Gary Young, Shelly, Lois Sposita, Joe Sposita and us.
Lincoln’s chair:
What caught my eye, was that I was never exposed to this type of segregation and to actually see it displayed was thought provoking.
Below is the actual bus where Rosa Parks made her point. Actually, she was seated on the right side in the middle between the front and the back, not the back of the bus as is commonly stated.
We made a quick visit to Motown.
We made reservations at Traverse City and met up with six other couples. Bonnie and Rich Waltman, Linda and Walter West, Ann and Ron Parish, Linda and Tommy Sexton, Mary and Doug Sloan and Linda and Joe Shibalt, with whom we had recently spent time at the Goshen rally. Also, we were happily surprised that as soon as we arrived our friends, Mary Frye and Rick Gnich, from Torrey Oaks, who happen to live in Traverse City, connected with us. Two of the couples, Bonnie and Rich Waltman and Linda and Walter West (bless their hearts) decided to accompany us on our UP adventure.
While in Traverse City we drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, an incredible sweep of towering dunes on the western shore of Leelanau. My friend Bonnie and I amazingly were able to climb only one of the dunes. It happened to be the coldest day of our stay and also the windiest so while the rest of the crowd remained in their vehicles, up the dune we went – weenees. Notice the tremendous slopes of Sleeping Bear Dunes and it turned out to be a tremendous workout. No wonder people told us it would take us a few hours to climb the dunes.

We drove up to the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula all the way up to Northport and visited the Grand Traverse Lighthouse and Museum, stopped along the way at various spots, such as the villages of Glen Arbor and Leelanau and picked up some yummy fudge at Suttons Bay on our way back to Traverse City.
Grand Traverse Lighthouse
The following day we also drove to the northernmost point of the Old Mission Peninsula, referred to simply as the Peninsula by the locals, and on its tip is the Old Mission Lighthouse, which also happens to sit on the 45th parallel. We stopped at the Old Mission General Store which originally was a fur trading post back in the 1840’s and now carries a bit of everything.
The 114 foot Schooner Manitou cruises Grand Traverse Bay.
We had made plans to meet Mary and Rick at their beautiful home for a fabulous homemade breakfast made by Mary. After we caught up, we left to visit yet another couple we befriended at Torrey Oaks, Edie and Steve Hindman, who are likewise traveling the country and happened to be in nearby Petoskey. Wouldn’t you know, as luck has it, our truck broke down and again, we had to call Good Sam Roadside Assist and had to get towed to the nearest dealer, this time for a broken belt. Unfortunately, because a part had to be ordered, we had no transportation for a few days and so we missed catching up with them.
The cherry trees were in bloom and the Annual National Cherry Festival in Traverse City was in full swing during our stay. We visited Cherry Republic, a store where you could find from cherry wine to cherry pie and everything cherry in between (no joke). On July 4th, also our 30th wedding anniversary, we went to a great airshow provided by the Thunderbirds on the shores of Traverse Bay and since John bought us a new Nikon camera, I began using it right away.
This guy was actually standing on the plane.
We had a wonderful time in Traverse City and will definitely return.