Our Wish: I Didn't Know That My Home State was This Nice!

Since we've been rather couped-up in Midland over the last 3 months and we just got a new vehicle that has more interior space for traveling, we decided that we wanted to see a new place in Michigan this weekend. We chose to visit Ludington, a small town on the west side of the state on Lake Michigan, since it has a beach and some other fun attractions. We also took a drive on Saturday through some other towns on the west side of the state, winding up the 2-day trip late on Saturday night. When you see some of our pictures of the sights and sounds of Western Michigan, you might be surprised to find out that the place can look so nice! After all, in just 3 months we'll be plunged into another bitter cold winter season of snow mounds and leafless trees.

Talia was very pleasant for the entire trip except for a twenty-minute event on Saturday. The drive from Midland to Ludington took 2 hours; Talia slept soundless the entire time. Our first stop was the city park beach, which is a surprisingly wide beach with soft, fine sand. Talia took refuge from the sun and wind in a half-tent that we purchased specifically for this trip. (I decided that this tent is a great idea for anyone to use, because it's a great way to truly get out of the sun when you are out for a long time.) Amazingly, Talia stayed content for 3 hours in her shelter. When we first showed up, we weren't sure how long our beach outing would last since the tent wasn't overly entertaining for Talia, and because there was a decent amount of wind on the shore that tended to kick up sand. We managed to deal with the sand issue by facing the tent against the normal wind direction, and also building a small "wall" around Talia at the opening. That proved to be a good enough setup to allow Talia to chill in her first swimsuit (below).

The weather was hot enough that I went for a swim in Lake Michigan twice - the water felt chilly when the sun was behind clouds but felt perfect when the sun was out. We finished the beach outing with a picnic lunch in a shaded, grassy area that was out behind the beach.

Later that afternoon we walked around downtown Ludington and went to eat at an Italian restaurant. The restaurant was one of those types where the tables were very closely spaced and fairly crowded, so it was funny when we walked in with enough gear and bags for a small army. After dinner, we walked back down to the beach to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan - this is, as we found out, one of the big attractions at Ludington... and it did not disappoint. We went back the next day just to see the lighthouse - one of many in the area.

We left Ludington early in the afternoon to drive south to a little town called Holland which has one of my favorite restaurants - the New Holland Brewery brewpub. On the way down to Holland, we drove through the towns of Pentwater and Muskegon, which were nice too in their own ways. We decided to stop in Muskegon so that Talia could get a break from her car seat and move around on a blanket. We found a nice spot in a park along the bank of a river that runs through Muskegon. We wrapped up our weekend excursion by driving down to Holland to get a bite to eat at the brewpub and walk around the downtown area for a while. (Holland is sometimes called the "Martha's Vineyard of Michigan".) We got back to the house very late on Saturday night, tired but satisfied from getting away briefly and seeing a bit more of Michigan.

Enjoy the pictures! Until next time.....

- Mike