Michigan Lake Trip, 2023

Hi again! Time to finally blog the Big Summer Vacation for 2023, where we found ourselves headed back to Michigan. We hadn’t been to Michigan since the kids were very small, back in 2017(!), so we were well overdue another trip there.

(Also please click that link above to peep that tiny Peter and Linus! Why does time go by so fast.)

I will be honest, we packed a lot in and I was overwhelmed trying to figure out how to blog it all, but I think what I’ll do is take out the two “side trips” and stick to the lake house vacation portion for the first blog post. I can sort out the side trips in another post.

So. Last visit, we stayed on the southern side of Michigan, and it took us ~5 hours (and a grueling time getting through south Chicago/Gary). Which we decided was a bit of a long trip just for future reference, we should keep that in mind when planning future Michigan trips…

This time, we rented a lake house waaaay up the mitten, so we had over 8 total hours of driving to get through. Oof. To the point that we considered taking the Lake Michigan ferry, but that thing would take 6 hours by itself and would cost ~$500 and we’d still have several hours of driving to/from the ferry, so… So: we decided to drive the entire trip but we broke it up, driving as far as Kalamazoo on the way there and spending a few nights in Chicago on the way back.

First up – get our butts to Kalamazoo. I did my usual insane planning and packed the car as full as possible, and away we went.

I look forward to the days when a road trip means I have a lap and some leg room in the car.

We left around noon, so we were ready for a late lunch by the time we hit the Chicagoland. We stopped in a wee suburb called Hinsdale for lunch – cute cute cute. Lovely little town with sweet boutiques and plenty of restaurants to choose from.

Unfortunately, we picked the wrong restaurant for lunch – vibes were great, food was terrible. I ordered a tuna poke bowl and the tuna SMELLED, even though it was absolutely drowning in mayo (so impressive that the smell got through that thick mayo layer). So gross. The other food was at least edible, but pretty underwhelming, which was a bummer.

After some walking around downtown, we hit the road again and finally crossed for our brief time in Indiana.

Indiana is always a wall-to-wall traffic crawl here, worse than coming in to Chicago from the north, which is really saying something. Then finally, we made it to Kalamazoo. We really enjoyed Bells on our last visit, and were able to squeak in about 45 min. before closing hours. Pretty sure we were the last table allowed to order food.

Which was a good thing, because unlike lunch: this place has phenomenal food as well as beers.

After dinner we zipped over to our airbnb for the night. We dragged in a pre-planned overnighter bag of stuff and the cooler of food (trying to keep some frozen stuff frozen, god bless the roomy freezer in this airbnb). Everyone hit the showers, and the kiddos went ham on some candy the host kindly left out to enjoy.

There were two small bedrooms and a back “bonus room” with a pull-out bed, which Pete gladly took because he’s a teen and needs some space (no guilt, I get it). Me, I curled up into a chair in the living room and started on a memoir I bought just for this trip (Minka Kelly‘s! So good!) before crawling into our bed to sleep.

This spot was clean and cute as a button, the perfect one-nighter to unwind and get a good night of sleep before finishing our trip.

Got up early, threw our stuff in our overnighter and repacked that cooler, then off we went with the plan to make it as far as Grand Rapids for some lunch and a grocery shop. And then: finally make our way the rest of the way up the mitten. Michigan is a fantastic state: so much beauty and things to do! But the truth is, the farther north you go, the less you can depend on, as far as civilization. I wanted a nice grocery store to get some good cheeses and wine and a wide variety of veggies before we hit the airbnb, so it meant stopping in a city. Which was pretty much only Grand Rapids.

Now, I have heard jokes about Grand Rapids, but let me tell you: it’s a metro that is growing at a fantastic pace and has a TON to offer. If I were to categorize it, it’s Madison sized with Milwaukee vibes. I was immediately charmed by it, and it has all the creature comforts I’d like to have. And to be totally frank: it was on the shortlist when we planned this latest move.

