Oscoda, MI to Traverse City, MI

Today we drove across Michigan from Oscoda to Traverse City. We got to Traverse City around noon, so we found a campground and then went to explore the area.
We drove past the harbor in Traverse City on our way to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It is situated between Glen Lake and Lake Michigan on the western shore of Michigan. The story behind the name is that a momma bear and her two cubs were swimming across Lake Michigan, but her cubs didn’t make it, becoming North and South Manitou Islands. She is the Sleeping Bear Dune waiting for her cubs.
When we got to the Dunes, the first thing we did was climb a very steep and tall monster sand dune. We were hoping/expecting to see Lake Michigan when we got to the top. Kristy got all the way to the top first and told us it was just more views of dunes!!! We were very very very disappointed. But, the view towards Glen Lake was gorgeous as we were climbing to the top. Sandy rested at the top by making sand angels.
After the dune we explored the more of the park by taking a drive with views of both lakes. There was a set of 3 beautifully architected barns in the park that we couldn’t resist taking pictures of.
Then we went to Glen Haven historical village. They had a building with artifacts and supplies from the Life Saving Service which was eventually merged into the Coast Guard. It was very interesting to learn how they got the rescue boats into the ocean. Some were mounted on wheels and hauled around with horses. Others were “launched” from the storage area on tracks right into the water. They depended on manpower and gravity to get the boats the last bit of the way from the tracks into the water. It sounded a little bit like a luge team to me. They even had handles on the sides of the boats that retracted so the oarlocks could be put in place.
Land rescues were a little different. For these, they hauled a cart to the beach that carried several special items. First, they fired a special cannon that shot a “faking” rope over to the distressed ship. Then crewmembers would pull it in and read the instructions on the paddle attached to the rope to know what to do with the rope. They were instructed to tie the rope to the mast and it became like a block and tackle. They had a life-saving tool called a breeches buoy that they would pull along the rope which a person would climb into and then they used it to pull the person to shore. It was called a breeches buoy because it was a life saver with what looked like breeches on the bottom.
Next, we went to the Old Mission lighthouse and got to go up into the lantern room and see the views of Lake Michigan from there. It was a beautiful end to a very long day.