Traverse City, MI

I've been remiss in reporting about my vacation on here. Work has been insane which makes me want to thoroughly relax after the kids have gone to bed - alas, no effort to write and post pictures.

Here are some clips from our trip!

The drive was about 8.5 hours long including lunch so very tolerable. When we checked in the condo manager told me they were having a "severe heat streak" this week. When I questioned the weather reports I had looked up that said 82 degrees as a high all week he said "Yeah! It'll be hot!". Uhhhh.... It hit over 100 in Cincy while we were gone.

Our favorite ice cream shop was in downtown TC, Annie's. They had $1 soft serve sundaes and cones that we took advantage of 3X in 3 days.






Our condo unit was beach-front but we didn't have a direct lake view. No biggie. We spent several hours enjoying the refreshing lake temperatures. The "waves" were gentle laps that were perfect for Chris. The water was Nicole's waist-height for yards and yards making wading easy and fun for her.




Before we left I had asked my girl friend Sue, whose family owns a summer home in TC, for some highlights on what to do. One of her suggestions was Leelanau County and a trip to the sand dunes. This was a great suggestion and lots of fun!

We took the scenic route and saw some amazing drops into the water. Dad, Nicole, Jim & I walked down about 20% of the way and yes, it was some effort to climb even that. Notice the very small people on the hill to put things in perspective.

When we got to the big dune we all huffed and puffed our way up the ~300 ft. climb to take in some amazing views.



on top of the sand dune:

We also stopped at some wineries on our way up the Mission Peninsula (another Sue recommendation). We toured through some $3M+ houses along the way. Clearly there is big money in cherry growing (this peninsula boasts producing 3/4 of the world's cherries).


We took a 2 hour drive on Thursday of the trip to visit Macinac Island. It's a 15 minute ferry ride from the main land and is a place of no cars - bikes and horses only. It's interesting in it's history but WAY CROWDED with tourists gorging themselves on $12/lb. fudge.

On the way there (and back) we passed through Charlevoix which had streets lined in petunias for 2.5 miles. It was BEAUTIFUL. Wish we had allotted time to stop and shop the boutiques.

Our condo unit was nice - 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath. I'd recommend it!

Had a great time in general and my parents are such a help. The kids were simultaneously (for me at least) the most entertaining and frustrating part of the trip. Both (especially Chris) were somewhat challenging around dinner (40 minute waits are a long time to entertain little kids at a crowded restaurant). We all cracked up at Chris's puckered face after biting into a lemon and impressed with Nicole's evaluation that Grandpa's cinnamon roll was shaped like "a coil".

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Debating what to do next year.... I was a big fan of the northern weather for sure. Jim wants to consider a staycation. Fortunately we have lots of time and my mom will be retired by then so we'll have even greater flexibility!