MI Road Trip

Day One - July 16, 2022

My parents went to Traverse City for a wedding, and they invited me to go along with them. They left on Thursday and will be camping until Monday. When they invited me, I forgot that I purchased a ticket for Dylan Scott in Port Huron on Friday, July 15, so I decided that I would meet up with my parents on Saturday and then plan a trip for the remainder of the week on my own to finish out Megan and my road trip from last summer. We were only able to go to the U.P. and Torch Lake before returning home, even though we had considered making some additional stops in the lower peninsula. [I felt really weird typing L.P. for some reason… Is lower Michigan referred to as the L.P… it feels like it shouldn’t be, even though the upper peninsula is shorted to the U.P. I wonder why that’s how that works.] Anyways, this morning I woke up around 8 to pack up my car. I had the intention of going to the gym before leaving, so I packed up the car, went to the bank, and then hit the 9:30 class at the gym. Once the class was over, I changed out of my gross clothing and into a new outfit. I made a stop for Starbucks before making my way to Grand Rapids to visit my college friends Alex and Emily. On the drive, I played old CDs that I found cleaning recently, so I jammed out to middle and high school songs. I remembered pretty much all of the lyrics to all the songs, so I enjoyed reminiscing on the songs and the joy that they used to bring me.

I arrived at Alex and Emily’s house around 1, and we chatted about teaching and the future plans that we all have. They have a daughter, June, and are expecting another baby in September! Since they live so far away, I don’t always get to see them and catch up, so it was really special that I was able to come this way to see them. I feel like those are the special friendships that mean so much because even though we aren’t always in touch and in tune with what is happening with each other, we pick up easily whenever we meet up.

I left their house around 4:45 and made my way towards Interlochen State Park, which is where my parents’ campsite was. My parents recently upgraded from a pop-up camper to a legit one – I honestly don’t know what they’re called – so when I arrived, I let myself in because they were at the wedding and verified that it was theirs. I feel like I am trespassing on someone else’s property because this is much fancier than what we used to camp in when we camped growing up. Honestly, a decently eventful and uneventful day today.

Day Two – July 17, 2022

This morning, I woke up and ate eggs and bacon with my parents. My mom wanted to go to the farmer’s market in Interlochen, so we drove about a mile up the road to get there. We wandered around, and at a station selling jam and maple syrup, my mom started a conversation about their products, which was informative because my parents have both of those as hobbies. When we were done, we decided to head into Traverse City. We parked and basically just wandered around the downtown area popping into shops as we saw fit. There were a lot of adorable boutiques, but I sadly have nowhere to go, so I don’t need to spend money on stylish new clothes. We arrived back at our campground and ate lunch. Then, I am fairly certain that each family member went wandering to find a place that was cooler (temperature-wise) than our campsite was. I ended up sitting under a tree by a boat launch for a while because there was a bit of shade and a breeze. After we ate dinner, we went for a walk for ice cream, and then I showered before sitting at the campsite until bed.

Day Three – July 18, 2022

This morning I was able to sleep in for a little bit. Then, we were packing up. My parents headed home, and I headed on my solo adventure. To begin my day, I drove to Suttons Bay, which I thought would be a nice place to visit. It was mostly a small town with some cute storefronts, but nothing too different and exciting to offer. I was able to spend $5 on the worst cup of coffee that I ended up throwing out so I could go into a bookstore. (I wasn’t going to drink it, but I will use the excuse that the bookstore wouldn’t allow it in!) I wandered around and looked at the titles, but I wasn’t allowed to purchase any books while inside.

