It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin’
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin’ little Runaway
I was flyin’
Yeah runnin’ down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin’ on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads
Runnin’ down a dream
— Tom Petty (of course!)
Today we pointed the car north and drove to Ludington, Michigan in search of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. At the state park we found a map showing it was a 1.8 mile hike. We got a bit confused by a gated “road closed” sign and went back to the beach area, where I got the bright idea, “If we just follow the beach north, eventually we’ll get to the lighthouse.” Off we went, just around the next point we should see it, then the next point, and the next.
We should have taken a closer look at the map. We were walking a long, slow curve to the lighthouse. When we finally got momentary phone service to use “find my iPhone” (and find ourselves) we realized we had only walked about 1/2 way… and it would be a long way back. Walking in soft sand was fun but as my right foot kept sinking into the sand with each step, I twisted my ankle slightly. With no road near, and having not seen another human being, a sprained ankle would be a major pain. So we reluctantly walked back, enjoying the solitude of having the lakeshore to ourselves. Next week we’ll come back and take the official path.
But we still had another lighthouse for today… Little Sable Point. Driving south from Ludington, we enjoyed the miles of fruit trees and grape vines that lined our path.
Greeting us at this lighthouse was a woman walking back to her car, “Isn’t it great to have this all to ourselves before the tourists arrive?”
Yes, it is.
