We left on Wednesday morning, stopping in Claire at Cops and Doughnuts for a mid-morning treat and bathroom break. It was such a cute place! Then, it was on to our campsite to check in early before the storms came. We got the tent and canopy up and went to grab dinner at The Filling Station where we sat under the covered patio and watched the storms roll over Lake Michigan.
Unfortunately, our tent took in water while we were out to dinner and most of the bedding got wet. It was still pouring so Ashley and Jeff were unable to set up their tent when they arrived (not to mention that they booked a concrete paved site). We made a decision to book a hotel room across the street for the evening to let the kids swim in the pool and so we could use the coin-operated dryers to get our bedding dry. All 8 of us jammed in a room with 2 queen beds. We made the most out of a crazy day and tried to enjoy our first night.
Thursday morning we went back to the campsite to see if there was more water to deal with and to make a quick breakfast of cereal, yogurt, fruit, and doughnut holes before heading to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes for the day. Luckily, we didn't have any additional damage. We packed lunches and hit the road. We met up with my parents at the visitor center since they were also in Traverse City for the week and we had the boys work on their Junior Ranger booklets for a while. Then it was time for the dune climb (which we had no idea would entail that difficult of a hike for 3 hours).
The kids did AMAZING! I mean, that was a hard hike for the adults, but the kids barely complained. And they skipped lunch since we underestimated how long it would take to do it. We were all happy to get back to the parking lot and have our bagged lunch at the picnic table and then head back to the campsite.
We made a late dinner of taco salad, tacos, and quesadillas that hit the spot! The kids wanted to go to the beach across the street so me and Ashley took the boys over to swim while the guys hung out and had a cigar at the campsite. The beach was so nice! There were even a group of young adults that made big bubbles with bubble wands that the kids were chasing on the beach. We all enjoyed a shower and some s'mores by the fire to end the night.
Friday morning we made eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns on the camping stove and enjoyed a slow morning before we got ready to head to Elk Rapids Day Park for the day to use the beach and look for petoskey stones. We packed lunches again and made the short drive over and it did not disappoint! There were so many awesome stones and the boys found many petoskey stones. We got ice cream on the way back to the campsite that had Moomers - yum!
The boys rode bikes around the campground, Scott and I relaxed, and Ashley and Jeff prepped dinner which was hot dogs, chicken sausages, chili, and corn on the grill. Evan lost a tooth during dinner, which means the tooth fairy got to visit our tent! I wanted to see the sunset so Ashley and I took the boys back to the beach across the road after I met up with my friend Adrienne for a drink at her campsite. The sunset was gorgeous!
Saturday morning we made pancakes on the camping stove with another package of bacon. We got ready to head into downtown Traverse City to browse in some of the shops like M22 and the toy store. Just as we got there and parked, it started to absolutely pour. Of course this storm came out of nowhere and we did not have things ready at the campsite for rain, so we sent the guys back to check things out. Our bedding got wet again, but not as badly as Wednesday. It was enough for us to decide to head home that evening instead of Sunday morning, especially since more storms were forecasted for that evening. We still got some shopping in and then came back to pack up the stuff and take one last trip to the beach across the street. We all grabbed an early dinner at Blue Tractor BBQ and started the long voyage home.
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