Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Little Sable Point Lighthouse – 1874 (oldest in Michigan)

Sunday started out nice, but in the early afternoon the clouds started rolling in and rain was threatening.  We all wanted to get out to the lighthouse, but decided we’d better drive rather than bike, just in case we got caught in a downpour.

Sure enough, it started to rain just as we started walking down the beach to the lighthouse, and we could hear thunder in the distance.  We reached the shelter of the lighthouse, and were welcomed inside by the volunteers from the Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers’ Association. 

They shared bits of information with us about the lighthouse and how it functioned in the past, and now.  The light was originally produced by three concentric wicks which burned lard oil originally, and later kerosene.  The light was then amplified by a 3rd order Fresnel lens (the inventor of which was 12 years old before he started school – a tidbit shared with our 12-year-olds, Bryce & Hannah), and could be seen 19 miles out into Lake Michigan.

 Standing out on the balcony, we could get a view of the Fresnel lens

This is a very rare type of lens, and a clockwork mechanism is used to rotate the top of the lens once every 5 seconds, creating Little Sable Point’s signature flash. 

Climbing to the top of the 130 steps, we learned that every lighthouse has a unique exterior appearance, and a unique sequence to its light.  This lighthouse flashes its light once every 5 seconds.

From the balcony of the lighthouse – the clouds are so low, you can’t see where the lake ends!

We also learned that when the oil-burning wicks were replaced by incandescent light, the visibility from the lake was reduced to 17 miles, and with the current halogen lights, it’s down to 16 miles – technological advances!

Standing out on that balcony was dizzying – especially knowing how high up we were!

Bryce wasn’t crazy about the height!

. . . but the view was spectacular!

Between 1874 and 1954, there were 14 lighthouse keepers at Little Sable Point, but now the light is completely automated.  The lighthouse was renovated and opened for tours in 2006.  We enjoyed our tour, and learned some new information about this famous landmark of the Great Lakes!

Fun at the Sand Dunes

It was pretty winding up there on top of the dunes!

The Silver Lake area is well-known for its sand dunes, and are the last dunes in Michigan that people can actually drive on still.  There are jeep, ATV and buggy rentals all over the place, and the campgrounds are full of them! 

This guy wasn’t from our campground, but there was an orange one just like it!

Tom and Nicolas were ready to let the air out of the truck tires, stick a flag on it, and head out there with the rest of the crazies!  But No, we need to be able to depend on this truck to get us home!  So, they decided that they would have to settle for renting something, or finding somebody to take them out.

Maybe these DNR officers will let them take a spin on their ATV!

We rode bikes down to the pedestrian area of the dunes, and climbed to the top to check out the action.  The kids got to the top first (big surprise!), and headed right over to watch the trucks come down the hill.

Watching the trucks, buggies and ATVs race over the hill – from a safe distance!

Four dune buggies – ready to race down the hill!

We found out later that this hill is the fourth in a series referred to as “Test Hill”, and you have to be pretty good to make it to this point!

We watched for awhile, and then headed back.  The kids found a dead tree that somebody had tied a rope to – they decided to try it out!

Bryce took a nice spill!

They had a lot of fun competing to see who could land the furthest out from the tree.

Stopping long enough for a picture.

Everything was going fine until the big kid decided to take a turn at the rope swing – and Nicolas brought the branch down with him!!

No more rope swing – but at least the branch didn’t land on anybody’s head!

One last action shot before we got back on the bikes!

With all that exercise on the dunes, it’s amazing we were able to bike back to the campground!

Tom & Nick seriously had the bug to get out on those dunes in a vehicle, so Tom made it his mission to find somebody to take them!  Later in the day, he struck up a conversation with some guys in the campground with a big ‘ol Ford pickup, and they offered to come by the next morning and take them out for a ride.

Couldn’t go out in anything but a Ford!

These young guys were really nice, and they had 4 very excited passengers!

Tom and Nick

Paul and Hannah

Nicolas said that the roughest part of the ride was the trail to get out to the dunes!  Once they got there, they took a spin down to the Lake Michigan beach, and then past “the dragstrip”, where there were tons of people just hanging out and watching the action.

It’s like a giant tailgating party out there – tents and grills, people everywhere!

The guys they went out with had a whole array of vehicles besides the truck –

dirt bikes,

and ATVs, too!

They all had a great time, and really appreciated these guys taking them out to share in the whole dune experience!

Memorial Day Camping

 

Downtown Pentwater was all decked out with flags for Memorial Day

It seemed to rain non-stop all week at home, but we were still looking forward to getting out for the weekend.  We loaded up the camper in the rain, hitched up in the rain, and drove a good part of the way in the rain!  By the time we got all the way to the west coast of Michigan, though, and made the turn to the north, we were out of the rain and starting to see blue skies ahead.

Sure enough, we arrived at the Silver Creek RV Resort under blue skies and sunshine, and got settled into our site on the corner of Coyote Lane.

Nice sites – wide concrete pads, nice grass, and decent spacing between sites

Aaahhh . . . maybe we have a shot at a nice weekend!

Friday morning was cool, but sunny, and we decided to take a little drive into Pentwater and Ludington to do a little shopping and fill the truck up with diesel.  We visited several little shops in Pentwater, including The Beachnut -- where we couldn’t resist their honey roasted pecans and almonds; the Bitchen Kitchen – lots of cool kitchen gadgets, and the Cosmic Candy Company – our favorite – where we stocked up on vintage candy like Zotz, Poprocks, Slap Sticks, Now & Laters, and candy cigarettes!

Pentwater is on a little inlet off Lake Michigan, and is a pretty little town

Officially the start of summer, we saw several boats going into the water

Our shopping finished, we filled the truck with diesel for $3.88/gallon at Meijer (not bad!), and headed back to the campground.  We stopped on the way back for some firewood, and Tom let Nick drive the rest of the way back!  He’s 2/3 of the way through Driver’s Ed now, and he’s allowed to drive with us in the vehicle!  Big step!

After dinner, we took a walk around the campground, and Tom saw somebody that he swore he knew from somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where.  That’s not an uncommon occurrence, so I tend to just ignore him, but later the same guy was walking around and he stopped at our camper because he thought he recognized us, as well!  As it turned out, it was the Dad of one of the boys that Bryce played basketball with this past winter!  We talked for quite a while, and the boys got together to play basketball and ride bikes – Bryce was really glad to have a friend to hang out with!

We had some friends coming to camp with us this weekend, so we got the fire going, and soon they arrived.  It was a nice night for a fire, and the kids played cards for awhile before going inside to watch a movie.

Bryce is still in his card-playing mode!

Getting the fire going!

We had a great time getting caught-up, and sat out by the fire until after midnight – that’s a late night for us!  It’s great to be camping again!