Number of Miles Driven: 137

States Driven Through: Michigan 

Hours Driven: ~3.5 hours

We had a leisurely morning with hot chocolate and pancakes. Andrew was excited to try his maple syrup – he loved it, but no one else did (which Andrew was excited about). There was a huge hill behind our campsite and the kids kept racing down it. Matthew took two big spills, but that didn’t deter him. Andrew packed up all the sleeping bags and sleeping mats without even being asked, so the inside of the tent was ready to go. We got everything packed up by 11:15 and we were on our way to the next stop – Sleeping Bear Dunes.

It was a longer drive than we thought, but we got to Empire Bluff Trail (the most recommended if short on time) in the southern part of Sleeping Bear Dunes State Park by 1:20. We had a picnic lunch before beginning our hike. The hike was listed as “moderate to easy” and it was a nice hike – doable for Dani but with a little bit of a challenge with the inclines. We worked our way up the elevation in the shaded woods and when we got to the top, it was an expansive and breathtaking view of Lake Michigan and the northern tip of the notorious Sleeping Bear sand dunes. We continued our hike past the typical stopping point and were essentially hiking along the rim of a dead dune (which is a dune with vegetation) against Lake Michigan. The kids wanted to “do” the dunes again, but we didn’t want to go through the clean-up hassle we had yesterday, so we were hoping this “dune” hike would be sufficient. The total hike was about 1.5 hours and 2-2.5 miles. Dani handled it well but there were a few “my feet are tired” comments.

Always on the lookout for at least one, preferably two, walking sticks
Mid-hike break - overlooking the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We were on the far southern side of the Lakeshore




After the hike, we wanted to do the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, but it was already 3:30 and we wanted to pop up to Leland to check out their infamous cherries (the Leelanau peninsula produces 75% of the nation’s cherries). Also, we had terrible service in the park, so we couldn’t pull up a map that showed us where the start of the drive was. The map in our car had us taking the more direct way to Leland (only 30 minutes away) which went along the outside border of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Lakeshore. The drive to Leland was very quaint and we passed through several cute small downtowns – including Glen Arbor. We passed several lakes and there were a lot of people just sitting out in their boats or standing in the lake. The water was beautiful – all the lakes were bright blue or see through.

Leland had a dock with yachts but was otherwise a very small town. We also didn’t see anything about cherries. We were expecting farmer’s market cherry stands but we saw nothing. We went into Leland Mercantile which was a grocery store and saw cherry baskets at the front of the store. Michael saw a newspaper whose headline was “Expect smaller cherry yield this year.” Turns out cherry harvesting isn’t until the first week of July. But we got a small container of cherries and they were quite good (coming from a person who doesn’t love cherries). Andrew ate 7/8 of the bucket before the night was over. We also got a 4-pk raspberry sour called Sleeping Berry from Middlecoast Brewing from the Mercantile store. There was an ice cream store on the corner of the main intersection and they had a lot of great flavors (peanut butter oreo, salted caramel cheesecake, black cherry, peanut butter cookie dough) and we all got a small ice cream.

Cherry Monster

Next stop was our campsite at Interlochen State Park which was about 45 minutes away from Leland. It was a beautiful drive and we passed several lakes along the away. Once again, our campsite wasn’t great – but’s mostly because we were surrounded by people (those Michiganders book their sites so far in advance – which was confirmed by Andy). The site was flat, not sandy, and spacious enough, so it wasn’t bad. We were preparing for an early start tomorrow for horseback riding, so we did the two pop-up tents which the kids were excited about. They wanted a girls’ tent and a boys’ tent.

Our campsite at Interlochen - first night with the two small tents and the kids were really excited!

There was no grate on our grill, so we scrapped our idea of doing chicken nachos in foil packets and did hot dogs on skewers. We didn’t have enough hot dogs, so Michael and I did hamburgers and he skewered those as well. It actually worked out better than we expected. The campground was located between two lakes, so Michael took the kids down to the waterfront while I stayed behind and worked on the blog. We did smores when everyone got back. Andrew’s s’more game has improved significantly, so I allowed him to make my s’more tonight – it was perfectly tanned.

A perfect s'more!

The kids (even the boys) asked us to resume our “love story,” so Michael told them about the engagement around the campfire with plenty of dramatic flair and it got lots of laughs. They also now think I punched him right as he was about to propose because I was so cold – can’t trust him to tell any stories without exaggerating a few details.

The kids also wanted to hear our wedding story, but right as I was about to start telling it, we heard fireworks exploding. So, Michael took the kids back to the waterfront and they could see fireworks in the distance (Traverse City). The kids were disappointed at how small they were because they were so far away and Michael said “Don’t worry…there’ll be fireworks where we are on the actual 4th” – turns out Tahquamenon Falls is one of 4 campsites in the UP designated as “firework-free” – ooops!

After telling them a few details about the wedding planning, it was nearly 10:30 so we said “to be continued” and called it a night.