We rented a car

Thatch House, Charlevoix

Given we were here for a week or so we rented a car. Also, given we were here for a week or so, we didn't want to take the time to hit all the little towns that loopers told us to -- when the weather breaks we want to head south and quick.

So, car + little towns = road trip!

The two towns we wanted to see were Traverse City and Charlevoix (pronounced shar-leh-voy).

The drive to Traverse CIty took about an hour. It's located at the bottom of the west side of Grand Traverse Bay. That makes it a 3 hour drive to the place from Lake Michigan, then another 3 to get back out. Consequently, we always planned on passing it by, so a drive there worked perfectly.

Half a mushroom house

We ate lunch at the 7 Monks Taproom, then walked the city a bit. Gotta say, not as quaint as Petoskey. There wasn't much "old" architecture, as if a fire had occurred and all the rebuilding was done to current styles. 

After we drove to Charlevoix. There we drove around to look a the Mushroom Houses the town is known for. The marina is cute. We were glad to see it but glad to pass it by.

Definitely, staying in Petoskey was the right call. 

Check out that stone work (click to make it bigger)

Boulder Manor.
The gray one on the right holds is built into the porch
and holds up the building. It's roughly 6 feet tall.

This video was taken by Jess while traveling through

Collins inlet. You definitely wan to watch this on

a bigger screen if you can. Jaw dropping vistas.