Petoskey Stone Hunting

A seasonal camper at Sleepy Bear Campground offered to take us and another couple to her favorite place to hunt for Petoskey Stone.
We had to walk down to the beach.
It was a lovely day with temps in the high 70's. The waves were coming in often so it was hard to see the stones.
Here I am looking while the others are examining their finds. Everyone except Nolan got wet up to the crotch and the front of my shirt was wet from leaning over and having waves hit me.

On the walk back to the car we saw these pretty flowers.
I'm wondering if they are related to peas because the vegetation looks like peas.
I found two Petoskeys that might be worth working on. This is what they look like dry.
This is what they look like wet. Not a good photo but you can just make out the petrified coral.
I found lots of other stones I loved and just couldn't leave behind. Maybe I can find another home for them. Notice the purple one clear on the left.

My New Hobbies

I borrowed a metal detector from a friend/co-worker here at Sleepy Bear. He gave me a few pointers on how to use it.
Then I went off hunting. Found lots of lumps of melted aluminum before I figured out which beeps to ignore.
This was my take for the first 1 1/2 hours of hunting. I played with the md two more days and found lots more coins, jewelry and other stuff.
I've been wanting a Petoskey Stone and I found one by the pool. Started sanding on it but it's not a very good one. It's wet here so the "spots" (petrified coral) would show up.
A gal here at the park gave me a better one to sand and polish. I just got it done. Petoskey Stones are the Michigan state stone. Hopefully I can find some more to polish.

Scenes from Sleepy Bear

This little tree sure had a lot of pine cones at the top.
But as we looked around, there were lots of pine cones on the tops of trees.
One of Nolan's extra duties is to bundle firewood. They load up this old truck and back it into the shed so bundling can begin.
Nolan hard at work.

Trip to Ride-In

We took a trip up Hwy 31 along the coast and stopped at beaches along the way. The first stop was Elk Rapids Park. This jut of land??? had waves coming at it from two directions.
These are small shells that were being washed in and out with every wave.
The next stop was Barnes Park by Eastport. I was stopping at a lot of lakeside parks to look for Petosky stones.

Just a scenery shot between Charlevoix and Petosky.
We stopped at a roadside park and read these two signs.

Nolan took some photos of the shore line while I looked at rocks. Notice the sea gull on the rock.
North of Petosky we headed north on M-119. After Harbor Springs this turns into a scenic road called "Tunnel of Trees". It's only about 1 1/2 lanes wide.

Scenery along the Tunnel of Trees. Lots of nice curves.

At the end of the road is Cross Village where we saw the Legs Inn.

This photo is from 1996 when we passed by here on our trip around Lake Superior.

Here's what it looks like in 2008.
We didn't notice this fancy door in 1996 and the interior has been redone. Gone are the fake driver licenses tacked to the wall. Now it's all varnished and pretty. Quite a change!

Most people that stop in Cross Village don't know about the lakeside park. We wandered down so I could look for Petosky Stones.

I looked and looked but I don't think I found any. Course it would help if I knew what I was looking for.... These are the rocks I brought home. I think I will try to polish a few and see if they start looking nice.
We ended the night at an old motel south of Boyne Falls. At $43/night, it was cheap.
The Ride-In was held at Boyne Mountain Resort. Much nicer accommodations but over $120/night.