ALPENA — People who enjoy romance, history, ghost stories and shipwrecks are drawn to lighthouses. Why? Because lighthouses can give you all that and more.

The Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival in Alpena is the place for those who love the sentinels of the lake.

The Middle Island foghorn building has been converted into a rental cabin.

While I go to the festival every year, this time I decided to visit Middle Island Lighthouse.

It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature around 54 degrees. The trip began with Capt. Mike Theut giving us basic background info on Middle Island and the area where we were docked. Construction of the lighthouse began in 1904. In June 1905, it officially began service. In 1939, The Coast Guard took control and painted the middle section of the lighthouse black. After 1958 the black section was painted red.

Upon arrival to the island we had a walk of two-thirds of a mile to the lighthouse. The keepers quarters is a large two-store house. This is the largest keepers quarters I’ve ever seen. At the present time it’s a work in progress. Upon completion, the keepers quarters will be amazing.

The fog horn building has been converted for overnight stays. It’s available for rent for a night or more. If you go, you will have the whole island to yourself. To me that would be heaven. The lighthouse itself is in need of repair so we were unable to go inside. For more info go to www.middleislandkeeperslodge.com For a trip to see the lighthouse contact Captain Mike at captmike@core.com or (989) 884-2722.

Theut gives tours every Saturday between May and September. Tours leave at 10 a.m. from Alpena. The 2 1/2-mile trip to the island takes about 30 minutes. The whole trip takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Cost is $35 for adults and $25 for children under 12. Reservations are recommended.

Every year, I learn new information about the lighthouses. People from all over gather to see the lighthouses and talk about their adventures. It’s fun talking to other lighthouse fanatics about the lights.

The Portsmouth was a steamer that ran aground on Middle Island's Northwest shore in 1867. It burned to the waterline. The wreck can be seen by just walking along the shore. Soon after, in 1881, the federal government built a life saving station at this location.

The "Li'l Red" Alpena Lighthouse is visible from the marina breakwater at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River.

ALPENA — If you love lighthouses, make plans to visit the Great Lakes Lighhouse Festival this weekend.

Michigan is home to more than 100 lighthouses and Alpena is located within an hour’s drive of several of them. For the really adventures, there are even boat or aerial trips to see Alpena’s two lights located on off-shore islands.

“There is no other festival like it in the United States,” says Tim Harrison, editor in chief & publisher of Lighthouse Digest Magazine and president of American Lighthouse Foundation.

We visited the festival in 2008 and were delighted to find that our favorite was the featured light for the year. Crisp Point, located in the Upper Peninsula, is one of the state’s most remote mainland lights, but those who make the trek are always wowed by the scene find.

This year’s featured light is the Ontonagon Lighthouse, located in the Upper Peninsula town of the same name.

The festival is based at the Thunder Bay Recreational Center in Alpena, but lighthouses up and down the Lake Huron coast open for tours this weekend. Click here for a list of Sunrise Side lighthouses that are near Alpena.

“The organizers have done a fantastic job of drawing both vendors and lighthouse buffs from around the globe to what has become the largest and best lighthouse festival in the nation,” said Harrison, who will host a lighthouse dinner at concert at the Alpena Holiday Inn Saturday night. “October is a wonderful time of the year to visit Michigan, with the beautiful fall colors, close proximity to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and lots of lighthouses, what more could one ask for?”

Visitors are also encouraged to check out the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in downtown Alpena. The bay is home to one of the largest concentrations of shipwrecks in the world. Admission is free.

Six miles north of town at 7406 U.S. 23 North, is the festival museum. Admission is $2 (children under 12 are free) to check out more than 2,000 Great Lakes shipping and lighthouse artifacts.

The festival provides activities for the young and old including lighthouse tours (aerial, boat or personal vehicle), entertainment, and vendors. The festival boasts over 100 maritime related vendors including lighthouse preservation groups, artists, authors and more.

If you’re interested in lighthouses, you might want to check out Nancy Maxwell’s blog: http://michiganlighthouses.blogspot.com/

1) Tawas Point Lighthouse – 1.989.362.5041
Off U.S. 23 on Tawas Beach Road, Tawas City, MI
2) Sturgeon Point Lighthouse and Museum 1.989.724.6297
Off U.S. 23 North of Harrisville on Sturgeon Point Road.
3) Alpena Light (Lil’ Red) – Viewing from Thunder Bay Marina, Located at
the Mouth of the Thunder Bay River, Alpena, MI.
4) Old Presque Isle Lighthouse – 1.989.595.6979
New Presque Isle Lighthouse – 1.989.595.9917
both lighthouses located off U.S. 23 on Grand Lake Road
5) 40 Mile Point Lighthouse – 1.989.734.45.87
6 Miles North of Rogers City, South of Manitou Beach Road

Source: Alpena Conventions & Visitors Bureau

A hillside above Lake Leelanau, last September.

