Tales From Northern Michigan #2

Tales from Northern Michigan is a new feature that will appear irregularly here on the blog. The point of it is to share cool stuff from one of my favorite areas- northern Michigan. As many of you are aware Michigan actually has an Upper and Lower Peninsula, linked by the Mackinac Bridge, and I'll be showcasing the area that we in lower Michigan affectionately call "Up North." It could be anything from music to wildlife to bookstores- you never know what you'll find Up North, so who knows what will turn up here? 

So without further ado, here's a look at the beauty of northern Michigan. 

First up is a look at the infamous Torch Lake sand bar, which is party central around 4th of July. And at the one minute mark you can catch a glimpse of the State Theater in Traverse City, my personal favorite place to see a movie, and the home of the well known Traverse City Film Festival. 

  

Here's a really cool time lapse look at a storm that hit Torch Lake hard. You can see the damage at the end, but the best part might be the very sensible weather forecast at the very beginning.

And of course if you're a homeowner on Torch Lake you may take a dim view of the annual party that has developed on the lake in summer.  

A fabulous article about roadtripping along the western Michigan coast, with stops at Sleeping Bear Dunes among other areas- and that's perfect timing since next time I'll be looking at all things Sleeping Bear Dunes! 

Lastly here's a quick look at Leland, MI (also knows as Fishtown). I'll be covering Leland in a future post but I just wanted to share this. The Cheese Shanty is an amazing place to get a sandwich- which one do you think sounds perfect (I've helpfully included a menu link).