Tales From The Road: Boondocking in Frankfort, MI

Friday – Monday, June 23-26, 2017

We had another great Boondocking experience in Frankfort, MI. Our host is a sign printer who also prints t-shirts. I had a design for a tee that I wasn't able to get printed before leaving VT and so I asked if he could print me off some shirts...Luckily for us he was able to print them and we had them sent to Wilson's cousin in IL, where we were going to be in a few weeks. We had a nice camp fire with our host and his family...I even took a walk the following morning with his mother which was really nice.

--------A note of warning...do not drink the water from the Mineral Springs, it tastes awful

While here Wilson and I found out that a lot of cherries are produced in Michigan, in fact...Traverse City hosts the National Cherry Festival, which would be happening the following week. Frankfort is a very active tourist town. I got the sense that it's a place where families come back year after year.

We were very active while in the area.

We went to the Frankfort 48 Film Festival. The short films were all created within a 48 hour time period incorporating the following criteria; the phrase, "There's no place like home", a bicycle, and a lighthouse. You can check out the top three films by clicking on the link above.

We also went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Sleeping Bear was named the "Most Beautiful Place in America" by ABC's Good Morning America having received 100,000 votes. We've seen a lot of beautiful places it would be hard for me to pick which one was the most beautiful...the beauty in each is so unique. One of the biggest attraction in the park is the Dune Climb. I can't remember how high the dune is that we climbed but there are dunes that are 450' above Lake Michigan according to the website. Believe me when I say they are very steep, which I hope you will be able to see from my pictures. The first dune is by far the steepest. Wilson and I traveled over about four dunes, until we had the visual of Lake Michigan. I must admit I was proud of myself for going as far as I did because it's not easy hiking in sand, it's very tiring on the legs.

- An interesting side note: The dunes area was originally privately owned but the federal government took it over as a national resource area. The mother of our boondocking friend used to be the former owners personal assistant...

looking up the big dune

looking down from the big dune

We drove around quite a bit this day, exploring the different areas. While in this part of Michigan there is an abudance of lighthouses. Each lighthouse has it's own history and there are a variety of designs. The pictures below are the Bestie Lighthouse, Frankfort Lighthouse, and the yellow scum that I slipped on while walking out to the Frankfort Lighthouse (Wilson is pointing to where my butt made an imprint 😁)....I don't mind saying that I was a little frightened as I was falling because I could have gone over the walkway and there were a lot of large rocks that I would have fallen on, which is why I include it here.