Michigan Vacation 2017

Vacations are funny things.  We look forward to them, plan as many details as we can and then they are over so quickly.  You remember what happened, but in some ways they just seem like a dream after a couple days at home.  Thank goodness for photos.  Two weeks ago we traveled to Michigan.  We went for our nieces wedding. We rented a house for the week before with our oldest daughter and her family.  It was a lovely house in the woods near Glen Arbor Michigan.  There was plenty of room for everyone.  We visited all the little neighboring towns on Lake Michigan and took in many of the local sights.  The kids climbed the dunes (http://www.thecabincountess.com/search?q=sleeping+bear), tubed on a river, rode bikes along the many trails, shopped, we visited a lighthouse and best of all attended the wedding.

The beginning of the dunes.

Making S'mores.

The town of Leland (Fishtown).

The Grand Traverse lighthouse guiding sailors since 1852.

One of the majestic views.

The wedding was the most amazing wedding.  It took place at a ski resort.   My niece and the family worked very hard to make sure everyone was taken care of.  They had activities for the kids as well as adults.  They had games, a photo booth, s'mores and a fabulous meal with a brunch the next morning.  Most of the guests stayed at the resort.  The house we rented was close by so it worked out for us.  I even got to ride on a chair lift for the first time.  It was so much fun.  The ceremony overlooked Lake Michigan.  Everything was perfect.

Waiting for the wedding to begin

Even the bride and her dad took the chairlift up to the ceremony

My youngest daughter also attended with her boys.  They had some scheduling difficulties so she couldn't come for the whole week.  They took the car ferry across Lake Michigan and returned a couple days later the same way.  It may not save a lot of time, but it does save driving the long distance from Wisconsin.  For four hours you can just sit and relax.

Even though it was a quick trip, my grandsons had so much fun.  After brunch we all went to the beach.  Lake Michigan is so big it felt like we were on the ocean.  They swam and played in the sand.  We had a wonderful day.

When the wedding was over and everyone had gone home, we spent some time with my sister and brother in law.  They have second home in Traverse City and know all the best places to go.  We love it there and had a great time.  One day we visited beautiful Charlevoix,  Michigan.  It's another tourist town, but it was gorgeous.

Charlevoix Michigan had some unusual architecture.  They had what was called Mushroom houses.  They actually do look like mushrooms.  This one had a thatched roof.

While returning to our car we cut through the library parking lot.  Even that was very nice.  They had a gorgeous butterfly garden.  It would be exciting to have a similar garden.

The day before we came home we went out on Traverse Bay on a Tall Sailing ship.  There was very little wind but enough to push the boat along smoothly.  It was so relaxing.  They served ice cream, and we just sat and enjoyed the beautiful views.

Finally after enjoying good food, beautiful sunsets and unforgettable views, it was time to go home.

The only rainy day we had was the day we drove home.  It just misted and never rained very hard so it wasn't bad. 

A rainy day made the lake very rough and dreary.

Now we are back to our old routine.  We are happy to be home but also looking forward to our next adventure.