Category: Travels

Ah, summertime in northern Michigan…

We have a tradition of going up north for my birthday. Last year we went to Mackinac Island and this year we went to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Two times is enough to call it a tradition, right?

If you’ve never heard the Chippewa legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes, grab a tissue and read this:

Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.

If you don’t find that story moving, I think you must be made of stone. Inspired by the legend, I’ve had Sleeping Bear Dunes on my list of Michigan places to explore for a very long time. So we packed a picnic lunch and set off to see one of the most beautiful places in America.

One way to spend a day at the Dunes is on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. With twelve official stops, it provides breathtaking views of all the natural beauty found here on the shore of Lake Michigan. The National Park Service distributes a brochure to all who travel the trail with the history and current information about each stop.

At the Lake Michigan Overlook, we rolled out a blanket and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the beach of the Dune. What you see here is not camera trickery, the Dune really was that steep!

We admired the ambition of this young man climbing up the Dune, but for us, it was just too hot to attempt!

After lunch, we explored the area a little, amazed by each view we encountered.

When we returned to the car, Justin had a surprise for me – a little heart-shaped brownie birthday cake. It was half melted from sitting in the hot car and it completely melted my heart.

We left the Dunes behind to visit the nearby Point Betsie lighthouse and walk along the shore.

As the sunset approached, we got a huge plate of nachos to go and found a spot in the sand on the Frankfort beach. A sensational view and a delicious meal… not a bad way to celebrate a birthday, if I do say so myself!

Now back home in Michigan, we were delighted to discover that our garden was doing just fine despite our two week absence. Justin carefully constructed an automatic watering system using a series of sprinkler hoses before we left, and it appeared to have worked like a charm while we were gone.

According to farming folklore, the corn should be “knee high by the fourth of July” and our corn-babies are hitting the mark.

Named for the Wolverine fight song, our gnome Victor (as in Hail to the Victors), keeps the cayenne and thai peppers company.

The spaghetti squash is growing at an astonishing rate. We’re actually worried this plant might not just take over the garden, but the whole world!

The marigolds have bloomed and just in time!

They will discourage tomato worms from feasting on the leaves of the tomato plant, which is just starting to get flowers of it’s own. And by the look of the plant above ground, the potatoes must be doing well.

The wonder pepper is growing wonderfully.

The pumpkin seeds were among the last to be planted, and the little sprout is eager to catch up to it’s spaghetti squash cousin. And the boxwood basil is really coming along.

Our little bean stalks and baby spinach are progressing nicely.

Perfectly aware that we aren’t the only ones waiting for the crops to ripen, we decided to put a guardian in place to scare away any small birds and rodents that may try to steal a taste. We named our owl Heimdall, after the sentry from Norse mythology and Thor comic books.

I’ve grown surprisingly attached to these plants and I’m grateful every day that our crops have such a beautiful place to grow up with acres of land, loads of sunshine and fresh farm air.

We stopped in the small town where Justin’s mom and step-dad live to say farewell before heading back to Las Vegas to fly home. They insisted that we check out Rainbow Basin, a nearby desert park, for our final adventure of the trip. We went at sunset, when the colors would be most intense and it certainly was a relaxing end to a great journey.

I’d heard a lot about Joshua trees, but never actually seen one in person until now. They look soft and cuddly, but just take my word – they’re not!

The setting sun gave all the plants a warm glow, and it gave us ridiculously long shadows. Awesome!

Check out the colors in the rocks! I think this is why they call it Rainbow Basin! Amazing!

Sometimes it’s cool to take a minute and recognize how small you are compared to everything around you… and smash the screen of your iPhone against the rocks as you attempt to run up the hill before the self timer counts down, as Justin did in this shot.

We saw so many sides of Mother Nature on this trip, and they were all outstanding. California has so much beauty to offer, and I can’t wait to go back!

Once we were back on the mainland, we loaded up the car and we drove to Beverly. Hills, that is. 

We spent a few nights in a hipster hotel with paper thin walls and a few days touring Irvine, Anaheim and Santa Monica.

On the schedule for our visit to Irvine was lunch with a fellow Wolverine. Originally from Buffalo, my college housemate, Courtney, moved to Ann Arbor for school and then moved out to the L.A. area about five years ago. A few years later, she married Andrew, and just last year, they welcomed baby Wesley. She was pregnant with the little guy when we visited last year, so this was our first time meeting him. We set up a group photo after our Mexican feast at Javier’s at the Irvine Spectrum.

Growing up on the West coast, I predict that Wesley is going to be a surfer. In his bucket hat and shades, he already looks like he’s ready to catch some waves.

We strolled through the Irvine Spectrum, an outdoor mall unlike anything we have in the Midwest. Before we saw it, we heard this little canine making quite a fuss. It stood there in it’s Angels jersey and goggles for several minutes and barked it’s little heart out, while it’s owner sat there with an expression that seemed to say, “Are you done yet?” I laughed so hard, I just about fell over.

