For some reason, I had it in my mind that travel bloggers got to travel ALL. THE. TIME., which really sounds like a great life to me! But Curtis and I were talking recently, and I told him I would love to start blogging and just explore, but sadly, I have to work to pay bills, eat, and have health insurance. He pointed out that it probably just looks like they travel all the time, and they’re actually just normal people like us.  We decided that we’ve been on enough trips over the past several years and also take enough mini trips each year on addition to our regular vacations that I could probably still do it in addition to my full-time job. In the past few years, we have been to Canada, New York, Wyoming, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and even finally made it across the pond to Scotland and England. So, I’m going to be sprinkling in posts about trips that we have taken, in addition to the trips that we have planned for this year.

We mostly travel the Midwest, close to home (except for our big trips),since we live in Northern Indiana and we do live less than an hour from some of the prettiest beaches along Lake Michigan. We absolutely love to go to the lake and feel so lucky to live so near to such a beautiful body of water.  We hadn’t been together very long when we decided that we would camp on one of the Great Lakes each year.  It was such a fun goal for us as a couple and one that we’ve really enjoyed planning together. It really just started out as a whim, though. In 2017, we were down in Columbus, Indiana for a quick trip just before Labor Day Weekend. On the way home, we decided, “Hey, let’s go camp up on Lake Michigan in the Leelanau Peninsula this weekend to look for Petoskey Stones!”  I got online to find a campsite, and there was nothing available. So, I got on AirBnB and happened to find us a spot that was titled Just A Place to Park for $10 a night. Sounded perfect – all we needed was a place to put a tent and have a little fire ring to sit by and watch the stars to enjoy the quiet at night.

We planned on spending all weekend looking for Petoskey stones.  Petoskeys are fossilized, pre-historic (now extinct) coral, which forms into a hexagonal pattern throughout the stone. To this day, they are still one of our favorite rocks to find. Anyway, we went to five different beaches, found some nice rocks, and had a great time in the sunshine and fresh air.

But as it seems to happen with most of our trips, it got weird. The people who owned the property were a little odd, to say the least. They rolled up to our little campsite on a beat-up golf cart, sat there for a couple of hours, and talked to us. To make a long story short, they tried to recruit us into a bit of an alternative lifestyle. We definitely aren’t going to judge anyone on their lifestyle, but- we’ll call him Joe- told us they were swingers until Julie (not her real name) “let herself go.” He literally said she ‘let herself go’! When Curtis frantically said, “Oh no– just us. . .”, while grasping my arm, “Joe” said, “think of it as a hobby,” we quickly extricated ourselves from that situation and spent the rest of the night “camping” in a gas station parking lot and headed home in the morning.

Other than our entertaining hosts, the Leelanau Peninsula is beautiful. It’s a very forested area with hills, beautiful trees for miles and lake views all around. There are several wineries in the area, and one of my favorite inexpensive wines, Great Lakes Red, comes from Leelanau Cellars. The little harbor town of Leland, or Fishtown looks exactly how you would expect a quaint fishing village would, with a marina, a few restaurants, and some local craft and giftshops in the weathered shanty buildings dotting the harbor.  The Leelanau State Park is one of the prettiest state parks I have ever been to with large, shaded, wooded sites and a great rocky beach with the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, that has been a working lighthouse for over 150 years.

I have been to more than 35 states in the U.S., and Michigan is one of my top favorites. In my opinion, it has the best rocks to be found since it was once a glacier; the hills, lakes and forests, and even the big cites are great to explore. This trip, even with the odd hosts, was a really fun weekend excursion – and a funny story that goes over well at a party. A vacation doesn’t have to be expensive or long to be great and to recharge your batteries. You just need to create some memories.

Next week, I will take you along on a trip to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. I hope you enjoyed this week’s post, and if so, follow me, share with a friend, or leave a comment.

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