Friday was a pretty day, although a little cool and too windy for biking, so we took a little driving tour in the Jeep. I threw together some beef stew in the crockpot before we left, so dinner would be ready when we arrived back at the camper later in the afternoon.
We drove north on M-22 to the Lake Michigan coastal town of Leland, otherwise known as Historic Fishtown.
We walked through the little shops along the water,
and watched while the salmon swimming up the river from Lake Michigan tried to make the jump up the dam to the river.
It was pretty cool to watch, and some of those salmon got some air! Several made it up to the first ledge, but then they would get washed right back down again.
For late September, the little town of Leland was pretty busy.
No charter boats out on the lake, though . . . I guess with all the salmon in the rivers, there’s no reason to be on the lake!
We walked through the rest of the shops, picked up an M-22 sticker for the Jeep, and then made our way east across the Leelanau Peninsula to the little town of Sutton’s Bay on the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay.
We were getting pretty hungry by then, so the first order of business was lunch. The Roman Wheel had good reviews, so we split a small pizza – Yum – very good, and will tide us over nicely until we get home for our beef stew.
There are some very unique and cute shops in Sutton’s Bay. This one had lots of fun stuff for the yard,
I thought this was nice, but Bryce gave it a “thumbs down”!
From the looks of this column, they got a fair amount of snow last winter!
I didn’t go home empty-handed, either. A couple years ago, Tom and I had made a magnet board for one side of our refrigerator, but I’ve been wanting another one for the other door.
I love this one! It’s made by the same designer who makes the magnets I buy, and it’s a perfect fit!
We continued south on M-22 into Traverse City, only stopping to pick up a few things at Meijer, including a box of dried cherries – YUM!
Seeing the salmon in Leland had reminded me that I saw a post on the Sleeping Bear Dunes facebook page that the Platte River was loaded with salmon . . . so we took the long way back to the RV Resort.
The lower section of the river at the picnic area was pretty quiet, with just a few fishermen finishing up for the day. They told us to drive in to the fishing weir, where we’d see much more action.
They weren’t kidding – as the salmon reach the roadblock of the weir, they just keep swimming in circles, waiting for the gate to open!
From the edge of the water, it looked like you could have walked across the river on the fish!
It’s wall to wall fish!
Looking across, you can see the light areas of water, where there are no fish, and the dark areas in the water where the fish are all packed together like sardines!
With all those fish around, it seemed like catching them would take no effort at all, but the fishermen have to stay 300 feet from the weir, and the fish seem to know where that line is . . .
We walked along the trail that runs beside the river, and in 300 feet we ran into the fishermen.
Each person is allowed 5/day, and many of these guys are locals who come out and catch their limit everyday, stocking up for the winter, and others are from out of town, hoping to get enough to take home.
It was a beautiful day on the river!
As we watched and talked to a few who were taking breaks, this guy got one on his line.
He just walked around, letting the fish run a little, until it got closer and he could reel it in and reach down and grab it!
A few minutes later, he had another one!
I got a picture of that one before it went in the cooler!
That one put him and his friend at their limit for the day, so they left . . .and others arrived to take their place in the river.
That was pretty cool – we were glad we took the little detour to check it out!
And in Lansing, MSU had a win today and Bryce is celebrating his 20th birthday – Happy Birthday Bryce!