Anyway. We needed some lunch, and I had about six billion recommendations from online (thank you, Internet!). Fried chicken was what the kids were craving, so fried chicken we went to find, specifically at Hancock.

YOU GUISE. This place was such a gem. I know I know, I say this a lot, but listen: I lived in southeast KS. I like to think I know fried chicken. And this place is legit. And not only fried chicken, but the sides are awesome (I am a “sides” snob). And they offer a boozy slushie sampler, which I’d consider a true middle-aged mom magnet if there ever was one.

Even the picky eater enjoyed his order, which included not only a chicken slider but their fresh-squeezed lemonade, which even today he considers one of the best lemonades of his (admittedly, short) life.

Also they had some ornamental wheat type grass growing in their courtyard and the kids cosplayed “country people”.

After lunch, we walked a few more blocks down for some coffee at Scorpion Hearts Club. I am, admittedly, an official stalker of this place. I started following a photography blogger years ago, whose (now ex-) husband had his own great blog, that I also started reading. Then they divorced, he remarried and had a family with this very coffee shop owner, and that’s how I then started following this cool coffee shop (because it’s a vibe, and the bevvies were all so creative and yummy looking). I wanted to stop if I was ever in that area, and lo and behold: here we are.

There’s a record store in the back, candles and other goods along the wall, a fantastic playlist going, and yummeh gluten-free goods along with fantastic coffee drinks. We got some to-go (including treats, which Linus happily devoured), and walked around the neighborhood. This is when we decided wow, we really REALLY like this town. Too bad the real estate market was so slow there, if it was peppier there’s a high chance I’d be blogging from Grand Rapids right now.

Next up: time to get some groceries. I wanted to hit up a place with a lot of local goods, so we ended up at Kingma’s Market. They had all sorts of lovely veg, cheeses, beverages, baked goods, and most of all A GIANT PICKLE BARREL. Linus insisted on a photo with the pickle barrel.

We squashed everything we bought into the cooler/trunk, like literally SQUASHED IT IN, then off we went. Northern Michigan, here we come.

When I took the picture above, I did so because whenever we went “Up North” I was always struck and so in awe of the trees, but now I’m living it. Ha.

Anyway! About 2 more hours on the road, and TA DA: the airbnb.

NOTE: stole this picture from the rental listing; we did not stay there in the autumn lol

This place was really pushing the definition of “lake house”; it was (again) a place I booked deep in the wintertime, freshly on the rental market, so cheap AF because they just wanted some bookings and reviews under their belt. It was a huge rental, with a main level consisting of an open floorplan kitchen, dining, and living area, with a sliding-glass door opening to a huge wrap-around deck.

Then a hallway went into a foyer, which included the front entrance, the main bathroom, and opened into a master bedroom (big! huge!) with a large master bath AND washer/dryer area.

There was a 2nd level upstairs, with two bedrooms and another bathroom.

AND THEN (then! also!), to the left: step down into a sunken family room, (huuuuuuge), with another foyer and then a mudroom/storage room AND doors to a two-car garage.

Here’s the start of the open floorplan area:

Foyer:

Extra bonus huge family room lounge-y area:

I don’t even have pictures of the bedrooms in the gallery yet, ha.

Anyway. We essentially pulled bags, blankets, coolers, groceries, etc. out of every nook and cranny of the car and brought them inside, and then I spent TWO HOURS unpacking everything. And then was time to unwind while we made dinner. See: aperol spritz + some delicious cheese spread, along with some chill tunes.

Dinner – the kids had hot dogs et al. the first night. They are kids and on vacation, YOLO.

Scott made the adult dinner, which was: burrata salad, crab cakes, and roasted zucchini. Boom.

We ate it out on the back deck area of the wrap-around porch and it was lovely.

Peter came out to terrorize us dressed as a blanket monster but otherwise was a very chill evening.

After dinner, I retired to the open-floorplan living room to finish my book and yes, I packed my fuzzy slippers (and seriously, Minka Kelly’s memoir is a must read, friends). Linus was so excited that his bed had a trundle, he told me that I MUST sleep in his room after reading time. Er. I mean I love my kids but no thanks?

