The Story of Mac Wood
A family tradition since 1930.
Mac Wood was a very interesting character. He was always thinking of new ways to do things. When he was the operator of Flora-Dale Resort, he would have to come up with interesting ways to entertain the guests, and the Dune Scooter Ride was one of these ventures.
These rides started in 1930. It was entertainment for Mac and the family at first. However, neighbors and persons passing by were so interested in his discovery that they talked Mac into making dune scootering a business.
Fulgurites
“Nature’s Glass”
Even before man learned the secret of glassmaking, nature made glass in two ways. The heat of volcanic eruption fuses rocks and sand into a glass called obsidian. When lightning strikes sand, the heat fuses it into long, slender glass tubes called fulgurites. They are commonly called petrified lightning, or lightning sticks. The fulgurite is nature’s glass… irregular in shape and nontransparent. It takes on a greenish color depending on the hue of the sand as the lightning strikes.
The fulgurites is very brittle and will break from the vibrations when digging or just the pressure from the sand itself. Fulgurites are all different shapes and sizes, and once they start down into the sand, they will branch off the main finger, just like a flash of lightning in the sky.
Piping Plovers
Protected shorebirds native to the Great Lakes
Piping Plovers are a rare and endangered bird.
For the past few years, these birds have decided to make their nest at our beach stop at Lake Michigan. We have been informed by Fish & Wildlife and the State of Michigan that we are not allowed to go near these nests – this lasts about one month (usually July). During this time we will not be able to go to the beach, we will be making our stop on Razor Back one of our tallest dunes. The ride is still 40 minutes long and you will still get to visually see Lake Michigan several times during your ride. There is also a public beach on Lake Michigan about a mile down the road.