Northern Michigan is one of my favorite places to go. I especially love to go in late July and August when the temperatures rise in Northwest, Ohio. My husband and I have made several trips up north to different areas, but this was our first family trip with my husband’s parents and my sister’s family.

My sister and I lost our parents when we much younger and I haven’t had a group family vacation in quite a while. It was great to have the chance to spend time with everyone. Time goes by so fast and we don’t all get the chance to go on vacation together, have fun, relax, and play.

We were lucky enough to find a place right on Fisher Lake near Glen Arbor. There was a long dock at the back of the property that stretched out into the lake with seating at the end. It was a great place to just sit, relax, chat, and snack on kid approved charcuterie boards. The rental house had kayaks for us to putter around in the lake with. We used them to paddle up the Crystal River that leads to Glen Arbor. We all had a great time kayaking up the river with kids. The kids found a small island in the middle of the river and they claimed it as their own. The river was shallow enough for us to get out an stand.

My sister’s fiancé borrowed a ski boat from his family and we used it to drive around Glen Lake. Glen Lake is such a beautiful lake. Beautiful teal blue waters with either rocky or sandy bottom depending on the location. We stopped in a shallow sand bar area to relax, talk, and sip a cocktail while we watched teenagers jump off the nearby bridge. My niece was so excited that she could stand up in the shallow water that it gave her the confidence to splash around on the paddle board.

Of course we made our way to Sleeping Bear dunes. This was suppose to be our beach day, but It turned out to be more of dune climbing day. I did not clime all the way down, but my fearless sister and her family made it down and back up. The little ones were determined to go swimming. Though my sister had to bribe them with ice cream to climb back up. Ice cream bribes work every time.

Chateau Chantal, Michigan (My sister on the left and I’m on the right)

One of the days we did a tour of the winery’s on Old Mission Peninsula. I love trying new wines, but I’m partial to rosés and sparkling wines in the summer. They did have some good ones, but none of them made it home this year unfortunately. I guess that means we had a good time. We only stopped at three wineries before we all needed real food. On our way back we had a late lunch at the Jolly Pumpkin so the men could get an old fashioned or a beer.

On our last full day we finally made it to the beach. My husband loves the beach, but all of us really enjoyed the day. We luckily had a beautiful sunny day for the beach. I can’t wait for our next trip to Northern Michigan. I hope you had some great adventures as well this summer.

Up North

Cooling Down