Eventually I wandered up there and uh yup. He totally made a bed for me, bless his heart.

I read to him and relaxed for a bit until he dozed off and then yeah. Uh huh. I went back down to our room to read and fall asleep early in my own bed. Like a grown up.

Next morning, and time for our time-honored tradition: biscuits and gravy for the first breakfast. Peep this overhead shot.

So turns out: Linus’ bedroom has this bizarre window that randomly overlooks the kitchen, ha.

After a DELICIOUS breakfast to kick off our vacation, the kids had some computer/gaming time. Vacation sometimes calls for slow mornings, and we were all still feeling all that travel a bit.

After a lazy morning, it was time to check out the beach near our lake house. About 5 minutes of driving and there were were: in Beulah, at Crystal Lake.

I originally bookmarked this space after seeing it highlighted in a Midwest Living issue, tucked into a Q+A section, when a celebrity (actual, A-list celebrity) talked about taking a trip to Michigan, where their spouse was originally from, and being FLOORED by this area due to the clarity of the lakes, very similar to Caribbean crystal-clear beaches. So, I made a mental note so we could head that way on our next Michigan vacation.

The water was, indeed, crystal clear, and a gorgeous tropical teal on a sunny day. I did note the warning about water mites, like after the fact. When we were leaving and drove past a warning sign was placed at the exit. Considering the best way to not deal with the neverending itchy rash is to properly scrub off IMMEDIATELY after swimming, I want to thank the fine folks of Beulah for putting the warning at the exit, like WUT. So surprise surprise: turns out we got a case of the Mite Bites, but more to come on that later. At least the kiddos loved their time splashing around.

Team Lunchtime Fluffernutter forever.

This place like, I can’t. So cute.

EXCEPT FOR THE MITE BITES. So: Pete, Linus, and I all played in the water. Linus and I fared fine, but also we’re both kinda paranoid about scrubbing off after our last fateful lake trip. My poor Pete, though – he was riddled with bites, huge welts everywhere. Plus: sunburn. I felt so, so bad for the kid. He spent a few days highly dosed on Benadryl and dotted with calamine lotion, hiding under all his favorite blankets while watching YouTube on his tablet. He joined us in the family room for taco dinner but then immediately went back to his room to be miserable in private.

Thankfully, he was feeling better after a day or so. That evening we saw rain anyway, so we weren’t really going anywhere (so many rainy days on this vacation; it kinda threw a wrench into some of our plans).

On day 2, we spent the rainy day by gaming, obviously.

And watching a lot of TV snuggled up on the huge couch in the family room.

When the clouds finally cleared in the late afternoon, we took advantage by hitting up the putt-putt course near us.

Then stopped at A&W for an ice cream. I grew up on A&W as a kid, so finding an old-school store was a real treat.

Peep them lights!

After our ice cream stop, we ran over to the nearby Lake Michigan beach to watch the sun go down.

I was raised a Great Lakes girl and I will be one forever, I love those magical lakes.

Loved the little lighthouse here (Point Betsie). Really well kept. You can tour the inside, but we were never here when it was open (oh well, maybe next time).

We finally pulled ourselves away and made our way back to the rental. I made dinner based on some freezer goodies I dragged along; this night was pre-roasted pork, red/green sauces I made from our New Mexico chiles (I made huge batches of sauce and froze in 1-cup containers), and some quick microwave bags of cilantro lime rice and cowboy beans.

Smartest thing I have learned from years of lake trips: while we enjoy taking our time and puttering over breakfast, we want easy picnic lunches and a quick dinner on the table after a long day in the sun. So I bring a lot of pre-prepped meals, including this meal.

Post dinner is sometimes my favorite part of the day; Scott cleans up and I retire with a book. I was able to get through 5 books on this trip, lol. The bulk of my GoodReads goals for the year are done over vacation, I won’t lie.

The next morning was another slow morning, thanks to more rainy weather. Linus chilled in his room this time.

