These past two weeks we've been up north. Michigan is an absolutely amazing state with endless places to visit. The more time I spend here the more places get added to my "must see" list. I'll never be able to visit them all. This summer has been really hard thanks to the pandemic and everything we'd planned to do was cancelled - visits with family, trip to the Palmyra pageant in NY, cruise to Alaska, scout camps, etc. It left all of us down in the dumps. So I decided we had to do something. A socially distanced, airplane/cruise ship free something. Thank goodness Michigan is gorgeous. I found two AirBnB rentals on lakes just a couple hours from home that were absolutely perfect. One was close to Ludington at Gunn Lake and one was close to Traverse City at Fife Lake. Well, I actually found a different one first, but the owners cancelled on us two weeks before our trip for a reason they refused to disclose, so we found the Gunn Lake one last-minute, but it worked out great anyway. Both areas were remote, small, and largely private. We had a wonderful time kayaking, swimming, hiking in the woods, riding bikes, motorcylcing, playing games, etc. We even spent some time exploring the old cemetary in Fife Lake and googling the names on the grave stones. We found some really interesting stories. It was a lot of fun. Leaving was hard. We'd really enjoyed ourselves. Kelly even started looking into buying our own place at Fife Lake, but hasn't found a suitable place yet.
The view from our porch in the first cabin. Here Benjamin is trying out the mini kayak that came with the place. I had tried it earlier and capsized in the middle of the lake when a pontoon boat came by. I'd had to swim with my arm over the boat all the way back to shore. Benjamin decided to play it safe and stay close to land.
We went to Lake Michigan on a cloudy, windy day and had the place all to ourselves. The kids loved it.
Gunn Lake had a roped off swimming area on the other side from our cabin. We often kayaked over there and swam around and jumped off the diving platform out in the water.
Christian had some good dives and also some pretty epic belly-flops.
This is pretty much the only pic I got of motorcycling - the first unloading off the truck. It's a cute one, though. Kelly and I are both awful at remembering to take pictures.
Peter isn't a fan of cold lake water, so this was how he was happiest in the lake. I'd sit in the tube and he'd hang over so he could play with the water but not be in it. If he was in it, he'd cry. It worked out really well like this though. I could take him all around and the kids could swim with us and Peter loved watching them.
We went on several hikes in the woods. We found hunter's towers, lots of different plants and animals, and mostly just enjoyed being in the fresh, cool air. Peter loved it too.
We took lots of bike rides. Our favorite were the "rails to trails" rides. These are where they have torn out old rail lines and paved them as bike paths. 20+ miles of perfectly smooth, mostly flat or slightly sloping paths through beautiful scenery and wooded areas. They are amazing. Bella loved them the most. She never wanted to stop. She and Kelly ended up going another 20 miles more than the rest of us. With Peter in the carrier, I could never go too far before he'd had enough. He loves the ride, but he has his limits.
More Lake Michigan on another day.
We had dinner one night at the park by the Ludington Lighthouse and took a sunset walk out to it.
We celebrated Peter's birthday at Gunn Lake so I wanted to take my last monthly photo. He never makes it easy. The paper cloud was thrown into the water and he really didn't want to sit but with Christian's help we got some marginally good shots.
This one is my favorite if only the cloud were turned correctly to say "1 year."
Love this little cuddly moment Christian and Peter were having during snack time in the cabin at Fife Lake. So adorable.
We kayaked at Torch Lake and went out to the sandbar in the lake. The water there is incredible and I love how fun the sandbar is to play on. I only wish there had been fewer people that day. The picture doesn't show it, but it was painfully crowded with large pontoon boats. We didn't stay too long.
We ended up playing by the dock for a while and having more fun there than at the sandbar!
We visited Sleeping Bear Dunes again. I always enjoy it there, but never as much as I hope I will. For some reason it's just not the amazing place it's always described to be, but the boys and I had fun. I kept wanting to walk farther and farther to try to get to Lake Michigan, but in the end we gave up. It was just too far. Kelly and Bella didn't feel like climbing so they stayed down at the car in the shade with Peter and I didn't want to make them wait so long.
There's a bike trail that runs along the dunes and into Glen Haven and Glen Arbor areas. It's beautiful and we had a lot of fun riding through there. If AirBnBs there weren't $400/night, that would be my next destination.
Benjamin thought it would be fun to bury Peter. Peter didn't agree.
There's a little ice cream shop next to Fife Lake. No day of swimming was ever complete without a trip to get ice cream.
The cabin at Fife Lake has a corn hole game in the garage. We played nearly every night and Peter espcially loved climbing on the boards.
Bella decided it would be funny to try to hit my phone with the bean bag rather than get it in the hole. Her aim was spot on. Famous last shot before impact.
All in all, it was a wonderful vacation. I'm so glad we went. I only wish we could have stayed longer.
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