We get a lot of calls from people – an unbelievable number of calls, actually – asking when the peak fall color season will be this year. And the really honest answer is the one nobody wants to hear, which is: “Heck, we don’t know!”

This is a complicated place, weather-wise – and when it comes to fall color, that’s actually a good thing. Thanks to our coastal location and diverse landscape, the fall color season around Traverse City usually lasts a bit longer than in neighboring areas. Color changes usually begin in mid-September in the higher elevations south and east of Grand Traverse Bay, especially the steep inland valleys of the Boardman, Jordan and Manistee rivers. By the end of the month, when those areas are experiencing peak colors, the coastal forests along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the larger inshore lakes are just beginning to show good coloration and can often continue to grow in intensity well into October.

So, a good time to come is between mid-September and mid-October. Usually. On the other hand, here we are in mid-September and the color’s only just getting started. So who knows? This year maybe it could last into November. Wouldn’t that be something?

Read more of Mike Norton’s blog at blog.visittraversecity.com/

Nestled against the twin fjords of East and West Grand Traverse Bay, the Lake Michigan resort community of Traverse City is surrounded by dense northern hardwoods that glow brilliantly in the light of an autumn evening.

By MIKE NORTON
TRAVERSE CITY -– Bela Barner loves the great outdoors. In fact, the Chicago native hopes to visit every national park in the United States some day. But when fall comes around, his favorite destination is the rolling landscape of forests, dunes and deep blue water around Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay.

“I love the cooler weather and fall colors,” Barner says. “Northern Michigan in fall is heavenly.”

Barner is especially fond of the magnificent Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, about 20 miles west of Traverse City, whose steep hillsides and lush hardwood forests burst into sheets of flaming scarlet, orange and gold each fall. Set against the deep indigo of Lake Michigan, the towering bluffs and islands of Sleeping Bear are particularly dramatic when clothed in their autumn finery.

But the Traverse City area abounds in such places. Its characteristic landscape of rolling glacial ridges, lush forests and wide expanses of open water makes the perfect canvas for nature’s annual fall masterpiece. In this glacier-sculpted setting with its wide panoramas, autumn color is simply the finishing touch to a dramatic vista of water, sand and sky.

For generations, veteran “leaf-peepers” have made the Traverse Bay area the base of operations for their annual fall color pilgrimage, and the local Convention & Visitors Bureau annually receives hundreds of inquiries from prospective visitors who want to know when and where to see the best colors.

One of the best places to enjoy the interplay between water, sky and foliage is the Old Mission Peninsula, which juts bravely into Grand Traverse Bay — nearly 20 miles long and in some places as little as a mile wide. A beautiful patchwork of orchards, vineyards, forests and villages, it’s the perfect place for a morning or afternoon drive that combines fall color with beautiful views of the bay, visits to wineries and roadside fruit stands, and unforgettable meals at several charming restaurants.

The most spectacular views along the peninsula are generally to be had along M-37 (Center Road), which runs along the steep ridge at its center, through the charming hamlet of Mapleton to the picturesque lighthouse at Old Mission Point.

But it’s just as lovely to amble along the roads that follow the shoreline on either side, stopping to visit the historic village of Old Mission and the quiet settlement of Bowers Harbor.

Northwest of Traverse City is the much larger Leelanau Peninsula, the “little finger” of the Michigan mitten – a place of beautiful scenery, quaint lakeshore villages and fascinating history, and home to the magnificent Sleeping Bear Dunes. The coastal fringes of this remarkable area can be sampled easily along M-22, which follows the shore of Grand Traverse Bay to Northport, then turns abruptly southwest to skirt the coast of Lake Michigan through Leland, Glen Arbor and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. (Here, a must-do is the side jaunt on M-109 past the ghost port of Glen Haven and the famous Dune Climb to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive (permit required) which offers splendid views of the surrounding lake and dune country.)

