| Michigan |
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| Suttons Bay | Suttons bay is where
I spent my summers growing up.
It is a
small village (pop ~600) a few miles north of Traverse City Michigan .
My wife and I were married at the end of the old coal docks (now a park) on
the banks of Suttons bay. My grandparents had a home out on the tip of stony point
that overlooked the entire area. |
Click to See Suttons Bay Photo Gallery
www.suttonsbayarea.com |
| Traverse City | Traverse City is a
popular summer tourist destination similar to Martha's vineyard but without
all the expense. Summers are cool, and there are many resorts with golf and
water activities and vineyards to do wine tours etc.. |
www.visittraversecity.com |
| Sleeping Bear Dunes | The sleeping
bear is a national lakeshore most notable for it's impressive sand dunes.
The signature attraction is called "the climb" and is ~300' of what
feels to
be a nearly vertical wall of sand. Normally climbing a 300' bluff would be
easy, but the sand drags you down so every step nets you very little
progress. Once at the top you can run down and if you fall, you can just plunge headlong into he soft sand.
There is also a wonderful nature drive that takes you on paved roads back deep
onto the dunes and even has an overlook on the back side of the dunes facing
lake Michigan that has an even steeper 450' drop to the waters edge. |
Click to see PhotoStory
www.sleepingbeardunes.com |
| Family farm and the Cabin in the woods |
The Rufli farm was started by my great grandfather Adolf Rufli when he moved
out of the home adjacent to his meat processing operation in downtown
Suttons bay.
Over the years pretty much everything has been grown on the farm, but it's
most prominent crop during my lifetime has always been cherries.
To protect against soil erosion, my grandparents planted a pine forest on
the back of the farm. Today my uncle has harvested some of those pines and
used them to build a log cabin overlooking the woods. |
Click to see Farm Photo Gallery |