Unlike most malls, the Irvine Spectrum had a ferris wheel, which I thought was a pretty cool feature and informed Justin that we would not be leaving without taking a ride.

As evening approached, we bid farewell to Courney, Andrew and Wesley and set off for Anaheim – Disneyland, to be specific. When we visited southern California last year, we went to Disney’s California Adventure theme park. I bought plenty of presents for my niece and nephew while we were there, but nothing for my sister, so she asked us to stop by Downtown Disney and get her a tee shirt if we had time on this trip. Maybe it was guilt or maybe it was the power of suggestion, but somehow we found time to visit the happiest place on Earth.

Inside the World of Disney store, Justin faked some enthusiasm for Mickey Mouse, but couldn’t disguise his genuine excitement for R2D2. Sorry ladies, this man is all mine.

The next afternoon, I had my heart set on visiting the Santa Monica pier. I thought it would be so wonderful and whimsical to experience a seaside carnival, and it probably is, on any day other than the one we visited. The overwhelming crowds combined with some unexpected and heartbreaking news from back home turned the day a little sour. Though neither one of us was really in the mood for a day at the beach, we decided to try and make the best of it.

The famous Route 66 ends here in Santa Monica, so of course, I had to have a shot of the sign …and so did about a thousand other people.

The ferris wheel, the roller coaster, the arcade games… these are what I was most excited to see on the pier, and they didn’t disappoint.

We wandered along the path in the sand until we found a quiet spot for a photo.

Even on it’s busiest days, I’ve never seen Lake Michigan as crowded as Santa Monica State Beach was this day. To the L.A. natives, I’m sure this is normal, but to me, it was claustrophobic, a truly bizarre sensation to experience when standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

As we walked back to the car, we decided that we’ll have to come back another time to really enjoy ourselves, and actually go on some of the rides!

The idea of taking the ferry to Catalina Island and spending a few days in the seaside city of Avalon was actually our Plan B. Months earlier, we had talked about taking a donkey ride through the Grand Canyon and staying overnight in the hotel there. It seems that a lot of other people had that idea as well, because nothing was available when we would be in town. So Justin suggested Catalina Island instead.

Later that night, while watching The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, guest Don Cheadle lamented how his family’s upcoming summer vacation was ruined because he couldn’t get a reservation for the hotel at the Grand Canyon. “You know what you should do,” Craig replied, “you should go to Catalina Island.”

Justin and I looked at each other in amazement. We’d had the exact same conversation earlier in the evening!

It was a bit overcast when we arrived on the Island. Patches of fog roll across the Pacific Ocean and don’t break up until they hit land, so the Catalina weather has some inherent moodiness, which I thought created a cool visual effect. 

We’d had a long drive (six hours) down from Yosemite the night before and had to be up early in the morning to catch the ferry. So the first things we did once we got off the boat were check into our hotel and take a nap. Later in the afternoon, we got up to go explore Avalon.

We hiked just outside the city to have a view of the bay from higher ground. Up in the mountains, it felt like we were in an episode of Lost and we expected the smoke monster to appear through the mist.

It was worth the risk of being dragged away by the smoke monster! The view was amazing!

 

After a movie at the Avalon Theater, we took a walk along the bay and through downtown on the way back to our hotel.

In the morning, we rented a golf cart so we could get around the hills easier and see more of the Island. We learned that Catalina is one of only two locations in California where golf carts are street legal. (We aren’t sure where the other one is, but we speculate that it’s Disneyland.)

We went up to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens. The Wrigley family, best known for manufacturing chewing gum, loved Catalina and put a lot of effort into both developing and preserving the Island. Primarily a cactus garden, many of the species of plants found in the Botanical Gardens grow only in California and a few are exclusive to Catalina Island.

Hoping I didn’t lose my balance and fall forward on the cactus, I stood on my tippy-toes to get some shots of the beautiful prickly pear blooms.

Built using as many materials from the Island as possible, the Wrigley Memorial was designed to showcase Catalina workmanship. All of the colorful tiles used in the monument were produced at the Catalina Pottery plant and much of the stone used in the construction came from the other side of the Island. 

We took a long drive on the steep slopes and winding roads to see the Island from every perspective.

On our way to do some ocean kayaking, we happened past a wedding taking place in the sand. We don’t know who they were, but we wish them the best!

As evening swept in, I made an impulsive decision to take some special shots of just the two of us. Fog had moved in, and we didn’t have a lot of daylight left, so we had to be quick. Facing such pressure, Justin couldn’t keep a straight face and I couldn’t hide my frustration. Uncooperative though he was, I think we still managed to get some cute shots, but of course, I could be biased.