11th Annual Birthday Trip: Heading to Michigan!

 

            Ryan and I finally got to take our birthday trip this month! It was delayed from Memorial Day weekend, because we ended up having our rummage sale that weekend. Then Ryan was on the worship team at church in June, so we were committed to being here all those weekends. July meant…time for vacation!

            After we decided to change our location from the May planning, we intended to go to Mackinac Island. Then we saw the lodging prices and couldn’t justify it – at least without more time to save up. So plan C was a trip to Traverse City, Michigan! We had the best time away, just the two of us. So restful. So beautiful. So worship-filled out exploring God’s amazing creation. It was so good. (Michigan has historically not given us the best weather, but it completely redeemed itself this time.)

            We had a beautiful day to drive north, and I even did a little of the driving this time. It’s rare that I drive, but Ryan was sleepy, so I took over for a couple of hours. (Managed to land a city squarely in the middle of that, so I collected bonus points for surviving that!)

            We didn’t stop to eat (other than random snacks at fuel stops) on the way up, because we had dinner reservations we wanted to be good and hungry for when the time arrived.

            Our first stop in Michigan was at the Little Sable Point Lighthouse in Mears. I had read on the website that there was a fee to climb the lighthouse, but I did not realize we would have to pay a park entrance fee to even walk up and see the outside. (Ryan thought – later – that perhaps if we had parked down the road in a parking lot for housing and walked up, we might not have had to pay, and perhaps that is true. Not sure. But we parked in the lot right beside the lighthouse and that had an $11.00 entrance fee. The guy tried to make us feel better by telling us it was good for all day at any park in the state, but unfortunately, we only had one hour to spend at THIS lighthouse, so that wasn’t a great selling point for us. Three cheers for effort, though! He was a super nice guy!)

We toyed with just turning around and leaving, but I really wanted to see it, so we stayed, and I’m glad we did. Because of the entrance fee, we decided not to climb the lighthouse. Tickets were $8.00 per adult, and at this lighthouse, that simply meant climbing to the top, looking out, and coming back down. There wasn’t anything else at this particular location.

The light, though, was built in 1874 and stands over 100 feet tall. It’s beautiful and impressive in its own right. 

            The whole time we were there, the line to enter the lighthouse was really long, so it was a popular spot to be! We used our hour to get some pictures with the lighthouse, climb a small dune beside it, and walk along the public beach there at the lighthouse. I’m so glad we went. The view was worth it, and the weather was perfect for hanging out on the beach for a few minutes.

            When we were done, we went just a few miles down the road to the Cherry Point Farm and Market. We had the chance to walk the lavender labyrinth and see all the beautiful flowers in bloom. It was so gorgeous!! It was so peaceful to walk around and appreciate all the work that had gone into growing these flowers – and to see the fruit trees in the background. We don’t have anything quite like this near where we live, so it was fun to explore!

            It was a great start to the trip! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!