Leland Trip

Last week, Riley and I joined my parents, my sister, my brother, his wife, and their son for a vacation in Leland, Michigan. Leland touches both Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan. My parents rented a cottage on Lake Leelanau built by Rollin Perkins I, a judge and law professor. (Even on vacation I can't get away from the law!). Four generations of the Perkins family shared Rollin's name.

Five generations of my family share the same name (Howard). Howards III, IV, and V are all in the photo below.


See any family resemblance between Howard III and IV?


The Perkins cottage has a huge porch on the backside overlooking Lake Leelanau. This is the view from the porch.


We spent most of our time at the house on that porch. Here's Aunt Kate on the porch,
and Riley sharing the porch swing with Grandfather.


When not on the porch, we dipped our toes (some of us dipped more than toes) into Lake Leelanau from the pier at the bottom of the hill. No matter the air temperature, a refreshing breeze could be always be found there.

View from the pier:


Howard V made the pier his home away from home. He was either hunting Petoskey stones (fossilized coral) in the shallow water, hanging out in the inflatable canoe, or jumping off the end of the pier into deeper water.



The Lake Michigan side of Leland has beautiful beaches and--a bonus feature during our stay--a brand new sandbar! Early in the week, boats began dredging out Leland harbor. The excavated sand washed up against the beach forming a sandy peninsula which jutted out about 30 -40 feet from shore. It had the feeling of a little island, complete with child-safe lagoons--perfect, so long as you didn't mistakenly walk off the edge of it into deep water.



Riley loved playing in the water, and building castles with his cousin. Here, Howard instructs Riley in the finer points of moat construction:


The boys also had great fun playing with their "Noodles." (Hey, I'm not the one who named the toy!) Riley pretended to be an elephant,


and Howard discovered he could use his "noodle" to give Riley an elephant shower.


My brother Howard IV (aka Bill or Uncle Bear) combed the shoreline for Petoskey stones, eventually filling the little boys' sandpails with his cache.



Besides water activities, we also enjoyed visits with other relatives whom I had not seen for several years, sampled the fares offered by local vineyards (one of which had its own petting zoo for underage visitors) and restaurants, shopped in Fishtown (Leland's 100-year old fishing village) and Sutton's Bay, and had an ice cream cone or two (or three).

The Horse Whisperer (aka Grandmother) at the Black Star Farms Winery petting zoo: