pure michigan.

We had so much fun last week when we took a little road trip to the southern beach towns of Lake Michigan! Each town we visited was so quaint and cute and had it's own personality. We first stopped and spent the night in St. Joseph. The next day we drove around for a bit to take a look at the town. It was such a fun little place, streets lined with boutiques and such. We went down by the beach, but didn't swim because we wanted to look at the lighthouse that was across the canal. When we finally found our way over to the other side, we took a little walk and watched the people fishing off the pier. One guy had a HUGE fish and another was catching fish with a net. We then proceeded to take pictures of the lighthouse and continue our walk down the shore of the beach.

We then decided to eat lunch and then on to our next destination...Holland!

...Holland, Michigan that is! :) We arrived in Holland that night and spent FOREVER looking for a campsite that was under $35.00---(never in our lives have we ever had to pay so much for camping, how funny it was that camping is just as expensive for the people in the RV's to stay at campsite as to stay in a hotel!) However we found a great place in Holland State Park and right close to the beach so we could go play on it the next day. Connel proceeded to have me time him on setting up the tent by himself. He did it in 12 minutes, air mattress and all--way to go honey!




It was a license-free fishing day in Michigan that day so that evening we went fishing on the lake shore and although Connel did get a few bites, he didn't end up catching anything. Poor guy, oh well, I guess he can go by the saying, "my worst day fishing is better than my best day at work..." :) I however "caught" some fun pics!



(getting "unstuck")







That night we made spaghetti in the dutch oven and then we slept just fine and got up the next day, packed up all the camping supplies and got ready to go to the beach!

At the beach we just layed out for a bit in the sun, looked at another lighthouse (there are lighthouses everywhere up there, they even have a Lake Michigan lighthouse tour you can go on, how fun would that be?), when we started to get a little toasty, we decided to take a walk along the beach front and got some fun pictures. After a couple hours outside, we decided that it wouldn't be smart for me to get all worn out by the heat and so we packed up our beach supplies and ate a picnic under the shade.







After the beach, we decided to go see one of the well-known site of Holland, MI ...the windmill. After watching a very cute klompen dance, we toured the windmill and learned about how the wind-miller made flour out of wheat using huge equipment and such. The windmill was a real dutch windmill that came from the real country of Holland. The only thing that I was dissapointed about was that it was already past the tulip blooming time. Sad! That's okay, we still got to try on some wooden shoes as well as play checkers--Harry Potter style, and Connel won't let me go on without mentioning that HE WON!







So then, again we moved on to Muskegon, MI and stayed the night in a NICE campground! The shower was like DELUXE for camping, however when I was showering I looked up and almost had a heart attack, because above me was a HUMONGO spider! Talk about an Arachnaphobia experience!! It was soo icky! Connel saved me by killing it.

Did I mention that it also took us forever to decide on a campsite this night as well?!? We were wandering around in the car for at least 2 hours trying to find a good one and decided to go to this one, good thing, because it was really nice. However, Connel mentioned that he enjoyed camping more when we stayed in one place, in short, he was REALLY saying that he wasn't enjoying setting up camp one night and then taking it down the next day and having to set it up again. (I'm sure especially when the pregnant lady with him couldn't really do much to help besides try managing what he was doing by looking over his shoulder and saying, Why don't you do this? or Why don't you do that?). I totally agreed with him. So about 30 minutes after our discussion on this he blurted out, "Yeah, I think we'll stay in a hotel tomorrow night!" Now, don't get me wrong, we weren't bumming out on the camping, just the experience of taking it down and setting it up and taking it down and setting it up again, all by himself. Plus, he was "afraid that I wasn't getting the sleep that I needed", aawww how sweet! I think maybe that's just because he wasn't getting the sleep that he needed, because everytime (at least 3 to 4 times) I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom, I ended up waking him up too, poor guy!!! :)

Anyway, so the next morning we packed up our camping things and got ready to drive to Ludington, MI. There we were going to go see the awesome Lighthouse and go to the beach the next day. So we got a hotel and decided to go to the lighthouse that night. The lady on the phone had said that it was about a 20 or 30 minute walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse. Well, we decided that wasn't so bad. So, we got walking, Connel carrying all the stuff, and me walking along beside him. We took it a little slow, but seriously...the walk was about an hour long! I was still feeling pretty good by the time we got to the lighthouse.









The lighthouse was the coolest one that I have ever been to! We were there to late to tour it, but we did get to sit on the beach for awhile on a blanket while I took pictures and Connel read (yes family, I did say Connel read another book). I got some EXTREMELY good looking pictures of my husband, isn't he gorgeous!?!



We were getting ready to leave and Connel asked if I wanted to stay until the light in the lighthouse turned on, I said, "Well, it's not even all the way dark yet, so it's probably still going to be awhile." Then we turned our heads to look at it and Boom! it was ON! I have never seen an actual lighthouse on and it was really majestic looking!

(Connel took this picture--he did AWESOME!)

On the long walk back (I was getting pretty tired by this time and we had to stop about every 15 minutes or so to rest). Once when we stopped, we looked back and the light on the light house seemed to be brighter. I wondered why that was and Connel mentioned that as the night gets darker, the light that you see from the lighthouse seems to get brighter and brighter and the people at sea are able to notice it from a distance...How's THAT for a cool spiritual metaphor!?!?!?

That was one of the coolest times that we had on our trip, just peaceful relaxation on a quiet beach with my husband. What a great memory!

Did I mention to you the great meal that we ate that night? It was soooo good! We ate at a place called Jamesport Brewing Company. We shared Cajun Chicken Pasta and a steak that was well done but still so so tender! We just kept saying how good it was the whole night! If you ever go to Ludington, MI, that is where we suggest you eat!

After the long walk back, I had to praise my husband for his awesome negotiating abilities! We stayed at the Days Inn, but somehow he sweet talked his way into a room with a Jacuzzi TUB for ME for the same price as a regular room! Awww, PURE HEAVEN! I think that was the best bath that I have taken since my parent had a jacuzzi tub in Iona, ID. It was sooo nice that I took another bath the next morning just to get my fill!

When we woke up the next day, the day we planned on beaching it again...it was raining outside, so we decided to just head back down south to our next and final vacation destination...

CHICAGO!

However, I am going to save that part for a seperate post, but I will tell you now that it was so cool!