Visitors

It has been a wonderful week here.  We were blessed with a visit from a wonderful couple that we met on our cruise three years ago.  We met this couple when we did that cruise across the Atlantic.  Alan was our photography instructor.  He and his wife Anne gave many classes on how to take more beautiful pictures.  They live in New York City and were coming to our area to visit the Sleeping Bear National Lake Shore park.  We invited them to stay at our house and I volunteered to show them around.  

They arrived on Tuesday evening.  We met Bud for dinner at a wonderful restaurant over at Grand Traverse Commons (the old state hospital grounds)  Stellas is a wonderful restaurant and we enjoyed a great meal and the conversations as we caught up on each other's activities the last three years.  It was nice to catch up.  

 Wednesday morning Allen took us to a garden right here in TC.  He had this invitation through another friend who knew about this garden.  We did NOT know about this beautiful garden right here in our own town.  It is open to visitors every day and we had a special tour from the owner and gardener.  It is all around this old Victorian house on one of the oldest streets in TC.  You would not believe that so many beautiful flowers could be squeezed into the back and side yards of a home.  I should take Eva here when she visits.

 There are several 'gardens in this back yard.

 You can see that it is right in a neighborhood.

 Allen, Bud, me, Dee the gardener and Anne posing among the flowers and one of the gardens.  It was a wonderful experience and a great surprise to find something new right in your 'backyard'.
After visiting the garden, Bud went to work.  He had an important meeting that couldn't be rearranged.  I was the tour guide for the afternoon.  We drove up to Leland and then took the Lake Michigan coastal drive down past Glen Arbor.

 We stopped in Glen Harbor with our picnic lunch.  It was a beautiful day to sit and watch the lake while eating lunch.

 Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes was beautiful as usual.  Anne is trying to see all the national parks of the United States and this trip was designed to pick up some of the 'stray' parks that she had not visited.  From here they are going to the Pictured Lake National Park.

 In the evening we picked up sandwiches and went out on the boat for a beautiful sail.  The temperature was just perfect.  We had a nice amount of wind and the sun was shining on us.

 Since it was Wednesday night the Yacht Club races were just finishing up as we took one trip across the bay.  All those sails against the blue water and the blue sky made for great pictures.

It was a picture perfect Traverse City day for visitors.  After sailing we came back here and I served homemade ice cream to the group.  It was its usual delicious treat.  My newest recipe of using ALL cream makes the ice cream especially delicious and easy since I can make it ahead of time and freeze it without it turning into that crystal and hard ice cream that I remember from other recipes. It was a delicious way to end  the day.
It was very nice to reconnect with Alan and Anne.  We enjoyed our visitors.  SO, you can see that we are good hosts.  Family, are you interested in a visit???  Our bed and breakfast is open.  It includes sailing, ice cream and now a garden walk if you are interested.