Vacation bliss

I've been delaying writing the vacation post because that would mean that vacation is, in fact, over, and I'd have to acknowledge it. Sigh. We've been back in the real world since Saturday night, but I'm still choosing to live in vacation memory bliss. 


Dan and I left early Wednesday for our trip up North. Our first stop was Traverse City, Michigan and it was absolutely fantastic. We checked into the hotel and then went to an amazing little Italian restaurant close by for an awesome late lunch. Afterward, we walked around downtown, stopped in some of the local shops, went on a very long walk to a nonexistent winery, and finally landed back at the hotel late that evening. 


Thursday led us on our winery tour of Mission Point Peninsula. We started the morning with a run down to the beach... followed by rain at the Mission Point Lighthouse. By the time we were done with the first winery, the rain had subsided. 

Lighthouse!

Going to all of the different wineries was AWESOME! I'd never gone on multiple winery tours in one day, so it was an exciting experience for me. We stopped at eight wineries (eeee!) and, shockingly, were able to find wine at each winery that we enjoyed (okay... maybe this is not so shocking). 


That night, we drove over to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was so fun to climb the Dunes (and run down them, of course!). We also went on a scenic driving tour of the coast which was totally incredible. Dan even found us a little lake to watch the sunset over. Totally beautiful, and totally awesome. 


We woke up early on Friday and headed north to Mackinac Island. The Island is just like I remember it from when I was a kid... the main street is like jumping back in time, and I love, love, love it. We had a quick lunch and then rented a tandem bike. This perhaps gave us the most comical interaction with anyone on the trip. The man renting us the bike told us he couldn't give us a tandem unless we'd wallpapered a bathroom together or painted together. When we told him we hadn't done either of those things, he said we had to come up with something comparable, so we told him that we once had to change two flat tires at the same time. He asked how we'd gotten said flat tires and Dan had to tell him he'd jumped a curb. Naturally, his response was, "And you want ME to give you a bike?" Eventually, they relented. 

LOVE the tandem bike!

The bike ride around Mackinac was my favoHelrite part of the whole trip, I think. It was a perfect day... 72 sunny degrees and a light breeze. We had so much fun riding, stopping, taking pictures, reading signs, driving up to the Grand Hotel, and laughing together a LOT. When we returned the bike a couple of hours later, the man at the rental shop joked that he'd had the Coast Guard out looking for us because they were worried. :)


Upon returning the bike, we picked up a few souvenirs (FUDGE!) and went back to Mackinaw City. We checked into our hotel, got ready, and headed back to the Island for our fancy dinner. (I totally recommend getting the Mack and Back pass -- it'll let you go back and forth as many times as you want in the same day!) We ate at a restaurant called Yankee Rebel and it was awesome! We'd thought about eating at the Grand, but men were required to wear a sport coat. Yikes. On the way back to the island that night, we got to see this:

Hello, gorgeous sunset.

The next morning was another quick run, breakfast, a trip over the bridge to the UP, and then back home.  Such a wonderful vacation! 


I love vacations so much and for so many reasons. One, I love going somewhere new (or old) and trying new things and seeing new places. There's just something so exciting about being somewhere different. Two, I love that vacations mean little stress. Dan and I left for vacation with a vague idea about what we wanted to do, but no real plan in place. I love that! I live my life on a schedule, always, so it was nice to be able to wake up at 8 a.m. and say, "What should we do today?" And THEN figure it out. Three, everything is fun! Waking up in a hotel? Fun! Not making the bed? Fun! Not cooking meals? Fun! Doing something? Fun! Doing nothing? Fun! You see the pattern here. 


Anyway, home sweet home is where we are now. With my batteries mildly recharged, I'm excited to tackle some of my to-do list this week and really enjoy some more of summer. :)