Big Star Lake, Traverse City, Ludington - Summer Vacation 2009

We headed up to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van's trailer on Big Star Lake for a few days this week. We arrived early Sunday afternoon and after some cleaning in the trailer (it hasn't been used all summer, so the critters have been having the time of their life in there :)), we headed down to the lake for a couple of hours. The water was fabulous - great temp., awesome sandy bottom, and you can walk out forever. All four of us had a lot of fun. Jet loved bounding through the water and Carson loved watching Jet and swimming on his back in his life jacket - he's doing very well keeping balanced and kicking his feet, he'll be swimming on his own in no time! After swimming, we headed up to the trailer to get changed and headed into town for dinner at Pompeii's Pizzeria (very good!) and some grocery shopping for the vacation necessities that we hadn't brought with us (beer, hand soap, bottled water). We ended the night just relaxing at the trailer... its amazing how quiet it is in the woods... we'd forgotten how quiet it could actually get... it was so peaceful... and we weren't even bothered by mosquitoes, even without our Burts Bees bug spray! It was great!

On Monday, we decided to head north to Traverse City since the forecast for Lake County looked like it'd be pretty rainy. The weather in Traverse City was great for most of the day. We went to the (free) Children's Gardens downtown first. Carson had a blast running around, climbing in and out and all over the wooden train, smelling flowers, and watching the waterfall into the fish pond. Then we had lunch at a local place on the main drag in town and headed north up the Old Mission Peninsula for a scenic drive, some wine tasting, some light hiking on some trails and on the beach, and to see the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.. We picked up some really good cherry festival wine, some cherry sangria, and some late harvest riesling wines at one of the wineries we stopped at. Half-way up the peninsula, our check engine light came on. Figures, huh? We stopped at Auto Zone once we got back into Traverse City and it coded as something being wrong with the supercharger. Again, figures, huh? Kevin wasn't too concerned about it doing harm to the engine, though he was pretty bummed to have to drive with no boost for the rest of the trip. :) After that, we headed back to Big Star Lake. We stopped at an MDOT Roadside Park on our way back for a stretch - we climbed 144 steps down and 144 steps up... and Carson did every one of them with us! We waded in the lake (actually a reservoir on the Manistee River, so it was COLD!) after making our way down, then we headed on up the stairs to the car for the rest of the trip back to the trailer. We stopped on the north side of Baldwin at the Government Lake Lodge for a late dinner (another very good place to eat if you're in the area!).

We stayed at the trailer on Tuesday. Just relaxed and went on a walk in the morning. Then headed up to Mel's for lunch and ice cream. And then spent the afternoon on the pontoon out on the lake. It was so great to just sit out there, getting some sun, swimming, relaxing, and just having some great family time! We took a drive in the evening and were very happy to see that the check engine light was off! Danny had done some internet research for us and said that was a possibility, so we were very thankful it went off!




On Wednesday, we took a drive out to Ludington. Sara's parents were also on vacation this week and were staying in Ludington, so we met up with them. Carson was very excited to see Nana and Papa! We went to Stearns Beach on Lake Michigan for a few hours. Carson had a great time! The waves crashing on the shore scared him a little at first, but soon enough he was running into Lake Michigan and having a great time. He had tons of fun building a sand castle with Daddy and Papa. The beach was busy, but it was very relaxing and beautiful! After the beach, we headed downtown to House of Flavors for lunch and their famous ice cream. (Kyle, you were right, it was sooooo good!!!). After lunch, we headed down to Waterfront Park to play on their enormous playground and check out all of the sculptures. What a beautiful park! We spent a couple of hours there and had a lot of fun running around, playing on the playground, and watching the boats come in to the marina.










After the park, we headed back to Big Star Lake for one last swim in the lake and to start packing up our stuff. We decided to leave sooner than planned because rain and chilly temperatures were in the forecast for the next few days. Rather than pack and load everything in the rain in the morning, we packed up and headed home on Wednesday evening. While we were sad to cut our trip short, we were glad to get home to sleep in our own beds and shower in our own shower (the water at the trailer is quite hard on your hair... I think I'll need to do a deep conditioning treatment on my hair to make up for it...). :)

All in all, this was a wonderful family trip! It was nice to lose touch with reality (very limited cell phone coverage and absolutely no TV or laptops) for a few days, just spending time out in the middle of no where. It was so relaxing just to enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of the wilderness. We saw deer every day and night we were up there. They'd greet us in the mornings right outside the trailer patio (at 6am on the dot) and would wander through at dusk, too. It drove Jet crazy, of course, but the rest of us thought it was pretty cool. Carson has enjoyed telling everyone that deer have antlers ("dee-ah ant-nahs") after seeing the deer at the trailer and seeing the antlers used in the decor at many of the places we went. :)

We look forward to many more trips up to Big Star Lake in years to come. Next year, we'll have to take Carson canoeing on the Pere Marquette river! We thought about it this year, but figure he'll do better with it next year. And once we get Carson riding and we have some nice bikes and quads, we'll definitely enjoy all of the ATV/ORV trails in the area!

If you're interested in seeing all of our vacation pictures, be sure to check out the Shutterfly photo albums (link in the right sidebar)... I'll have them all up at some point today. Enjoy!