A Michigan Journey: Summer's Over!

It's official, fall is here. Today is the first day of the fall season. The leaves are just starting to turn now, but I am guessing that full color is less than two weeks away. Grouse hunting is underway and the salmon are running in the rivers. Apples are everywhere and the corn fields are turning yellow.
Pretty soon the pumpkins will be out and frost in the mornings.

Today we loaded our bikes in the truck and took a ride to Frankfort. We rode the Betsie Valley bike trail (http://www.betsievalleytrail.org/index.html), from Frankfort to Beulah and back for a total of 19 miles. It's a far cry from the 100 mile bike tour that David rode last Sunday in Leelanau County, but for a couple of old pooters taking their first bike ride since spring, it wasn't bad. And at the end we could still walk! The trail runs along the Betsie River and then along the south shore of Crystal Lake. It's very scenic, and along the lake the summer homes were gorgeous. Beulah is a nice small town on the south east corner of Crystal Lake.

We had an early dinner at Dinghy's Restaurant and bar in down town Frankfort after our ride. Then we walked to the lake (Michigan), and along the river before starting back north toward home. On the way back we stopped at the Platte River. We took a ride through the campground and found that it was about a third full. Not bad for a late Sunday afternoon. The weekend warriors would have all left by that time. At the mouth of the Platte the fishermen were surf fishing for salmon, but we didn't see any being caught. At the weir the river was black with fish and they were jumping and splashing all over the place.

We headed home on M-22 and saw several deer on the way home. It was a nice autumn afternoon and we enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. The high temperature today was about 55 degrees and we had very little sun, but the wind was calm so it wasn't too bad out. (This past Thursday it was 83 degrees!)

Go lions, Detroit 27, Washington Redskins 20!!

Love to all