Hi all,
Back in June, the Wrights had the
pleasure of taking an extended weekend trip. It was much needed. Noah was burnt
out from school, Devon and I were itching to get some time away to relax, and
Penny well,she never needs a reason to get away, she’s always ready! Devon
decided that it would be a good idea to finally travel to Traverse City and
stay at Great Wolf Lodge. If you want to hear about how that went, i'll be posting about it soon. From our home near the lakeshore to Great Wolf Lodge, we were
looking at a 3-hour car ride. Since we were already heading up north, I
suggested that we stop at Sleeping Bear Dunes on our way there. If you’re
fortunate enough to live in Michigan, I highly recommend taking a short trip up
there to gaze at the beautiful views. We took the kids two years ago, and they
were too little to remember. Noah is now at an adventurous age where he’s
holding onto memories and recalling events. I thought it would be an excellent
time to take him. I bribed Penny the whole car ride with the idea that there
would be room to run around and sand to play in.
When planning a trip to SBD,
you should take the GPS directions to their information center. From there you
can purchase a pass that is valid for seven days and allows you to go through
Pierce Stocking Drive. When they give you the pass, it will include a small
paper with directions on how to get to the scenic points. It’s relatively easy
to follow, and that’s coming from someone who
will get a puzzled look on their face when people start telling me
things like “east” and “west.”
Once you reach the drive, you can
pull out your map and choose to either go through each checkpoint or just the
ones that sound appealing to you. With smaller kids, I would opt to choose a
few points versus getting out of the car at each checkpoint. When I asked Noah
if he wanted to see the first checkpoint, which is a bridge, he looked at me as
if I was speaking a different language. I get it, Noah, it doesn’t sound
exciting, and you want to get to the “beach” part. From the standpoint of a
parent who thinks about unbuckling the kids from the car seat and then getting
them to agree somehow to get back into their car seat, some of the points can be skipped.
Try doing that nine more times, and you’d lose your mind and give up. You may
even yell at your kids and tell them, “we’re going to have fun damn it!”
Anyhow, our favorite points are #9 and #10. If you plan on doing just a few
checkpoints, I would recommend having at least a 2-hour time frame available.
If you’re worried about driving out there for the first time, it's very easy. The drive through the checkpoints is simple to navigate, making it hard to
get lost. Also, don’t let the weather deter you from visiting. That weekend we
stopped at SBD on the way to Great Wolf and even on the way back home. The day
we were driving home, there were rainstorms, but on the scenic drive itself,
the weather was just beautiful. It was pretty foggy, which provided us with a
unique experience. If you find yourself heading up north and would like to add
a stop where everyone can stretch their legs, head out to SBD! The views are breathtaking and you'll feel that you are off on an exotic island. It's also a great way to get the kids to let out all that energy they seem to never run out of!
With love,
Carolina
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