Traverse City is more than just the cherry capital of the world, but it takes its cherry-capital status very seriously (as it should, considering that it proclaimed itself the cherry capital). Our first stop in Traverse City was to see the World’s Largest Cherry Pie Pan!

This pan was used to bake the World’s Largest Cherry Pie in 1987 (the sign there told us the pie was 28,350 pounds and 17′6″ in diameter!). Awesome!

Traverse City is also home to several cherry-themed stores, including our choice, The Cherry Stop:

…which is located in the charming downtown area:

…which is serviced by, I kid you not, the “Cherriot”:

Bwahaha! Awesome. Anyway, we got an array of cherry items at the Cherry Stop:

The cherry-mustard bbq sauce is totally delicious (they have everything open so you can taste it), and I also tried some cherry wine there that I quite enjoyed! We also got some cherry pie from the Great Traverse Pie Company today that was totally amazing and made me want to make pies constantly and own a pie shop.

Anyway, Traverse City also has this:

I had NO IDEA such a thing existed in the midwest. Seriously. But it is an absolutely beautiful beach (Traverse City sits on the Grand Traverse Bay, which flows out of Lake Michigan). Nicely done, Traverse City.

One thing I noticed about the beach was that it was kind of weird to have the sun behind me when facing what looked like the ocean at 5pm. I had the same feeling of disorientation the first time I went to the Pacific Ocean. It’s not bad, it’s just odd. I guess growing up on the east coast has oriented my body to a particular sun/water relationship without me realizing it!

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