On a clear sunny hot day, we took our bikes out to Ludington State Park to see the Sand Dunes and the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. The bike trail course was flat and straight north out of Ludington. The big attraction aside from the camp ground and the beach was the restored light Big Sable Point lighthouse. This area known to the French as the Grande Pointe au Sable - sable meaning sand - is an accurate description. It never occurred to us that there was so much sand on the Michigan coast, but this sand rivals that on the seashores on any ocean and is much finer, cleaner and whiter (with some exceptions) than any seashore we'd ever visited.

But this sand does shift and endangered the very existence of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse up until 1987 when concerned citizens took action to create a bulkhead and preserve the site. We climbed the 190 steps to the top and got a magnificent view of the beach, dunes and the blue expanse of Lake Michigan.

After the 20 mile round trip, too cool off we plunged into the water at the beach off the pier heads in Ludington - the water was crystal clear, the bottom fine sand and no salt, sharks, seaweed, jellyfish, or anything. Who knew?!