And Pete chilled in his room. And I dove into a new book while drinking lots of coffee.

It was still kinda stormy, but we were determined to get out of the rental, so headed to the most famous eatery around: The Cherry Hut.

This spot has been around over 100 years, serving up all manner of cherry-related foodstuffs. We were lucky enough to get immediate seating, the perks of getting there as soon as they open.

First up: cherry beverages, like their famous cherry limeade.

I ordered the cherry chicken salad sandwich, which you know is the real deal when you unexpectedly bite into a cherry pit in the sandwich (no dental damage done, thank GOD, so no worries).

What a vibe, this place.

Had to get a slice, obviously. On par with Arnita’s pie.

Linus got a “Jerry Cherry” plushie and after a quick photo shoot the rain started and we headed back to the airbnb.

Rain rain rain.

Everyone retreated to their personal space. Pete hid from all of us in his labyrinth of a bed.

Linus had a buddy party in his room.

Aaaaaand yeah. That day was kind of a wash. This is a recurring theme for our beach days.

On Saturday, we were stuck at the airbnb but – not because of the weather. It was because Scott had a work morning, testing new software. The rest of us relaxed while he worked.

The irony is that it was pretty sunny early that day. I guess at least we had all the goods in the fridge to make breakfast burritos, so breakfast burritos it was. After a few hours the clouds rolled in, because: why not.

It was so overcast and misty that by the afternoon when Scott was done working, we didn’t expect a beach day. We packed up the car with our stuff anyway and figured we’d have an overcast but hopefully rain-free day to check out a new beach. Little did we know that 20 minutes later when we arrived at the beach, here was what it looked like:

Pefection. The kids wasted no time running for the water.

We ended up spending the entire afternoon/evening here, and I have about 200 photos to prove it.

Confession: I only bought this sunscreen because I thought the label was cool.

Finally decided to drag the kids out of the water and head out, because people were getting hangry (I didn’t bother to pack lunch after a big ole burrito breakfast, but forgot to bring snacks too, whoops).

We stopped at this tavern a few blocks away and ordered some appetizers to get us through.

Then back to our lake house to soak in the last bits of our time there.

Listen, at this point we were on our last full day in northern Michigan, but no worries: we finally got some of those famous Michigan cherries. (Honestly, they are absolutely no different than Door County cherries. Which tracks, as geographically Door County is directly across the lake from here. But hey, can’t complain, great cherries are great cherries.)

Alsooooo looking at that picture, I just noticed that the quartz countertops are maybe the exact same as those in our new house. Huh.

So: with the time to leave looming over us, we packed up that last night, begrudgingly. Then I retired to our lovely room for one last evening of working my way through my pile of books. I left some of them there for future renters, which works for me too because less to drag all the way back to Madison.

Then the next day, off to Chicago. With a lunch stop in our new favorite town, Grand Rapids. Peep this car we saw there (lol):

We ended up at Harmony Brewing for lunch, a pretty solid pizza joint. Scott gave me the usual loving salute.

Good stuff, tho.

The rest of the drive to Chicago was… not so great.

It rained and rained and rained. It slowed down to a sprinkle as we got to the Chicago rental, but it was clear the sky was going to open up again at any moment.

I booked a traditional Chicago apartment this go around, it was a traditional railroad apartment in a tri-level stone building. The unfortunate thing here: the garage included with our rental was (as is typical for some neighborhoods in the City) a good two blocks from the building itself. Rain clouds were looming so Scott dropped us off in front and tried to get the car parked and back to the apartment before the rain hit. Welp, that didn’t happen. It was a very Pride and Prejudice moment when he hit the front door, except he wasn’t exactly proclaiming his love for me, lol.

Oops. Good thing I had fresh towels and a cold beer waiting for him, that helped his mood immensely.

PS love a railroad style apartment, just have to include that.

Here’s our back patio, which we had full use of but was too rainy to enjoy. The irony is I checked the weather before we headed out and there was not supposed to be any rain in Chicago. So much for that.

