Late July Trip to Center Township Michigan
Late July trip up to Center Township in Emmet County — 525 people, thirty-five square miles, most of it woods and water. Last evening we took the path through the dune grass down to the Lake Michigan beach and stayed until the sun sat just over the horizon, one person still standing at the waterline while the waves came in sideways.
Today went the other direction. Morning on Larks Lake, which is small and shallow — it's the headwaters of Brush Creek — paddleboarding off the beach in front of the house, the water going green over the sandy bottom. Then a drive over to the marina at Bay Harbor to walk the docks, ducks threading between the hulls of boats that cost more than the house.
Over to Mackinac Island after that. From the Grand Hotel porch, behind the row of yellow-and-white striped umbrellas, you get the whole harbor at once — the ferries, the sailboat masts, the island out past the breakwater. Walking back down we passed the carriage barn, green with red doors, flags up on all three cupolas and one of the bays standing open.