After Suttons Bay, I drove to Leland, where I also went into a bookstore. There was a man looking in the fiction section, and he asked me for a recommendation. When I asked him what he enjoys reading, he told me that he didn’t mean to sound misogynistic, but he likes strong male protagonists and great American novels (as many of you know, that is DEFINITELY not my forte when it comes to books and reading). I told him that I didn’t know of any titles that I could give him, so he told me to name off the best book I have read in the last year. When I considered the young adult and rom-com titles that my reading list has consisted of, I decided upon giving him The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin because it is hands down the BEST book I have ever read in my entire life (so much so that I am terrified of re-reading it and losing some of its magic in my mind). The man walked away with the book, and I had a smile overtake my face. There is such a joy in offering up a reading suggestion to someone. It is a simple joy that means so much to me! Anyways, once I left the bookstore, I walked over to an ice cream store and got two scoops of Moomer ice cream. It was so delicious! I decided to get the chocolate salted caramel and chocolate peanut butter in a waffle cone! (If you have read more than one of these writings, you know that ice cream is a staple on any and every trip!) After consuming my ice cream, I walked through the historic Fishtown district. Then, I headed back to my car to continue the random journey for the day.

I began my drive to Christmas Cove beach, which I read online was a nice, secluded beach. When I arrived, I saw that there were about ten cars in the tiny parking lot, so I parked my car and walked down to the beach. It was a small section of lakeshore and had so many rocks! I wanted to explore, so I began walking down the beach front because you’re able to walk even on the private portion of the lakeshore but the rock situation was TERRIBLE! There was also a dead fish situation – all these tiny little fish that were among the rocks! I did not make it super far because I left my shoes by my stuff, and my feet were so sore from walking across the various rocks. That made me decide to walk back to my things to get my flip flops before my attempt to walk the other way on the beach. The walk north was a much nicer walk, so I was able to make it quite a ways to where I was alone, so I went into the water for a quick dip in the lake. The water was so refreshing and nice! Once I was done with my swim, I walked back to my things, collected them, and then got in my car.

On my drive to the beach, I had seen that there was a road sign to follow to get to a lighthouse, and since it was around 3, I figured that I had time to kill at a lighthouse. I drove and followed the sign and ended up at Leelanau State Park, and I panicked because I thought that it wouldn’t be in the park, so I turned around to go to the Lighthouse West Natural Area, which I thought was what I was looking for. When I arrived, I was the only car in the tiny parking lot (really just an open field slightly off the road near a bunch of trees). I decided to follow the trail, which ended in this tiny beach that was just a whole bunch of rocks! Once I got back to my car and a tiny bit of service, I looked up the lighthouse and saw that it was about to close and that it WAS located in the state park. Lucky for me, I am not tremendously in love with lighthouses nor was I really set on what I was doing for the day, so I was only minimally disappointed that I missed out on the lighthouse. I decided that I had covered the entire area of the Leelanau Peninsula, so I was ready to head to Traverse City State Park, which is where I am staying for the next two nights.

After I checked into my campsite and drove past my spot like four times, I finally was able to park my car. I decided I wanted shrimp tacos, so I looked up some places nearby. The place I decided upon was the Red Mesa Grill, and I BEG you to NEVER go there! My waiter was AWFUL! He came to my table and gave me chips and salsa, and then walked away for a long while, and then when he came back, I ordered my drink and food, and he told me that he didn’t hurry to my table because he assumed I was waiting for someone. Then, he had to come back to me after putting my order in to ask me additional questions. The chips for my chips and salsa were gross, as well as the salsa. The margarita that I ordered was not good! The shrimp tacos were not good. Overall, I would not recommend this place to anyone to ever go to! Save yourself the money! I really needed to cheer myself up after the disappointment, so I went to this place called the Taproot, and I ordered a few different samplers of some of the ciders. They were so good and unique, which is why I love ciders! Once I was done, I came back to my campsite to organize my belongings and set up my bed for the night. While I enjoyed my relaxing and calm days with my parents, I really enjoyed wandering and adventuring throughout this area that I have never been to.

**Author’s Note: All of these towns that I visited were really adorable, but I don’t think that I would spend an extended period of time in any of them. Also, to get to the Manitou islands you have to plan ahead because they leave decently early in the morning. The one tour guide said that the south island is her favorite place to go.

