Saturday, August 04, 2007
michigan lake tour
This year we wanted a laid-back, relaxing vacation. No jetsetting, no currency converting. Just sitting around, watching the world pass us by. We decided on Michigan, thanks to my super generous aunt and uncle with a cottage on a river up North!
Testing out the water (before we went up north) - how nice to have a house on a lake, and a paddleboat to boot! We paddled all over the place!
Then we drove the four hours north - we were in a bit of a rush since we found this tall-ship cruise (and wine tasting!) It was a pretty warm day, so out on the lake felt fabulous. The michigan wines helped too! :)
The next day we just drove around, and around some more. This area of Michigan has loads of lakes! This one is Crystal Lake - super clear water.
Then we ended up in the Sleeping Bear Dune National Park. Sand Dunes - in Michigan! This is one we climbed up. I made it 2/3 the way before passing out!
The view from the top (or, uh.. 2/3 up?)
This area of Michigan is mainly known for cherries (there were stands with fresh washed cherries every few miles -- heaven!) but they are also in a great climate for wine grapes. We drove around sampling quite a few!
And had some tasty cherries!
Finally to Lake Michigan - freaking cold compared to the smaller lakes and rivers that have time to warm up!
We started out on this kayak trip in sunshine (and two ~10 year olds that had WAY more energy than both of us combined...)
We ended an exhausting 3 hours later at Lake Michigan... in some totally creepy fog. The water in the river seemed warmer than the air, but once you got out to the lake it was pretty darn chilly. I needed hot cocoa after this!
A warmer day, at another beach on Lake Michigan. You can't see the crazy painful rocks at the waterline preventing me from getting too far into the lake.
Super cool about the area we were in: the Drive In! We saw Harry Potter.
And finally, on the last day, we managed one more of our goals of the week - tubing! We only had to walk up a couple blocks from the cottage and float back down. Sooo nice.
Such a great relaxing vacation! Thanks so much to our family who let us stay with them!
I even came back feeling tan(nish) - probably compared to most I am still pale pale, but *I* think I'm tan, and that's all that matters, right?! ;) The only bummer was that I am apparently allergic to the sunscreen I kept slathering on. I got some awful rashes thinking it was sunburn and reapplying! So itchy. But - no sunburn! That is something.
Testing out the water (before we went up north) - how nice to have a house on a lake, and a paddleboat to boot! We paddled all over the place!
Then we drove the four hours north - we were in a bit of a rush since we found this tall-ship cruise (and wine tasting!) It was a pretty warm day, so out on the lake felt fabulous. The michigan wines helped too! :)
The next day we just drove around, and around some more. This area of Michigan has loads of lakes! This one is Crystal Lake - super clear water.
Then we ended up in the Sleeping Bear Dune National Park. Sand Dunes - in Michigan! This is one we climbed up. I made it 2/3 the way before passing out!
The view from the top (or, uh.. 2/3 up?)
This area of Michigan is mainly known for cherries (there were stands with fresh washed cherries every few miles -- heaven!) but they are also in a great climate for wine grapes. We drove around sampling quite a few!
And had some tasty cherries!
Finally to Lake Michigan - freaking cold compared to the smaller lakes and rivers that have time to warm up!
We started out on this kayak trip in sunshine (and two ~10 year olds that had WAY more energy than both of us combined...)
We ended an exhausting 3 hours later at Lake Michigan... in some totally creepy fog. The water in the river seemed warmer than the air, but once you got out to the lake it was pretty darn chilly. I needed hot cocoa after this!
A warmer day, at another beach on Lake Michigan. You can't see the crazy painful rocks at the waterline preventing me from getting too far into the lake.
Super cool about the area we were in: the Drive In! We saw Harry Potter.
And finally, on the last day, we managed one more of our goals of the week - tubing! We only had to walk up a couple blocks from the cottage and float back down. Sooo nice.
Such a great relaxing vacation! Thanks so much to our family who let us stay with them!
I even came back feeling tan(nish) - probably compared to most I am still pale pale, but *I* think I'm tan, and that's all that matters, right?! ;) The only bummer was that I am apparently allergic to the sunscreen I kept slathering on. I got some awful rashes thinking it was sunburn and reapplying! So itchy. But - no sunburn! That is something.