Still, when it comes to fall colors, the peninsula’s hilly interior often provides a more brilliant show than the coastlands. Here, along the slopes above Lake Leelanau and the two Glen lakes, are farmlands, woods, vineyards and small towns that still retain traces of their Polish and Bohemian founders.

Some of the same feeling can be had just to the northeast of Traverse City, in the glacier-scoured Chain of Lakes region of Antrim County. This is a dramatic landscape of rolling drumlins and long, deep blue glacial lakes. Two of the largest, Elk Lake and Torch Lake, are particularly beautiful when the hills in which they nestle are aflame with fall colors. Nearby is the steep valley of the little Rapid River, whose forested slopes look as though they could have been transported from the Appalachians.

A good introduction to this region can be had by following U.S. 31 north from Traverse City, past orchards and farms along the shore of East Grand Traverse Bay to the lively little port of Elk Rapids. From here, it’s possible to drive east between the lakes and into the hills above them, where the autumn views of distant blue hills evoke fall in the lochs of Scotland. The tiny village of Alden, on Torch Lake, makes a great stop for lunch and some shopping, while the summit of Shanty Creek near Bellaire provides awe-inspiring views of the surrounding countryside.

The highlands to the south of Traverse City are dotted with dozens of small lakes, sturdy farm towns and dense forests of evergreens and hardwoods – as well as the majestic Boardman Valley. Much of this intensely varied landscape is contained in the Pere Marquette State Forest, and it is best explored by heading out into the maze of twisting roads that wind through the forests, around lakes and along the tops of high wooded bluffs.

One place to start is by circling Long Lake, whose islands and coves provide a pleasant fall backdrop for a drive to the village of Interlochen, home to the renowned Interlochen Center for the Arts. From here, it’s an uncomplicated trip east through rolling farmlands to Kingsley and the even smaller hamlet of Mayfield on the Boardman River, where a traveler must choose whether to follow the river valley (which broadens dramatically just beyond this point) or ascend the steep bluffs above the river to the Forest Lakes region. Of course, one can always do both!

WHAT ELSE TO DO: You can cover a lot of ground by driving through the fall landscape – but to experience the full sensory richness of autumn, you have to get out and listen to the crunch of leaves, smell the spicy aroma of apples and woodsmoke, breathe the crisp autumn air. Fortunately, Traverse City has dozens of hiking trails. Another great way to see the autumn foliage is to paddle a canoe or kayak down one of the area’s gentle, slow-moving rivers.

WHEN TO COME: Thanks to its coastal location and diverse landscape, the fall color season around Traverse City usually lasts a bit longer than in neighboring areas. Color changes usually begin in mid-September in the higher elevations south and east of Grand Traverse Bay, especially the steep inland valleys of the Boardman, Jordan and Manistee rivers. By the end of the month, when those areas are experiencing peak colors, the coastal forests along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the larger inshore lakes are just beginning to show good coloration and can often continue to grow in intensity well into October.

The Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau publishes a full-color brochure highlighting its recommended color tours and maintains a Fall Color Hotline at 1-800-727-5482 where visitors can find out about the progress of the color season. This year, the Bureau is also offering a series of “fab fall” lodging packages priced as low as $25 per person per night (plus tax, based on double occupancy) that includes discounts on dining, shopping and other fall activities.

For information about color tours and other events and activities in the Traverse City area this fall, as well as a comprehensive listing of area restaurants, accommodations and attractions, contact the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-TRAVERSE or on line at www.VisitTraverseCity.com

All over Hubbard Lake, trucks pulling empty boat trailers head to the boat ramp while someone else gets to take the last boat ride of the summer.

Yes, I know, summer doesn’t “officially” end until Sept. 21, but tell that to everyone trying to squeeze in one last bit of fun on the unofficial end of summer.

Tuesday morning, most of the kids will head back to school, and parents will have sad emotions mixed with a bit of glee that the rugrats will be occupied for seven hours a day, five days a week for most of the next nine months.

I-75 was its usual worst as us trolls (those who live below the Zilwaukee Bridge) headed home from vacation fantasy lands to the north. What was more surprising was the traffic backed up waiting to get through Standish. And that was at 12:30 p.m. Hate to see what it was like at about 6 p.m. Does anyone know a decent alternative to the freeway that does not involve driving through Bay City or Saginaw?

So, goodbye summer. Now we welcome the days of tailgating at the football game, leaves turning burning shades of reds, yellows and oranges and light jackets replacing our Bermuda shorts.

Summer, we’ll miss you, until we meet again …