Day Four – July 19, 2022

I woke up in the morning to head to Sleeping Bear Dunes. I looked up items to do for the day, and one item was the Dune Climb. I figured that I would do that first before any other exploring because I knew it would be physically exhausting. Not understanding that there was a designated path to take you to Lake Michigan, I kind of wandered around the dune for a little bit and then headed out on the trail. I kept walking and following the markers, not really knowing where the destination was, until I finally reached the halfway point that said I was a mile from Lake Michigan. At that point, I figured that I had trekked a mile through sand, and I could go through another mile, even though I had never felt as out of shape as that hike was making me feel. When I finally made it to the water, it was worth it. It was a completely secluded beach with minimal people on it, since I am fairly certain you had to hike the two miles over sand to get there. If I had known what destination was awaiting me, I would have planned better and brought my swimsuit. Instead of swimming, I walked a little way down the beach until I decided that I should return to my car, if only to get some more water since I was almost out. It took me about two hours to travel the four miles to the beach and back.

Once I returned to my car, I devoured my lunch as I determined what I would do next. Since my body was already sore and tired from the walk, I decided I would go through the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. I stopped at the various overlooks, which were all amazing! My favorite was the ninth stop, which was a massive sand dune that kind of just dropped off to the water. There was also a wooden path that helped you to look out at the Manitou islands. Overall, these stops were breathtaking.

After the drive, I tried to figure out what to do next. I wanted to stay at Sleeping Bear until nighttime because it is supposed to be a gorgeous place to stargaze. I decided upon Glen Harbor, which is a historic town. It wasn’t anything worth noting. Mostly a boathouse with historic boats, a shop, and a blacksmith workshop. Once I was done there, I headed over to Esch beach to sit and relax for a little bit. It also helped that I could wash some of the sand off of me because I had felt absolutely disgusting. After the beach, it was time for dinner, so I went to Glen Arbor to a local restaurant, where I ordered a chicken sandwich with a cherry barbeque sauce that was phenomenal! I obviously had to finish up with ice cream in a homemade waffle cone! (I seriously LOVE ice cream!)

After that, I went to Pyramid Point. I didn’t want to do a hike because I was tired from my earlier walk, so I found that there was a lookout point on my GPS. I drove and drove on this sketchy dirt road until I thought I was almost there, then I looked down at my GPS, and it told me that it was rerouting me because I had passed the lookout. (I think that it’s a requirement that if I am on a road trip, I must travel down one road that either feels like I shouldn’t be on it or is a legitimate ATV trail that I am not supposed to be on. I told Megan, and her response was to ask if I had anticipated that my car would go down so many ATV style roads when I bought it. Clearly my all-wheel drive has come in handy for all of my misadventures.) Luckily, I was able to turn around and drive back down the sketchy dirt road, so I watched the directions. The place where this lookout was supposed to be literally in the middle of a secluded road that had absolutely nothing to look at. I decided that I had to go to the trail and follow it. It was a short hike that took me to another dune that went straight down into Lake Michigan. It was absolutely breathtaking. Well worth the walk.

Once I was done, I headed back to the scenic drive, so I could sit somewhere for the sunset and then stay to stargaze. I decided to go back to the ninth stop. There were a bunch of people there. My favorite was these two twenty-year-old boys who were goofing around, making TikTok videos that made them look like they were falling off the dunes. There is a confidence of twenty-year-old boys that is enviable and entertaining. There was also this couple that was taking photos for a pregnancy announcement and another young couple who were taking selfies. It was really sweet to see all these people enjoying their lives. After the sun went down, most people left. I was hoping that I would be able to see some stars, even though there were clouds in the sky. Then, lightning began and there was rain in the distance, and I knew that my chances for stargazing were done, so I went back to my car and headed back to my campsite. As I drove away, there were raindrops that splattered on my windshield, and I knew I had made the right call, even though I was severely disappointed.

