Road Trip: Sleeping Bear Dunes

 The whole reason we really wanted to go north in Michigan was because Asa has fond childhood memories of Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Asa doesn't have a ton of fond childhood memory places (not like me), and he'd been talking about going for years. Of course, now that we're in our 'adventure phase', I figure I'd make it happen. 

So Saturday morning we headed out to the Dunes, stopping first at the welcome center to get our National Park pass for the day and check out the museums. Sadly, the main trail (which is a driving one) was still closed for the winter. It's a bummer because you can drive all around and take short trails out for gorgeous views and to actually get out there on the dunes. Of course, you can walk (or snowshoe) it in the winter/early spring, but it's a long walk and one we were not prepared for in the cold. So, we took a different trail, only a couple of miles and got to see some gorgeous views. The water was so Blue it reviled that of even Cozumel, which we had just been to a couple weeks prior. 

After the trail (the views speak for themselves), we headed over to do the Dune Climb, where most of those fond memories are from for Asa. He wasn't feeling his best that day, but he was determined. We first had a picnic lunch full of all our goodies from wineries, cheese houses, and cherry stops, and fueled up before tacking the dune. The pictures don't really do it justice. It is a tough climb- and we only just went to the top (you can continue out to the water, but it's more than a mile- on sand). We ran and jumped and climbed and played, and it was amazing. But exhausting. Especially when you're coming down with something. 

On the way home we stopped at Moomers Ice Cream. We got a flight to share, and a pint to take home. It was in fact, very good ice cream and worth the line out the door, though Asa complained the cows were literally right next door and you could smell them. We also found some little smoked meat shop on the way home and stopped to pick up something to make for dinner. 

But by Saturday night, Asa was done. I was starting to get sick too, a thing that always seems to happen when we go on long trips, so Sunday would end up being a pretty chill day. I couldn't not do anything, so we did end up walking down to get donuts from the cutest little place downtown called Peace Love and Donuts, and then trekking back out for a little window shopping, and finishing up with some soft pretzels at Petosky pretzels. It was all very good, and come highly recommended by both Asa and I. That evening we walked the two blocks down to see the sunset over the bay (or rather the hills behind the bay), which was gorgeous.