My now mostly-dry husband and the kiddos relaxed in the front room while I tried to figure out dinner. See those French doors? They open directly to a balcony looking over the Lake. I went out there several times during the storm, just to take a gander at the old gal. She was really whipped up into a frenzy, it was cool thing to see.

(It was a super cute front room, btw)

And random photo alert, because for some reason I stuck it here (maybe because his room was right by the kitchen?) Here’s Linus’ room, near the back. There was the world’s teeniest (2nd!) bath after his room, then the back door.

The kitchen had some random under-cabinet fancy lighting that I totally embraced while making dinner. I had some leftover frozen pasta meat/sauce I put to use.

No strainer for the pasta but we made it work. With a weird, giant metal be-hole-d gadget that was perfectly sink-sized (dish-draining rack perhaps?) that we found on a low shelf in a cabinet, god bless.

Then we just relaxed and watched WGN and then got a good night’s sleep.

(Here was the master bedroom, btw. Super roomy for an apartment; it had a desk/work area off to the side and a massive closet system that took up one entire wall.)

The next morning! I got up early and made cinnamon rolls (from a can, not scratch ha), and waited for the fam to wake up.

My Pete-o’s room.

They both stuck buddies in their bedroom windows at this place. This one was Peter’s.

And here’s Beans, in Linus’ room.

I made some coffee while I waited for them and watched the angry lake from our balcony. (Also reading; I had one last book to polish off.)

I walked down for a sec before retreating back to the rental because WHAT DO YOU KNOW. MORE RAIN.

Eventually everyone got up, ate some cinnies, then we were off downtown to hit up some museums.

First up: the Pompeii exhibit.

Some baby in our touring group saw the cast on the left below, and happily chirped to her mom LOOK! CHANGING DIAPER!

Fun fact about Pompeii that they never told you in school: only 10% of residents “stayed behind”, while the majority of the wealthy fled by boat weeks beforehand. Makes you wonder how many of those left behind were their slaves or the poor who couldn’t find a way to leave…

That exhibit was very interesting and sobering at the same time. Afterwards we hit up our favorite pizza place: Piece.

Brunch bevvie alert.

Two pizzas this time, the Lobster on White since it was limited time, as well as our eternal fav, the Honey Butter Fried Chicken.

Afterwards we walked down to Eli’s for some ice cream and macarons, as per usual.

Then back to the rental. The sun had come out so we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and taking multiple quick walks down to the lake.

We were only here a few nights but this location in Rogers Park was so fantastic; this would make an amazing week-long rental. A literal hop/skip/jump to the beach (I took this picture from the balcony, where I spent the majority of my time).

That evening, we walked down as a family and spent a good hour just watching the sunset and enjoying the water. Finally no rain, so we could enjoy a proper Lake Michigan cotton-candy sunset.

The boys did NOT want to put on their swim trunks but then ended up jumping in the water anyway.

Love these dorks.

Love that lake.

Thank goodness they only had to go a few buildings up the block, because we didn’t even bother to bring towels.

Showers and a late dinner of leftovers (less to drag back home). Which ended up being 95% pizza and 5% a bowlful of random leftover beach snacks.

One last night! Then back to reality!

Well, delayed reality I guess. We got up, Scott brought the car over so we could pack up our belongings, and because we still had the rental for a few hours – we got some beach/lake time in.

The kids went for a nice long dip and then ran around the beach a bit. Get all those zoomies out.

Buh-bye, lovely Rogers Park rental! I hope we can come back some time!

Then off we went. Through the City. To…

Oh yeah, baby – you know where we ended up before leaving the Chicagoland.

We didn’t get much this trip, some towels and other random bits and the kids each got new buddies (because: of course).

And then the last few hours to Madison. In complete chaos, as per usual.

That’s all I gots for you in this one, friends! Thanks for taking a gander, and more to come along soon I am sure (I am slowly but surely finding time to knock these puppies out; I’ll get to 2024 posts before you know it. Like maybe by 2025, even…)

Over and out.