September 17 &18, Sunday and Monday, Ludington and then Grand Haven

After breakfast Sunday morning in a building with a wonderful mural, I headed to a local UU church only a few blocks from the marina, while Dirk focused on oil and oil filter changes. The Ludington People’s Church is in a former car sales building I was told, but nevermind, it was lovely and people were very friendly. It was nice to sing some familiar music, listen to the choir and feel pretty much at home so far away from Stow.

After finishing oil changes and a little clean up we headed out for our last exploring from Ludington – to the Ludington State Park. It turns out this state park is known to be one of the best, if not the best, in the state, and I wouldn’t have known it was special if I hadn’t gone to church and heard about it from a very enthusiastic supporter.

As we headed north on Lake Shore Drive which became M116, we saw the park sign and then dunes and parking anywhere along a six mile stretch, with short trails to the beach and longer trails into immense sand dune areas. I waded a bit – the water was fine.

But there was much more to the park including a small lake and a long canal suitable for the rental kayaks and swimming, two campgrounds and many more trails. We also explored the exhibits in the large beach house right on the lake, including some relief maps of the Great Lakes which we found interesting since the lakes are sooo deep – we hit 500′!   And my other photo here is the sunset behind our marina.

Today, Monday, we left early, not sure if our destination was Muskegeon (53 miles) or Grand Haven (72 miles). The winds were low and the water was pretty smooth so we are now tied to the $10 wall (it used to be free) near the Grand Haven municipal marina. There are only a few cruisers like ours in the area, and two of them also have the AGLCA Great Loop Flag, so I said hello and then we walked around town. The harbor entrance, with its red shed and lighthouse was a a nice welcome to the town.