Greetings From Michigan!

Yep -- you heard me right, we're vacationing in Michigan. Mel's spent the last few weeks (since shes off work) planning out a quick getaway vacation. So here we are!

Yesterday we took off around 9am & drove up to Silver Lake. This is a destination that Mel's been to a number of times before & she wanted to share it with me. There are HUGE rolling sand dunes that separate Silver Lake from Lake Michigan. We had to climb an extremely steep graded dune RIGHT after we got out of the car. I thought this task was gonna be tough, but not impossible. Half-way up, I realized that this was next to impossible. We drove about 5 hours then climbed this hill -- my legs were BURNING! After a short break we walked around some more up & down dunes as well as along the shores. Boats were lining the shore as well as people out swimming & riding jet skis. There couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Mel & I found a spot on the beach where we just sat, talked, & enjoyed the sun....so much so, that I got a li'l crispy on the right side of my face.

After that -- we checked into our hotel. The hotel was very nice & unique in the fact that there were 7-8 rather large turtles in the middle of the hotel. This area was similar to an exhibit you'd see at the zoo. It was fenced off to guests, but is open to see them. Although this was unique in itself, we witnessed one male mate with a female! Interesting to say the least, but even worse was when we went back to check 'em out & he was mounting a different one?! Weird.

After we got cleaned up from the day, we went to dinner in Pentwater -- a nearby harbortown. We ate & walked around. After walking around, we headed back to the hotel but stopped by a local putt-putt course. This place was great! Kinda like the courses you'd find in Florida -- winding around in the trees with waterfalls, hills, etc. It was probably one of the best courses we've played.

We headed back to the hotel & relaxed -- even swam & hit the hot tub!

Day 2 began with breakfast at the hotel then back to Silver Lake to check out a cool lighthouse followed by lunch at a local joint in town. The weather wasn't nearly as good as yesterday. Overcast, even sprinkles throughout the day. So, we decided to make our way down to Muskegon to go through some parks & check out various beaches. We found our next hotel, then headed to Grand Haven which, we must admit, we like ALOT. The long boardwalk of restaurants & shops was awesome. Its a nice harbor-type town with lots of people walking around & neat boats to look at. We hung around for the World Famous Musical Fountain show, then we headed back to rest for the night.

Tune in tomorrow for more of the Michigan Road Trip!