Day Five – July 20, 2022

This morning, I decided to begin my day at the Michigan Legacy Art Park in Crystal Mountain. I arrived and parked my car, and I began wandering around. I looked at the statues and read the plaques because I thought that it would be a nice activity. A lot of the plaques talked about the contrast between nature and the industrialization of Michigan, which I guess is nice. I was texting my friend, and I said that I feel like I am supposed to enjoy art and that’s why I keep trying to enjoy art by going to places like that. I am not really an art person, and I think I need to come to terms with it. On the art trail, I did learn that Hemingway traveled to Michigan and spent time in Petoskey. There were multiple pieces that were nods to him. There were also a few really cool statues that I was into. One was a chair looking into a frame that was clearly the forest behind it. Another was this chair and table coming out of the ground. The last one was this snake made out of metal. There was another half of the hike that I did not go on because I felt like I was only intrigued by so few of the statues that I wouldn’t really enjoy the other ones. It would have been another mile of hiking that I really wasn’t feeling up for. The other thing that I really liked at this place was a poetry garden. A single word was written on a rock with the intention of making poems from them. They had two models of how the words could be used, so I decided to play around with the words and I wrote a poem:

                           She grows solid fire,

                           Touching the tears and heart.

                           Shining new,

                           Hoping

I really like this as an idea for doing poetry with students. At the Meadowbrook writing camp I did earlier this summer, we did an activity that was similar where each person wrote ten words on slips of paper, and then we picked seven to use in a writing piece. I think you could merge these two together to have students play with various words. It can be limiting when there’s only a few options, but it can also narrow the focus on the piece and change the meaning based on where the words are used. (Sorry for the teacher tangent, but I really love poetry, and I had so much fun playing with the rocks today.)

Once I left the art park, I drove to Arcadia Dunes. I arrived at the C.S. Mott Nature Preserve, and I followed the path to the Baldy Dunes. It was a hike through the woods, and it ended with steps that lead up to the dunes. There was a path that led out to the waterfront, and it was absolutely amazing! I think it was definitely on par with some of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. I followed the trail back from the dunes to the overlook that had these two rocking chairs designed for two people. It was adorable. Once I was done, I traveled to the scenic turnout, and I walked up some steps to overlook everything. Again, it was a nice view.

After Arcadia, I decided to travel to Manistee, which is where I am staying for tonight. I parked my car and walked around the downtown area. Then, I drove to the lighthouse to make up for the one I missed the other night in Leelanau. I walked down the pier and looked at the lighthouse. Once I was done, I decided to go to my campsite because I really wanted to shower after the active days that I have had. I reorganized my belongings in my car, and then I sat down to type up my experiences from the last two days.

After I got caught up, I drove to TJ’s Pub in downtown Manistee. I ordered this sandwich that was ham, bacon, and pineapple. It was so unexpectedly good. When I finished eating, these two men sat down next to me for a drink at the bar, and they were talking to me about the water and how people should not be swimming, and then told me that two people had drowned in the area due to the harsh waters when it was about to storm. I had paid for my bill, and the one offered to buy me a drink to stay and chat with them, but he made a comment about “the Blacks” that now live in Manistee, and I knew it was time for me to make my exit. 

My campground was at Orchard Beach State Park, and it had a beautiful area to watch the sunset. I sat for a long time and looked out at the sun over the water. Once the sun finally set, I was determined to stargaze, since I couldn’t at Sleeping Bear Dunes. I brought a blanket into an open fielded area of the campground and sat for a long time. Once I realized that it was too cloudy (AGAIN) to look at the stars, I relocated to the lookout point and stared into the waves crashing onto the shores and the clouds forming overhead. During this time, I decided to have a little heart to heart with the universe (or myself), and I spoke a lot of the things that I know to be true out loud. It was a really clarifying moment, and I feel like I am ready to make some steps forward as a result. Once I was done speaking my thoughts, I noticed that it looked like it was about to rain, so I went back to my campsite to go to bed.

Day Six - July 21, 2022

When I woke up, I packed up my car and headed into town to grab some coffee before making my way to Silver Lake Sand Dunes. The only reason I added this stop to my list was because I was about to ride on the sand dunes. To rent something to do it yourself would cost like $300, so I opted for the $20 version where I rode with other people at Mac Wood’s Dune Rides. It was about an hour wait, and I was added as the last person, so I was able to sit in the passenger seat. The driver was so sweet and funny, and I feel like I learned a lot on the tour. Apparently poplar trees can be covered by sand and their branches become like roots, so that they don’t die. Every time we drove over the dunes, he would beep the horn to signify that there would be a drop, and at one point, he looked over to laugh that I was anticipating the drops before they occurred because I would clench my fists. Overall, I would highly recommend doing one of these tours, especially for $20!

