“South Manitou is on one side while the water slowly laps over green “Doorknob” stones. That’s what you call them when they’re tumbled to a crystal, Theo says. Stones are either flat or like glass. We walked fine sand, rocks protruding through the grain, down to the abandoned house. We lay shoulder to shoulder, the sun shining on us. We took it in. for a few minutes, smelling the scent of lake picked up by the crisp breeze.”
Rain was last week’s forecast in the Northwoods.
The small town of Northport sits 40 minutes north of Traverse City at the tip of the state. Most houses edge the top of a bluff with wooden stairs dropping down to the beach.
Nearing the trip, the clouds dissipated, and rain let up. A shimmer of hope fell from the mild sun of March in Michigan.
To think the precipitation would ruin the beach walks, the Sleeping Bear Sand Dune trip, the hiking in Leelanau County, and the impromptu HORSE games on the slim driveway. All these activities we go to do — even a polar plunge in Lake Michigan’s turquoise waters — just because some rain cleared up.
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