Summer Road Trip 2017: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and Traverse City

The main reason we wanted to getaway Up North was to visit the Sleep Bear Dunes National Park and Seashore.  It's been on my list for a long time so we headed early one morning in the rain (the only day it rained).  The timing was great because we decided to do the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive rather than hike and the rain gave us a perfect reason to do so.  By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and the thick spread of clouds broke away to puffs only and bright sun.  Some of views along the drive were breathtaking. 

On one stop you look over the large dunes and there is an overlook.  But down below we had seen evidence of people walking around the dunes, and there were several trails down so we did it as well. It wasn't until later that we realized you weren't supposed to walk the dunes so we felt badly about that.

The scenic drive will take you to the incredible dropoff into Lake Michigan.  If you are afraid of heights, do not go here!  You cannot tell from these photos but standing on the sand you are basically looking straight down into the ocean-sized lake.  It is beautiful but not for those who fear heights. From there we hiked even further up to get even better views.  Photos really can't do this place justice; you'll have to see it for yourself.

I had also heard about a place called The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a historic hospital complex (adjacent to a modern day hospital complex) that has shops and restaurants.  I'm assuming that Michigan in the weather can be hard to take so having something like The Village to walk around in is really nice.  It's not huge but the stores are fun to browse and the boys had a challenging game of chess before we left.

Next stop was downtown Traverse City, which I also had heard about while planning our trip.  There is a main street downtown lined with shops and restaurants.  It's great shopping and eating.  Of course, our the boys' main purpose is to hit the beach so we crossed the street to the marina and hit the beach right in downtown.  The boys swam until it was way past dinner and we finally packed up and headed back to the cabin with definite plans to return.