Friends and Dunes

So many pictures to upload off my phone, so little time …  Here are the pics from our little jaunt to Michigan last August.  This trip was inspired by a desire to see some dear friends and also some intriguing pictures in a travel magazine, which touted Sleeping Bear Dunes as one of the top 10 places to take kids.  Since it’s roughly six hours away, we figured it would be a fairly easy three-day trip.

First we met our friends the Reitzes in this quaint German town called Frankenmuth.  All the planters were gorgeous and it definitely had a European feel to it.

I had to take this picture of Rachelle at the brewery where we had lunch.  How cute is that little mug? 

We enjoyed catching up with the Reitz family!  We are so glad they live in the Midwest now!

A coffee break in Cadillac.  This is where Michigan started getting really pretty:

We checked into our hotel in Traverse City.  After the kids played with the Murphy bed for a bit, we set out to explore the Old Mission Peninsula.  The drive was chock full of scenic vistas and rolling orchards and wineries. It was just beautiful.  And I think the lighthouse beach at the end of the peninsula is probably one of the most random-fun places I have seen.  

This beach was so quirky with all of the cairns. You could walk more than a mile in transparent water stretching out over a sandbar.  It was peaceful, calm, breathtaking.  We sat there while the kids played for about an hour.  I could have stayed much longer. 

Then there was the infamous Dune Climb.  It was a workout but not as bad as I’d expected.  Maybe this was due to the fact that it had rained that morning and the sand was more compact than normal?  We got lucky!  And the view at the top was definitely worth the perspiration!

Isn’t this spectacular?!

Taking time to observe a friendly monarch butterfly. 

Resting after a picnic lunch.

A beautiful beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes.  

The scenic drive at SBD was amazing.  Totally worth the $10 admission to the park!  This was my favorite place we stopped, I think.  A massive dune that descended rapidly into the great blue beyond.  The sea was a wide, swirling blend of blue and green hues, with the gorgeous sky beyond.  This is another place I could have spent lots of hours, just sitting there and taking it all in.

Isn't this just gorgeous?  The shoreline on the scenic drive was amazing.  Like Kevin said, "It's hard to even believe this is the Midwest."  Not that we don't love the Midwest. It has so many virtues and is a great place to live.  But this was just something so different and surprisingly beautiful, we could hardly believe we hadn't driven much farther to see it.  

Thank you Travel Magazine, wherever you now are, for giving us the idea for this fantastic trip!!

This picture was taken on a walk in Traverse City.  I think we were out on the marina.  Traverse City itself was beautiful. I would love to go back!  There were numerous sail boats out.  It was a colorful and quaint town, with lots of perfect views of the bay.

A brief stop in South Haven for lunch and ice cream ended our trip.  I'm a big Shauna Niequist fan and she writes a lot about South Haven so I thought it would be fun to stop and see the town. 

Life is too short to not do things like this!  It was an adventure we will keep with us forever.