Empire has a beautiful contemporary library (Glen Lake Community) on its main drag, where I had book event #16, which was fun, attended by old friends from high school and people I’d never met. Great combo. Dinner was at Joe’s Friendly Tavern, a local favorite with knotty pine walls, Detroit Tigers memorabilia and big round wood tables quickly filled with one group after another. Terrific burgers, and kid food including nothing fancy but serviceable Kraft Mac and cheese.

This morning we got goodies at the weekly Tuesday farmers market in bustling Glen Arbor, then hit the bike trail (sleeping Bear heritage trail) cycling north past lake houses, the Homestead Resort and pretty preserved farmsteads that are part of the national park shoreline. We got as far as Point Oneida, then turned around. Pyramid point was too far for the ride which began on paved trail but soon became gravel and crushed stone and sand. Not my favorite surface but a gorgeous ride through bucolic farmland and woods. Another day we rode from port Oneida to good Harbor beach, an easy 10 mile ride, primarily paved but with about a mile of gravel.

We had a late lunch at the cafe at The Mill, a hip new place in a restored grain mill bordering a gentle stream. We sat outside on a small deck overlooking the stream and enjoyed a delicious pesto chicken sandwich and inventive watermelon salad with tomatoes, dill, feta, and pistachios. (trust me, it worked!) we liked the place enough to go again for lunch, having a banh Minh sandwich with pork belly and a chilled spicey corn soup.There’s also an outpost called Up River in town near the bike store

Supper (the name of the evening meal) is pricey and reservations can be hard to get but I’d like to try some time time. Emma and rocket enjoyed their meal there. We also brought home an excellent walnut cranberry bread. The place also has three rooms for lodgers. The decor in the dining areas is rustic chic.

Somehow we had never been to the Cottage Book Shop, which turned out to be totally charming, inside a rustic wood cabin and has a fantastic selection of books (including mine, aka Our Diaries, Ourselves)

We discovered there is a Vic Steimel Park in the area. Word has it he was a Leelanau county lifer who owned property on Suttons Bay’s Stony Point, died in 1984, and was the son of George Steimel. Dirck says he had an uncle George Steimel who lived Baltimore but we doubt it’s the same guy.