Leelanau County, located north of Traverse City, Michigan has always been one of our favorite destinations. It is home to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, many quaint little towns, a few dozen wineries, and miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The Leelanau Peninsula is a place that has called out to us.
No matter the season, we have spent a lot of time enjoying this amazing piece of real estate. In 2011, ABC’s Good Morning America voted Sleeping Bear Dunes the most beautiful place in America.
While it is difficult to compare the varied landscapes in America, we do feel the area ranks right up there with the best of them.
In recent years, the area wine industry has become a major player in Michigan’s economy. Along wih it, the foodies have descended upon the area. Mario Batali spends his summers here. The food and wine are delightful!
So, you ask…what does that have to do with our summer? Well, we are going to be work camping at one of our favorite resorts!
Wild Cherry Resort is located between Sutton’s Bay and Lake Leelanau. Besides us, there is one other couple and room for a third (due to a recent cancellation). This will be our first work camping job, so while we know the park well from staying there, we haven’t seen it as workers. We have spoken with the staff in the past, and all of them have enjoyed the experience.
If you are interested in spending the summer work camping in an amazing part of the world, contact Jim at Wild Cherry through their website wildcherryresort.com.
Hopefully, we will get to enjoy the summer together!
exploRVistas 
What a gorgeous area to workcamp. NW Michigan is one of our favorite places. We were married in Suttons Bay.
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What a beautiful place to be married! Thanks for your comments!
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What an amazing looking place! That area is totally on my bucket list – good to know someone who knows the area well! Good luck with your work camping job – can’t wait to hear all about it!
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Thanks, Kelly! We will blog about the area throughout the summer. Are you sure you and Bill don’t want to make it this year? 🙂
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That is awesome news congratulations! I went to the website, it looks like a beautiful place to spend the summer and fall.
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Thanks, Jim! How is the mapping job going?
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Well….. I have a surprise for my next post, you will just have to wait a day or two!
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We love surprises! 🙂
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Karen is from Michigan so I mentioned where you all would be work camping and she says that is a beautiful place. Their family cabin was about 30 miles from there. We just added it to our list of places to go and visit. She mentioned Crystal Lake so I’ll have to look that up as well.
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Mark, Crystal Lake is beautiful! There are so many interesting and gorgeous places up there, we can’t wait to get back there. If you know anyone looking for a great opportunity, have them drop us a line!
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Awesome ! Sleeping Bear Dunes is really a wonderful location. I hope you will have an amazing time !
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Thanks, Gin! We are looking forward to it!
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That looks like an incredibly beautiful area. Mike and I will have to keep that in mind for the future.
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Definitely do so, as the area has so much to offer, Robin!
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Wonderful! And you won’t be too far from home either to keep up with family. Looks like something we’d love to do next year as it would have us close to the middle-eastern states for fall.
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Jello plans…come this year, Debbie! 🙂
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I wish, but we have a graduation and two weddings 🙂
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That will definitely chew up a summer! Have fun! Have you had any luck selling the ranch?
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A summer in Michigan, so lovely! What kind of work will you be doing when work camping? I have actually never tried wine from the area. Would you have any to recommend?
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We will be running the contact station, lawn maintenance and gardening, general upkeep of the resort, etc.
As far as Leelanau wines, they are known for their whites. Reds are catching up, though. We gravitate towards the semi-dry to the drier sides of the whites. While we have our favorite wineries, we prefer to be neutral and have you come and experience them all! The wine tour weekends are always fun, Inger! Check out http://www.lpwines.com.
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I look forward to following your posts this summer to see how the gig turns out. Beautiful country 🙂
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Thanks, Ingrid! I am sure we will have a LOT of great blog material this summer. Have fun in the Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin. We love them both!
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Awesome! Enjoy your time together!
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Thanks, Crissy! We are looking forward to it!
Jim
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WOW,,, that looks like a great place to take on your first work camping gig. And a great place to spend the summer. I think we will be putting that spot on our places to stay list.
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Yes, you two would love the area, I’m sure!
Jim
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Sounds like a hoot. We have never tried ‘workamping.’ Have no idea the tradeoffs. For now we’re happy doing the volunteer bit but maybe some day.
Lovely area. We don’t know a lot about N. MI
It’s always good to be able to spend time at places you love.
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Do you get a free campsite in exchange for your volunteering, Peter? If so, you are workamping. 🙂
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Yes we do. Free full hookup + propane! And access to a lot of on-site perks like a great fully equipped kitchen!!!!! With a commercial oven!!!!!
Pizza!!!!!
I guess the deal with workamping and volunteering is that one is for commercial sites and one is for governmental???? I always have a hard time with categorizations. :-\
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If you get a chance, Google the Wiki page on Workamping. The first paragraph describes it well.
Have fun in Oregon!
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