bike extravaganza: part two

If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.

Manistee - Frankfort - Traverse City

Traveling from Montague to Manistee was quite the trip: 80 miles of pure tailwind and some great scenery.  The views we saw this day were just indescribable.  I chose not to stop for pictures because I just wanted to enjoy the ride.  Our stop in Manistee was amazing.  We ate at a quaint little restaurant underneath a hotel.  We made it in time for happy hour and did we need it!  The waiter we had was super nice and even made us a celebratory shot that we got to try!  Manistee Mystic Moonshine is what he called it.  It sure was delicious!

I just have to say that our pit stops for chais really were wonderful.  My favorite little cafe we stopped at  was in Ludington.  It was so cute and cozy.  

The next day we set out to travel a little over 60 miles...but we did not make it to our destination.  Even though 60 miles should have been easy for us, we didn't expect the climbs that we had to do that day.  We were climbing some mile long climbs while carrying 50 lbs of weight.  Needless to say, we ended up staying in Frankfort this night because we were completely exhausted!

While in Frankfort we stopped at a local bakery and were figuring out where we were going to camp that night.  A lovely couple ended up walking in and since they had biked there I started to make conversation with them.  After some time they actually ended up asking us if we would like to stay at their lake house.  It was such a generous offer and we took them up on it. 

We were so glad we did.  They were such a fun, loving and generous couple, and we really enjoyed our time with them!

Their lake house was right next to a huge lake called Crystal Lake.  When we left that morning, I just had to get some shots of the lake.  The view was just breathtaking!

We ended up stopping at a local cafe near Crystal Lake while on our way to Traverse City.  The food was delicious!

We arrived pretty early in Traverse City and bought our bus ticket for our bus ride from Mackinaw City to Kalamazoo!  After we did that, we were freezing [because of the sudden change in temperature] so we stopped into a local brewery.  The food was delicious and the beer tasted yummy!

My dad had a friend who lived in Traverse City.  He gave him a call and they were kind enough to let us stay at their house that night.  He served in the Marine Corps just like my dad did and that is how they knew each other.  They were so very kind and we were so thankful for their company that night.  

On our way out of Traverse City we stopped at a very cool cafe called Brew.  It was so unique.  They were a cafe during the day and a bar at night.  Trent ended up getting a Spicy Captain [Spiced Chai with a shot of Captain] and it turned out to be very good!  

Sorry for the delay in posts.  Between my looking for a job and just getting a cute little puppy, I have been quite busy.  I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend!