Pure Michigan

We just got back from a week in northern Michigan and what a week it was!  Jed decided to come of his 2 year old age on our trip which made things really interesting, especially at the beginning of the week.  It was such a long drive up there.  The kids really did a great job all things considered.  I bought some treats for the kids to help ease the drive.  One of the things I bought was a bag of thin chocolate chip cookies.  At one point Jed was very much needing a break from the car, but we weren't to a good place to stop for lunch yet so I pulled out a cookie for each of them.  They were both so excited and everything was going well until Jed finished his cookie.  He was devastated.  Not only that buy the chocolate in the cookies melted really fast.  As he was crying about the cookie he was rubbing his face and not one spot (except those touched by his tears) was his skin color.  His face was totally brown.  It was such a sight.  We had to exit right away and clean him with water wipes.  In hindsight it was pretty hilarious, but it was very stressful as it was happening.  Jed enjoyed all the sights of his new view facing forward in the car.  When we would go over a quick hill he would say, "whoa dude".  At one point while traveling on M-22 we veered in such a way that we could no longer see Lake Michigan and Jed said, "bye, bye bath".  He was a good source of entertainment when he was in a good mood.  It turned out to be around 10 long hours of traveling.  By the time we got to our cottage we were all so tired we just decided to have peanut butter sandwiches and call it a day. 

After a good night of sleep we ventured into Glen Arbor for breakfast at the locally famous Art's Tavern.  We ate outside.  The weather was just perfect.  It was mid/low 70's most of the week.  We walked around Glen Arbor for much of the morning.   Jed napped at the cottage in the afternoon and then we went back to Glen Arbor for dinner at Boondocks.

We really loved the Cherry Republic.  It was ALL things cherry.  There was a café, winery, store, cherry orchard tours, and more.  We returned here several times.  One of the highlights here was the pit spitting arena.  Kyle had a real knack for pit spitting.  After spitting a pit 19 feet I asked him what his secret was.  He replied, "you just have to have the right combination of air and trajectory". 

That evening we walked to the beach which was just a few blocks away and let the kids explore a little.  Jed didn't know what to think. It took him a little bit to decide that he liked the sand.  He laughed and laughed at the wind blowing fiercely in his face.  It was so windy and cold, but Evangeline was elated.  She told me numerous times that she was in her happy place.  She danced and jumped in the shoreline until we told her it was time to go.  There little feet were like little sugared doughnuts when we got back to the car. 

On Tuesday we packed a few things and headed to Traverse City.  I thought this was a very neat town.  Everything is just so clean and the landscapes are so beautiful.  Everywhere you looked there was a garden.  The countryside is just filled with purple flowers and these big pink, purple and white flowers that much resembled snap dragons, but I don't think they were.  Anyway, Traverse City was so cute with lots of shops and a city beach just two blocks off the main street.  After we ate breakfast Evangeline and I looked around in some of the shops and Kyle and Jed walked down to the beach.  When we decided to meet up I found Kyle and Jed snuggled up on a Adirondack chair watching the water.  The kids had so much fun playing in the sand. 

We had a special surprise planned for the kids that day.  After eating lunch at the Grand Traverse Pie Company we checked in for a night at the Great Wolf Lodge.  Evangeline had no idea what was going on when we checked in.  They gave us all wolf ears to wear.  She was really curious about where in the world we were.  We didn't clue her in that we were staying the night there until after we were all checked in and headed to our room.  She caught a glimpse of the huge indoor water park, arcade, bowling ally, spa and was beyond excited.  We decided to reserve a kid's camp suite.  It had a little room within the room that was made to look like a tent.  It had bunk beds in it.  That was a serious surprise.  Kyle and Evangeline immediately headed for the water park while I stayed in the room for Jed's nap.  Evangeline spent the whole day at the water park until it closed.  That night before bed we got some Dippin' Dots at the ice cream shop there at the lodge.  The next morning Kyle brought in some doughnuts from the Dunkin Doughnuts (also right there in the lodge...a kids dream come true) and then Evangeline was back to the water.  When she arrived at the water park with Kyle they happened to be there just in time for the "opening ceremonies".  She told me that she had to do the Great Wolf Howl with Wiley the Wolf and then assist in turning on the water for the park.  Quite exciting.  We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon swimming.  Evangeline said, "I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually sick of swimming". 

That evening we went to Leland where we walked around the historic Fish Town.  Fish Town is an old fishing port where fisherman would dock and stay in the shanties there.  The shanties are all still preserved and now used as little shops and eateries.  There is also a dock right next to it for houseboats and yachts.  So it was fun to walk around the shanties and also check out the new fancy boats that people have nowadays.  We ate at a restaurant that served fish caught right there in the lake.  We had Moomers ice cream after dinner which is renowned for being the best ice cream in the world.  I even saw two lake otters honking and swimming right beside me as I was walking along with Jed.

That evening we stopped at another beach close to wear we were staying.  The sun was getting low in the sky and it was so beautiful.  The kids definitely loved the beach.

Evangeline just cracked me up as we were heading back to the car.  She was having so much fun collecting rocks and shells and she really had her eyes opened for beach treasures.  I just happened to be taking some pictures of her during the hilarious moment when she said, "oh my goodness, Mom!  Look at what I just found!"  I stopped and said, "oh wow! You found a...(then I realized it was a piece of a pretzel chip)...pretzel."  We were cracking up.  She didn't live that one down all week. 

On Wednesday we went to a little restaurant in Maple City for breakfast.  We thought we would do a scenic drive followed by the dune climb that afternoon, but just as we were getting out of our car on the Peirce Stocking Drive it started to downpour.  It lasted most of the day, so we had to rethink our plan for the afternoon.  We ended up in Glen Haven seeking shelter from the rain.  We found ourselves in historical maritime museum, which turned out to be pretty interesting. 

The rain turned out to be just what we needed because it gave us an excuse to go back to the cottage and get a little rest. 

We went back to Glen Arbor for dinner that night.  Jed had this word book I packed for him that we took everywhere.  It ended up being what we called, his security book.  He was happy as long as he had that book in his hands.  He had it everywhere...in all the restaurants, in his stroller, in the car.  It was a must.

It was freezing outside, but that didn't stop the kids from having a great time eating again at Art's, having ice cream at The Pinecone, and dancing to live music at Boondocks. 

After eating breakfast at the cottage Thursday morning we returned to do the dune climb.  It was so much fun and the views were spectacular.  It was a serious hike to the top.  Especially luging a big baby boy up with us. 

At one point Kyle and Evangeline went ahead of me.  Once I arrived to the very top with Jed, I asked Kyle where Evangeline was.  He pointed and I was touched by her steady reflection across the landscape.  When I came closer to her I was again touched to hear her belting out Amazing Grace.  It was a perfect sentiment to such a marvelously stunning scene from the top of the dunes. 

The kids loved running down the dune.  Jed also loved looking down at the sparkling blue "pool".  He is having trouble distinguishing between all the many words that describe the various bodies of water in the world. 

We returned to Pearce Stocking Drive and did all the lookouts.  It was all breathtaking.  Easy to see why it was deemed "most beautiful place in America". 

We returned to Glen Arbor for a delicious lunch at the Cherry Republic.  From there it was straight to the beach for several hours.  We had such a wonderful time.   The rocks on the beach provided lots of entertainment and joy.  We collected several to take home and put in the rock tumbler.

The beach we went to was very lightly populated and we were easily able to find a spot all to ourselves.  The cold lake waters didn't stop Evangeline.  She played in the water as long as she could stand it, warmed up in the sand and then went back in for more.  In addition to the rocks, the flowers were beautiful.  The prettiest flowers were pocking right up through the sand.  Definitely a different beach than what you find on the coast.  Beautiful in a totally different way. 



The kids were exhausted and happy.  We had a low key dinner that night at Ficsher's Happy Hour outside of Leland.  After putting Jed down to bed back at the cottage I decided to take Evangeline back to the beach to watch the sunset.  I was a tad nervous to drive out by myself.  I'm not super confident in my navigational abilities, but this was something Evangeline really wanted to do.  When we got into the van Evangeline said, "Mom, you got this".  It was sweet.  We found a place to sit and watch the beautiful sunset together.  There were people on the beach having campfires.  It was so serene to sit there with my girl and marvel at a landscape we never get to see.  We both knew it was special.  Everyone slept well. 

We returned to Leland on Friday to walk around the town while everything was opened in the daytime.   We stopped at the Cheese Shanty in Fish Town for a sack lunch.  The Cheese Shanty has been featured on the Food Network and it was seriously the best sandwich I ever remember having.  We took our sandwiches up to the Northern Peninsula to a little town called North Port, which looked as if it came straight out of a movie set.  We had a picnic in a city park where their was a little beach and lots and lots of boats.  It was so clean and beautiful. 

After our delicious lunch we played for a while at the park.  We continued even further up the peninsula to a old lighthouse built in 1858.  It was really neat to tour it with Evangeline.  She was very interested.  There was a little rocky cove where you could wade out into the clearest water.  The water was warm there and Evangeline loved it.  I think she would have stayed right there exploring all day.  

We stopped at a cherry orchard on the way back to town for some fresh Michigan cherries.  They were the most delicious cherries I had ever tasted.  We explored North Port a little more before heading back to Glen Arbor. 

We had dinner at the Cherry Republic and spent the rest of the evening walking around and watching the sunset at the beach.  The kids had such fun waiting for the sun to set.  Jed was obsessing over the "tomato" on the end of the lifesaving ring and Evangeline used all her restraint to stay out of the freezing cold water.  Everyone clapped when the sun set.

On Saturday we said goodbye to the little cottage and headed to Glen Arbor for the last time.  We ate breakfast again at Art's Tavern and then walked down to Wildflowers, a store Evangeline could not wait to revisit since the first day of our vacation.  They had a spectacular garden and a large assortment of garden fairies.  Evangeline decided on a fairy and little fairy house for her souvenir.  They also had the neatest plants called Fairy Candles growing in an outdoor garden.  We decided we needed some not thinking so much about the lack of space in the car.  We filled the little space we had left with Fairy Candles.  One last stop at M22 store and the Lelanau Roasting Company for "the best mocha in Michigan" and we set off for home.