Silver Lake's Apple and Barbecue and Dune Festival

We are enjoying our stay at our completely shaded site in Mason County Campground near Ludington, Michigan. We're experiencing unusually warm weather for September, so we appreciate the shade from the massive oak trees around us. But we don't appreciate the acorns that are falling from those massive heights. We've heard from other campers that it sounds like a bomb exploding when an acorn hits an RV roof, and we feel like we need to wear our bicycle helmets for protection when walking around the campground. We hate to complain, but the mosquitoes have also found us. We're hearing from the locals that they have seen few mosquitoes this summer. But that ten-inch rain has brought the little monsters out in swarms, and even the locals are complaining about them.

Besides acorns and mosquitoes, we are quite happy with our location along Lake Michigan. Today we're driving the car about 30 miles to Silver Lake--another beautiful little lake town just south of us. Silver Lake is also the name of the body of water that is surrounded by sand dunes. In the picture below, the clear water of Silver Lake is the same color as the clear blue sky this morning.

But the main reason for our trip to Silver Lake is to attend the annual Apple and Barbecue Festival. It's a beautiful day, and everyone else in western Michigan had the same idea. Making any purchase involved standing in a long line in the hot sun with the steaming crowds. We are breaking some record high temperatures in western Michigan this weekend.

Professional barbecue teams were smoking up meats for the lucky judges. But the rest of us were buying up the barbecue from the food trucks that were assembled in the crowded food court. Normally we shop all the options and prices before making this important lunch choice. This is the first time we have ever made our food choice solely based on the food line that was mostly in the shade.

We were glad to see that apples were available at this Apple and Barbecue Festival. We saw apple pies, canned apple pie filling, apple cobbler, and apple bread for sale. But we were most happy to see that a local orchard was selling the freshest apples in the state. They provided samples to help festival-goers decide between their three favorite varieties-Honey Crisp, Gala, and SweeTango. We tried them all and picked the one we had never heard of before--Sweet Tango. We both agree that this is the best apple we have ever tasted in our entire lives! That's quite a compliment from apple-lovers like us. As proof of that opinion, we bought a whole  bag of SweeTango apples to take home.

We traded in the crowds at the festival for the crowds at the beach as we drove to see the local lighthouse. This is Little Sable, the little brother of the lighthouse we saw yesterday. But unlike yesterday's black and white steel casing, this light still sports its beautiful red brick exterior.

This town has a thriving tourist economy because so many people visit here to play in the sand dunes. We made our way to the state park, where we climbed to the top of the dune. The stairs that make the climb easier, have been completely swamped in sand as the dunes have shifted.

We made it to the top of the dune, with sand as far as the eye could see. We were glad to find this pedestrian section of the dunes where only foot prints can be found in the sand.

From that pedestrian-only section, we walked to the rim to watch the hub of activity for this tiny town. These are the dunes open to every type of vehicle imaginable. We weren't surprised to see an assortment of dune buggies, jeeps and SUVs  zipping down the hill front of us.

But as we watched longer, we saw full-size suburbans, motorcycles, and even a couple cars make their way across flatter sections of the dunes.

The crazier, more sand-worthy vehicles were more fun as they popped over the tallest dunes with all four of their tires in the air.

Walking in the shifting sand is good exercise, and the sun was heating up the dunes. It's hard to believe that we are in Michigan in September with day-time temperatures in the 80's. The locals find it hard to believe it as well.

We're glad to have our 50-amp full-hook-ups at Mason County Campground, which is just three miles from the beach and the cool waters of Lake Michigan. Bring on the hot temperatures!