Leaving Orchard Beach, we wanted to stay in the Traverse City State Park, but it was booked solid for the holiday weekend. Instead we got a spot at Interlochen about 15 miles to the southwest. So Morty instigated a trip to Interlochen -- a very interesting park that adjoins the Arts Center. I suppose I've heard of this as the origin of some classical music festivals, but never paid it any more attention than that. Biking through the arts center is really an experience, especially when it is about ready to partially close for the season. The buildings must number in the hundreds, with large lake front amphitheaters, visual and theatrical arts centers and so much more. You can look it up yourself here: www.interlochen.org .
The drive up was an easy trip through gently rolling hills on country roads, with very little traffic for any day, much less a holiday weekend. Interlochen is between Duck Lake and Green Lake, along with a tiny town, and dense woods. The campgrounds were huge. The beach had signs warning that "swimmers itch" might be present, so one should towel off thoroughly! If that's the remedy I say "no harm, no foul." This campground even had a store, but when we walked through it just before its 9PM closing, things were pretty shabby. Our campsite was even a little larger than usual for the state parks of the land to the north.
Since we were staying two nights, we called some old friends from Ohio, and popped in for a visit after lunch. On the way we stopped at the Tuscan Bistro for a bite. I had the spaghetti fruiti di mare and Lynne had a flank steak panini. Both were outstanding. Our friends were in a Traverse City retirement apartment and making a great go of it. I guess we hadn't realized that this new locale placed them right at the crossroads of their family's comings and goings, and so they enjoy a constant stream of nieces, nephews, and grandkids.
On the way back to the campground, we stocked up at the local Meijer. One weird thing we're noticing is that unlike Ohio, every item is price stickered. That must really do bad things to their operating costs in the age of the bar-code scanner. In Ohio, if the customer needs to check the price, he has to find a remote bar-code reader. These little items are non-existent here, as far as we can tell.
Still in the grips of the final summer holiday weekend for camping, we gritted our teeth and made another $8 on line reservation for the state park at Petosky for Sunday. Just as well, too, because there were only three spaces available.
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