Yesterday was a very nice day, and I am glad to think of it, because today it is raining and looking for all the world like the tail end of November. Let’s stick with yesterday.
I thought I was going to Elk Rapids to have lunch with Louan, but life is full of surprises. When I picked her up she was wearing her sparkly pink Santa hat. Let’s go to Northport! she said. I’ll buy gas. If you are from Around Here that makes perfect sense. For those of you from Away–Northport is leventy-six miles around the Bay, out at the end of the Leelanau Peninsula. It is an expedition. We filled up the tank at the Village Market, where the gas was favorably priced, and headed off into the afternoon.
Driving through Leelanau County with Louan is an adventure. She lived over there for a long time, and has many, many stories about it. She even wrote a song about it, which I will play for you sometime when I have achieved broadband. The time went quickly, and then we were in Northport at Dog Ears Books. Sarah, the Official Greeter, wagged her plumy tail. Pamela Grath, a/k/a PJ, gave us tea. Louan bought a book about the West Michigan Pike. Satisfactory. No pictures. Sometimes I am too busy living life to think about recording it.
We turned south toward Suttons Bay and arrived in time to watch volunteers setting up for the Holiday Stroll. By the time we’d finished our lunch–which by now was really our supper–evening had settled in and the lights showed to best advantage. We strolled. We were greeted with cups of complimentary hot cider in front of the 45th Parallel Cafe. We were greeted with fudge samples and a rousing chorus of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer at Candy World. We strolled all the way to the other end of town and back again, admiring the windows, stopping at every gallery. Louan exchanged pleasantries and hugs with old friends. She bought beeswax candles. She bought–oh, I almost forgot, it’s a secret. And finally I took pictures.
Holiday shopping in Suttons Bay (or Northport, or Elk Rapids, or Alden, or Bellaire, or Central Lake–or in a small town near you) is a wonderful treat to give yourself. Very peaceful. May you find pretty lights, friendly greetings, and a rousing song of good cheer to warm your spirits during this busy season.
Also a brightly lit BP gas station with a clean restroom. No holiday decorations there, just the deeply appreciated essentials. Thanks, guys.
Torch Lake Views 
Sybil
December 3, 2011
Sounds like a lovely evening with a friend Gerry. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Love the photos.
Gerry
December 4, 2011
Thanks, Sybil.
P.j. grath
December 3, 2011
Okay, I’m home now and can’t view the slide show, but thanks for the appreciative mention. Sarah is wagging her tail RIGHT NOW, as if she knows what you wrote and what I’m writing! But no, we just have company here at home, and Sarah loves company–as you know. Please hug Louan for me again. Hugs to you, too, Gerry!
Gerry
December 4, 2011
Thank you for tea and stories. And pats to silky Sarah.
P.S. Sorry the slideshow won’t load. I resized the photos, and there are just five, but no go, eh? We need one of those bat signal thingies–then we can project our brilliant posts on the winter clouds. They’ll be visible all the way to the U.P. OK, I’ll just go off to bed now, shall I?
Louan
December 3, 2011
Gerry- That was a very fine day of wandering. I thought about it all day, too. Thanks for driving so I could enjoy the passing points of interest. I especially liked meeting Sarah, the tail wagging greeter and I really like the photo of the fire engine in the candy store window.
Gerry
December 4, 2011
I’m glad you enjoyed playing passenger for a day. We did pack a lot in, didn’t we?
Dawn
December 4, 2011
Those are just the best kind of days, when you just drive and stop wherever you fancy. And it turned out so lovely too! Plus a reminder that we can shop the small towns instead of the big malls…that’s something to remember.
Gerry
December 4, 2011
I suspect that making an expedition to a small town for the purpose of shopping could be as disappointing as making an expedition to the mall. There are two parts to every shopping trip: the practical acquisition of goods and services, and the Experience Itself. OK, there’s a third part, too, and that’s the expenditure of quantities of money, but we’re not going there today.
If you know exactly what you want to buy and where to buy it, you can tend to that and have the balance of the day to yourself. If you feel like strolling and admiring and exchanging pleasantries–and possibly stumbling on something spectacularly perfect for a particular person–you can do that instead. The only kind of shopping I can’t understand is Competitive Shopping, and in this I am apparently in a distinct minority.
Giiid
December 5, 2011
Very cozy. Are these photos showing Christmas decorations at a SMALL town? Once again I have to acknowledge that everything is bigger and of consistently higher quality in Amerika. Have you ever heard about something called half-done, over there? Apparently not. I am envious.
Gerry
December 5, 2011
It was very cozy and pretty and I had a good time. I am surprised that you would draw that conclusion, though, and it’s given me a lot to think about.
I’ll take you to another small town with a very different celebration later in the week. Excellent treats come in all sorts of packages.
uphilldowndale
December 9, 2011
Is Northport a popular tourist town at Christmas? Here in the UK some of our popular ‘fair weather’ villages that are popular in the summer months with walkers and summer holiday people, make an extra special effort with lights and decorations, to invent a new way of drawing the punters in.
Gerry
December 9, 2011
Northport and Suttons Bay are both popular tourist towns at Christmas–though not nearly so popular then as during the summer. They are long on charm and worth a trip. I suspect that a lot of the shoppers are Summer People who like to spend Christmas at the cottage before heading to Warmer Places for the winter. Of course, on this particular weekend at least two of the shoppers came from Elk Rapids and Eastport!
Karma
December 6, 2011
Looks like a worthwhile expedition, and you did a lovely job photographing the lights! (You might even be able to use some of those shots for, oh, I don’t know, a photo hunt? 😉 )
Gerry
December 6, 2011
I’m glad you liked the lights. I thought they were pretty, and kept pointing and beaming like a little kid. Until I get the internet sorted, I don’t think I’ll be doing a whole lot of photo posting–but one day . . .
shoreacres
December 10, 2011
I laughed at your casual description of sorts of shopping. I don’t do a lick of the competitive sort any more, but I’m very careful not to combine the task-oriented with the pleasureable. One or the other suits me better.
I love the lights. In my Iowa hometown, airline pilots heading into Chicago or who-knows-where still detour to allow their passengers to look down at our courthouse, which always has been decorated within an inch of its life. It’s the Kansas City Plaza, but without the crowds.
I recently was sent a little care package, which includes a number of Michigan items. If the apricot preserves are any indication, Leelanau is one fine penninsula.