Nature Abounds at Spider Lake

Traverse City has LOTS of things to do....However, we found PLENTY to do just at the campground and between trying out some of the great restaurants Traverse City has to offer, and taking advantage of the lake activities, we were kept pretty busy and did not venture into town much....After all, the goal was to connect with family, and we sure did.....

My brother, Rich, from Massachusetts, generously rented a pontoon boat for the week for the family...The rental was from Blue Sky Boat Rental company in Traverse City. They delivered the boat to Spider Lake for us, and it was almost brand new.  Spider Lake is a terrific lake for exploring....it's got LOTS of little fingers spreading out, like spider legs, of course. So we usually had a full load, accompanied with beer and wine or pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company, snacks, or all of the above!Every night we went out for a "float boat" ride....And everybody just loved it!

Sparky went kayaking almost every morning....There are LOONS on the lake, at least one pair with a youngster....

We saw and heard them every single day. What a beautiful sound to hear them calling!

Sparky went looking for the loons almost every morning in the campground kayak.

She was lucky to be able to see them and watch the parents feed the young one more than once.

Here the mama (?) is coming to the youngster with a fish. Even though the young one seemed to be finding some fish on his own, the parents still came and took turns bringing him extra fish.

The loons weren't bothered by all the lake traffic at all. Jet skis whizzed by, water skiing boats zoomed around, and they just went about their business of feeding the youngster and swimming around looking for food.

Here's the baby, er, youngster, as he's getting quite big......

Loons weren't the only wildlife, besides the screaming kids on tubes and the noisy jet skis.  Sparky saw a family of ducklings that were all lined up on a log one morning, waiting for Mama's directions.

And of course, turtles...not sure of what kind this one is, but the shell is cool......

Sparky also saw a line up of ducks (female mallards?) that just called for a photo opp!

And guess that will about be enough for today....Have to stretch out this blog, ya know...because we aren't doing that much back home in Bradenton...We'll finish up the reunion next time...See you then!