After my tour, I drove to Holland, where I went to see De Zwann windmill. Before the trip, I was adamant that my parents had taken us to Holland, MI, and my parents were adamant that we had never been. It turns out that they were right, and they took us to the actual Holland because Windmill Island was a very sad version. It had the windmill, which was really pretty and cool to walk through. The boy that was a tour person was really enthusiastic about sharing information about the windmill. 

After the windmill, I drove to the Big Red Lighthouse. My GPS really wanted me to park my car and then walk across the water to see the lighthouse up close. I opted to not do that, but rather stare at it from across the water. Again, I was just making up for that one lighthouse that I missed in Leelanau. After, I drove to check in to my campsite, and I walked to an outlook point. It was honestly a really pretty view, and there were a few levels to take in the lighthouse and beach. After, I returned to my car, where I decided what was going to be for dinner. I went to Beechwood Grill, where I ordered fries with pulled pork, cheese, and jalapenos. They were SO good!! 

After dinner, I drove to the downtown area, where they had a little park. There was a Wizard of Oz exhibit and a fountain. Overall, a cute brief walk, but then it began to sprinkle, so I went to set up my campsite, and it began to rain. I watched as this couple trying to set up a tent stopped to sit in their car, so I also had to stop making my bed to just sit and wait it out. Once it stopped raining, I was able to quickly get my belongings together. I had seen that there was a restaurant next to the campground, so I went to sit at the bar in case it began to rain again. When I was there, the bartender was incredibly sweet. She tried to come up with things for me to do in Holland before I left. The main things she told me to do were things I had already done, so she told me that I had done it all. 

Once I left the restaurant, I decided to try once again to stargaze! This time, I ended up walking a mile to the beach with a blanket. As I walked, I saw four deer! They were unbelievably close to me! When I finally got to the beach, I layed down on my blanket, and I looked into the sky which was FINALLY clear enough to see the stars. I stayed for a little while, but I was paranoid that it would start raining again, and then I would have to walk a mile in the rain back to my car. When I made it back to my campsite, I called it a night. [Side tangent: Holland State Park has the NICEST bathrooms of any campground that I have ever been to ever! I would highly recommend it!]

Day Seven - July 22, 2022

In the morning, I felt like I had a lot of time to kill, so I wanted to go to breakfast. I was going to go to this Dutch bakery that was also a restaurant, but when I got there, it said that the restaurant was closed. I then decided to go to their other location, hoping that it also had a restaurant, but it did not, so I got some donut holes, and then headed to Saugatuck. 

When I arrived in Saugatuck, I parked my car and got coffee at a local place. Then I went to walk to this overlook area. My GPS said that I could walk there in nine minutes, so I began walking until the point it told me to walk across the water. I know I am ambitious, but I do not have the capabilities to walk on water like my phone clearly thinks I do, so I wandered around some shops before making my way back to my car. 

Once I was done shopping, I headed to this overlook area, where I had to walk up many steps. At the top, there was a sand dune, so I walked all the way to the beach and then I turned around and walked back to my car. Once I was done with this, I decided to get lunch at a random place. It wasn’t my favorite item I had eaten on my trip, but it was fine. 

After lunch, I decided to go to Oval Beach because I feel like everyone talks so highly of it. I had to pay $10 to get in, and then when I found a spot to sit, I decided to go in the water. I immediately regretted that decision because it felt like my leg was covered in seaweed, but when I tried to remove the seaweed, there wasn’t anything. I quickly realized that there were little pieces of seaweed in the water, so it was constantly touching your skin when you were in the water. So gross. I did not stay in the water for long, but I did make myself stay at the beach because I had paid to be there, so I opened my book and tried to read. However, there were two couples that were hanging out and being extremely loud and annoying. Like for the sake of being loud and annoying. Like in a rude way. I gave myself a time limit of how long I had to stay, and when my time was up, I packed up my things, and I headed home. [Side Tangent: Oval Beach is completely OVERRATED! I would not go back. Saugatuck was really cute though, and it was very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.]