I am determined to record the fun we had on vacation — even though the trip happened nearly three months ago.
The Boyds went up to our favorite northern Michigan “lake house”:/news/2008/vacation-for-four/ in late August (near Fremont), and we had a lovely, restorative vacation. Since then, we’ve encountered a variety of obstacles to writing up this event. But I think remembering it will just bring back some of that blissful vacation-y feeling!
Here are some highlights and notable events. (Click on any of the thumbnail images to pop up a slideshow.)
* We decided to take “a ferry”:http://www.lakeexpress.com/ from Milwaukee across Lake Michigan to cut out some driving time and have fun. Unfortunately, the day we went was very windy, resulting in eight-foot waves. That makes for a _very_ rocky voyage, not as much fun as we’d anticipated. Mama was the only one who actually lost her lunch.
* We loved taking bike rides together, especially on the “Hart-Montague bike trail”:http://www.getoffthecouch.info/oceana/railtrail.htm. (Here’s a Daily Boydling “photo from along the trail”:/news/2009/background/ that we published earlier.)
* Lucy had been longing to pet some of the animals she would see on farms we drove past. On our last day, we stumbled upon “Lewis’ Petting Farm”:http://lewisfarmmarket.com/ in New Era, Michigan, and it was just what one might hope for! Lots of animals, friendly staff, well-kept. And who knew you could find a camel in northern Michigan?
* We once again tackled the 237 stairs down to the Muskegon River and back up again. This time Lucy and Rosie even got to dip their feet in the water. (Compare this year’s family photo taken here, at right, to “last year’s”:/news/2008/vacation-for-four/.
* We’re always on the lookout for a good local ice cream place, and “Tiny’s Tasty Treats”:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&view=map&q=&sll=43.421408,-85.79884&sspn=0.005611,0.006255&gl=us&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=&ll=43.421422,-85.798845&spn=0,359.993745&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.421313,-85.798876&panoid=kW_N9AIEgrOQMg8JWS8HnA&cbp=12,45.72,,1,8.25 in Newaygo fit the bill. Lucy was initially shocked when, after ordering a kiddie cone, it came with a candy face stuck on it — but then she kept on asking for another “person cone.”
* Lucy took in her first baseball game on a special outing with Papa to Grand Rapids, to see the West Michigan Whitecaps. It was great! They sat in the second row straight behind home plate. Lucy had a great view of the umpire, and to this day she’ll occasionally stop in her tracks, raise her fist, and cry, “Huh! That’s what the umpire says!” On the way out of the park, she experienced her first bee sting, but was greatly soothed by an icepack and a four-foot-long red licorice rope generously given by some very caring concession-stand ladies.
* Our first drive-in meal at “Dogs ‘n’ Suds”:http://drive-ins.dog-n-suds.com/page.php?3 in Montague was fun. We found it amusing that they boast to be the only outdoor plywood restaurant in Michigan. (Are there so many outdoor plywood restaurants in other states?)
* We enjoyed the best sweet corn ever — seriously, *ever* — from a roadside farm stand, a corn variety with the charming name “Sir Prize.”
* We had the leisure to enjoy some good home cooking and baking, including Betty’s “blueberry buckle”:/news/2008/bettys-blueberry-buckle/ with Michigan blueberries.
* Poor Lucy experienced some sand in her eyes for the first time after she fell into a sandpile at the playground. Luckily, Papa flushed it with water quickly and she was back to new in no time.
* Almost every evening, we enjoyed watching swans as they floated on the lake right outside our living room window.
* Most evenings, we ate our desserts in lawn chairs by the lake. It was very cute to watch Lucy and Rosie work to carry their toddler-sized lawn chairs down to the waterfront. We even got to benefit from the evening moonrise as entertainment.
* We had great weather the whole time, mainly in the low-70s. Mama was especially grateful that this contradicted her uncharacteristically pessimistic predictions that it would rain all week.
* We happened upon a beautifully restored red caboose in White Hall, Michigan. The girls especially had a grand time climbing up into the cupola.
Hooray for vacationing at the lake house!