Charlevoix, MI to Northport, MI

Once again, we need to idle while we wait for the bridge opening, this time, in Round Lake. Round Lake is home to two of Earl Young’s mushroom houses. These two were not on our tour as they are located on a private drive, inaccessible to the public. The only view, of these iconic mushroom homes, is from Round Lake. We cruise closer to capture some photos to share with you!😊

The Bridge opens and we leave Round Lake, cruise through the Pine River Channel and head into Lake Michigan.

The water conditions are nice…here. Once outside of the protection of the surrounding land, and into open Lake Michigan water, things change a bit.

Northport was founded years ago by combining two villages… Waukazoovile and Northport. Trying to escape the smallpox outbreak, Chief Waukazoo, Reverend George Smith, and settlers arrive by boats and canoes and proceed to grid five streets naming their village Waukazoovile. Meanwhile, the adjacent land is plotted by Deacon Joseph Dame who names his village Northport. Eventually the two villages combine and the community of Northport is founded. To this day, as one walks up Main Street from Traverse Bay, the streets on the left of Main reflect the town’s Indian roots while, to the right, the streets reflect its English roots.

Northport today is a small town with a little over 500 residents. It is known as a town that the rich and famous can live anonymously, but somehow everyone knows Tim Allen summers here.😉 We enjoy browsing through the shops and even buy our very own Petoskey stone, as we have yet to find one on our own.

There is a lot to remember Northport for:

All these attributes are true to Northport. My memory will be of something totally different. It begins with a trip to the Grocery.

While in the grocery, we begin to notice strange things….

This is how the Battle of Northport Fruit Flies VS. Prime 11 commences. As Northport is in the heart of cherry and apple orchards, fruit flies are abundant in extreme and enter your doors and windows despite any screens. Only 1/8″ in size, these pests have invaded Northern Michigan relentlessly since their surge in 2012. Officially named the spotted wing drosophila, they no longer target just the rotten fruit. They will also focus on healthy fruit, flowers and anything damp, such as towels, sponges, mops, and sink drains. A female fruit fly can lay 500 eggs, which mature within a week. So needless to say, when Prime 11, for no reason but being in Northport, gets infested with fruit flies, I am at wits end getting rid of them. We use two levels of defense: a wine jar covered with saran wrap poked with tiny holes to attract and kill them and an immediate kill by… The Executioner!

To help the cherry and apple growers, there is a new weapon being developed, without the use of pesticides, the waste of good wine, or me swinging the executioner. This new weapon is the Samba wasp. The Samba wasp kills fruit flies by laying its eggs inside them. This all seems impossible and disturbing at the same time.