Sleeping Bear Dunes

For our second leg of the Michigan trip we traveled from the UP over the Mackinac Bridge and along the upper coast of the lower peninsula. We mapped part of our route through the "Tunnel of Trees". It was a beautiful (although curvy and slow) ride through a quiet road with a canopy of trees.

We stayed in Traverse City and stopped for dinner at The Blue Tractor. Then we squeezed in some evening adventuring, starting with a hike to Pyramid Point. After getting home and looking at pictures I was disappointed that they didn't really capture the site very well. It was our first glimpse of the terrain in this neck of the woods and we were blown away. It was a high cliff of super fine sand with a tremendous steep slope leading down to the Lake Michigan. It took a little encouragement to get the kids to certain points so they could take in the view. It certainly wasn't a place that I would allow free reign of exploration because a slip or tumble could possibly mean helicopter rescue!

Still with some time in our day, we traveled the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. It's a loop with several points where you can pull over, get out to hike, and see various sites. Our favorite stop was the last one. The sugary fine sands continued, with all kinds of hills/cliffs to climb up and run, jump, or slide down. The kids could have played here for hours.

The next day could very well be my favorite of our whole trip. We began with the famous dune climb. It looks daunting from the start, with a steep hill of sand to climb. We were eager to get to the top to be rewarded for our tough climb with a view of Lake Michigan. But when we got to the top, there was another hill of sand! And then another stretch of sand.... and another hill... and another... We pushed the kids about as far as we dared, with plenty of water and shade breaks along the way. (And a bribe of ice cream for their efforts.) Not sure quite how much farther we would have had to go before the lake view came, but it was a fun adventure anyway!

He wanted to hold my hand, but it was too hot, so we held pinkies. 

After a lunch and ice cream break in the small town of Empire, at a cute place called Tiffany's Café- wouldn't you know, we found a few beaches to spend time in. After the dune climb, we were happy to just lounge lake-side. The kids loved creating sand castles, skipping rocks, and dipping their toes in the water. I was on a mission to find a Petoskey Stone. They are a fossil that can be found in this area of Michigan. I know they can be rare to find, so was thrilled when I found one on my first pass walking along the shore! Just down the beach from where we were playing was the mouth of a creek feeding into Lake Michigan. The kids were rewarded with warmer water to play in and tadpoles to catch!

We could have stayed at that beach all day, but wanting to continue to explore, we drove down a little bit and found a different beach to play at. Again, Olivia loved her sand castle building and Henry got pretty good at his rock skipping.

We finished off the day with dinner in Glen Arbor and checking out some samples of cherry products from Cherry Republic. This area is known for cherries, so you can bet I had cherry ice cream and cherry hard cider too. There's so much to explore in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore- I'd love to come back!