the beach, we walked back over the dune and started back towards town.



I heard frogs singing on my bike. Groucho would ask: what were the frogs doing on your bike? Never mind. The four or five miles of bike path are beautiful, as there is a lot that you see from a bike and not from a car.



Our last bike stop was for Kilwin's ice cream. Lots of fun things to eat between activities here. Before we end our 24-hour stay we hope for dinner somewhere in town, breakfast made by our hospitable hostess Willa, and maybe even an early lunch.