We’ve been hanging out in Michigan for the past few weeks, we needed a break from so much traveling and moving! While we relaxed, we fit in a few little explorations.

Within a week of arriving, we drove up to Sleeping Bear Dunes. We knew it would be packed since it’s summer, so we showed up early, on a weekday, at one of the lesser-known trails. It was still packed with people. By the time we got done the parking lot was completely overflowing.

It’s no wonder, with views like these!

The path to the scenic overlook was well-populated, but once we got off that trail we had the forest to ourselves. We discovered at tree down along the trail and had to go off-road to get around that. As we kept hiking we decided we’d have to email the park and let them know. Not ten seconds after we talked about it, we met two park employees with an axe and a two-person saw. Given the size of the tree I’m sure they were there all day!

After our hike we went to Fishtown, but the Farmers Market was open so the town was packed. We walked around a little bit but not too long.

Hartwick Pines was next on our list, my parents were interested in checking it out and then heading to a brewery for lunch. These pine trees are hundreds of years old, the original old-growth forest that somehow survived the logging boom in the 1880s and is now preserved as a park. The trees are upwards of 100′ tall! It’s hard to show that in photos though.

After seeing the really old pine trees, we took a hike through the pines planted in the post-Great Depression era by the Civilian Conservation Corps (ca. 1935). The CCC workers had agreed to send most of their salary home to their families while they lived in camps and planted trees (it was a means of income to combat the high unemployment at the time).

After a delicious lunch and beer, we finished our day by checking out Ocqueoc Falls, the largest waterfall in the lower peninsula. It’s actually a series of falls over a large distance, so not too impressive. Also there were a million people there, many in the water, so the photos I took weren’t amazing.

On the way home we stopped for photos of a field of sunflowers!

The following weekend, Mom wanted to check out an art trail north of town. We started out at the new photo op in Cadillac, the #cadillacwings.

The art trail was definitely more of a hike, with steep inclines and the occasional stray golf ball (we were next to a golf course)! There was a huge variety of art and it was a good time!

A few weeks in and we still hadn’t taken anniversary photos, so Kyle and I made a short trip to Cadillac for some classic local wedding photos. I promised myself no hiking in the dress this year!

And finally, my uncle and aunt in Kentucky asked my parents to lend a helping hand, so we all took a quick trip down to Frankfort for a weekend! Frankfort is the 4th smallest state capital in the US.

It was a muggy day, so no one was in the mood to hike too far, but Hurst Falls are located very close to the parking lot. The unique thing about these falls is that the water at the bottom is so still you can capture a reflection of the falls!

We went to Castle and Key distillery, which is one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever been in. This is the castle:

And this is the key!

We ended our tour at a brewery for some well-deserved drinks.

While we were there I spotted a bit of a mural outside. After we ate I had to check it out! The dark sky really lends to the moodiness of this graffiti art!

About halfway through the month, we finally realized the bus wasn’t going to upgrade itself, so we had a chat about what we wanted to do to make it livable and started ordering parts. Things are arriving now, so we’ll be busy in September with getting it put together!

We’ll be sticking around here until our buswork is complete, then we’re going to see if we can make vanlife work in the COVID era. Fingers crossed!

I’ve been pretty active on instagram, so if you want more updates follow along there! Otherwise I’m taking a little break from blogging while we’re hanging out here.