sleeping bear dunes

Growing up with Aunt Dottie, she loved nature and often took us camping to enjoy our country's wonderment. There wasn't a hiking trail she didn't like as she was in awe of the beauty of nature.

Our trip would not be complete without visiting the beautiful area of Sleeping Bear Dunes in Empire, Michigan. We drove the scenic route that Pierce Stocking built in the 1960's. Amazing views.

The first stop on the scenic drive - the covered bridge.

Next, on to the amazing lake and dune views.

Coupled with these smiling faces.

Doesn't get much better than this.

So this was pretty cool. The sand dune took a very steep down turn here. I should have taken a picture of the sign that basically says "don't go down there, cause we ain't coming to get ya. Good luck getting back up."

So ... of course, people went down there.

Then struggled to get back up. For every step you take, you go back 3 feet.

You would think these guys would be taking in the view. Some of them were - but mostly they were watching the guy trying to slide down the dune head first on a cardboard slide. I should have taken a picture of him - but instead I shook my head and walked away.

Instead, I took a picture of Julia. She was up and down the sand dunes having a great time.

Beyond where she was sitting.

I'm pretty sure they were sick of me taking their pictures by the end of the day.

But when you pose ... I just can't help it.

This place was amazing.

This is a good one of Julia with Lake Michigan in the background.

The 10th stop on our scenic drive - then off to the climb.

There's Burke ... back at the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Climb, he and Julia met the challenge.

While Holly and I went about looking for native wildflowers, hearing Aunt Dottie in my head uttering over and over, "neat".

sailing

I've been to Lake Michigan many times and the view of a  sailboat on the water to me was calming .... majestic. The bucket list included being on a sailboat.

I found a brochure in the rented condo and I called Frankfort Sailing Excursions, LLC.

Captain John answered the call and put us down for Wednesday. He told me that he would call first thing in the morning after making sure the weather would be good for sailing.

True to his word, he called the morning of the sail and said it couldn't be a better day for sailing. Yay!

So we packed up the list of items he suggested we bring and headed off to the Marina.

We set off on the Elly, named after his mother. Turns out Captain John built the vessel himself top to bottom.

Sleeping Bear Dunes loomed in the distance.

I ventured to the front to get some photos, the winds were pushing us nicely and he gave us frequent updates on how fast we were going.

Of course, I had brought the wrong lens. I tried to keep down the amount of camera packing on a boat so I brought the telephoto lens.

Captain John told us that he worked as a shop teacher at Saline High School and had retired north. The charters were a way to pay for the property taxes and slip costs and he loved meeting new people. He underwent stringent testing to become a Captain and his boat is both Coast Guard and Michigan DNR certified.

I didn't get pictures of the inside of the boat, but it was mahogany and absolutely beautiful. It had 2 sleeping compartments and a nice comfortable living space. It's amazing that he built it from the ground up.

We were focused mostly on the views.

The feeling of sailing away.

It was beautiful and we were focused on the trip - that everyone neglected to mention sunscreen, even though I had packed it. Holly ended up with a pretty good sunburn on her face. (Sad face)

Burke got some mild sunburn on his legs.

It was easy to be distracted.

Right?

We pulled back towards Frankfort.

Waving to the people hanging out by the lighthouse.

Finally back into port. That's our condo right behind the boats - a beautiful condo overlooking the Marina in town.

The whole trip took a couple of hours. Captain John was very knowledgeable of the area and gave us some good tips of places to journey.

If you've always dreamed of sailing - I highly recommend it. Check it off your bucket list.

Don't forget the sunscreen.

mackinaw island

Dad picked the 3 of us girls up from the various places we were living (Kentucky and Ohio) and brought us to Michigan in 1978. Even after all those years, never have I been to Mackinaw Island, so the plan was made after signing up to attend the Karsnick Family Reunion of 2016 in Traverse City.

During our week vacation, we stayed in Frankfort, Michigan and after a very long day at Mackinaw Island we started back to Frankfort - nearly 3 hours. When the sun began to set, we stopped at Little Traverse Bay to snap a few sunset poses. I'm starting the post with this picture even though it was the end of the day cause it's one of my favorites.

You buy a ticket to ride the ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinaw Island for roughly $25/person.

Shepler boats were new and fast. The entire ride took about 15 minutes and was very enjoyable.

We passed Mackinaw bridge on the way, which was majestic in itself.

Once on the island, we looked for a place to eat. The island was packed, but we finally ate at the Pink Pony which had a nice view of the marina.

No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. Your journey consists of either a horse or bicycle.

So many people and bicycles.

Lunch at the Pink Pony waiting for our food, we passed around my hat and did some poses.

Burke set up this shot himself and posed with the flowers. Goob.

The marina and horse drawn carriage was a great picture. Julia is studying flags of the world and was happy to see so many flags displayed.

At the horse stables during one of our stops.

Love the red door.

Julia and Holly.

More carriages.

The coolest building I've ever seen. The walls consists of doors and windows. It was mesmerizing. The Indian rock, I wish I had captured what it said, but something like "if the rock is warm, it is warm, if the rock is swinging back and forth, it is windy...."

Our second stop was at Arch Rock that had a lookout built that rested on top of it.

The fear spread over my body but I went.

While these two were fearless, being up so high didn't phase them at all.

The views were totally worth it.

Amazing blue.

Boy Scouts were posed to lower the flags at 6PM in amazing ceremonial fashion.

Now we're back at the end where we started. Sunset at Little Traverse Bay. An amazing day. Really had a great time sightseeing.