After getting off the ferry from Mackinac Island, we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. The original plan had been to take the bridge to the UP, camp in a park up there for the night and then explore the beauty of the Upper Peninsula. However, one look at our exhausted children, and we were pretty sure that plan was doomed to fail from the beginning.
We had two more nights to spend being tourists, and we knew we could afford a hotel for one night, so we began looking for camping spots. Theo and I really figured out our vacationing style this trip- we like to plan general locations for the day, and then just find things to do from there. Unfortunately, I wish we had done better at planning and booking our lodging ahead of time. It doesn’t really work to try to find an available campsite at 5pm the day of. LOL.
We called every campsite I could find in our brochures, and we were starting to get really frustrated when I finally stumbled upon state park campgrounds. After calling three or four, we still could not find one that had any availability. We were hungry, tired, a bit sunburnt and the kids were losing their minds. Finally, we found one. With one available spot. But they couldn’t hold it, and we were still 30 minutes away.
We pulled in with baited breath and discovered that the ONE spot in the entire campground was still available! We pulled up and couldn’t help but gasp…it was right on the lake, a corner lot, a good distance from the bathrooms and so, so PERFECT.
We pulled in, spent some time down by the water and then headed out from some dinner at Applebees. We ate out more this trip than we have in all the months of this year combined haha. We were so tired of eating out by the end! Anyways, our Applebees meal was kind of a disaster and Theo had to send his burger back to be re-made. It was nice that they didn’t make us pay for it, though!
We got back tot the campsite and the kids ran amuck while Theo prepped our van for sleeping. Yes, you read that right.
We stuffed all of our things, including the two carseats into the two front seats and all four of us slept in the back of the van on a mountain of blankets and pillows. *no children rode in the upside-down, unsecured carseats. I feel like I have to mention that because inevitably someone will tell me I’m parenting wrong by the state of the carseats*
At this point, we weren’t sure if this was our worst idea or our best idea.
We built a fire and enjoyed sitting around the campfire for a bit before we threw the kids in the back of van to go to sleep. This turned out to be the WORST part of the whole sleeping-in-the-van thing. The kids would not go to sleep. It was northern MI, so it was still light out until nearly 10pm and they just could not settle down enough to sleep.
Snuggling with my babes around the fire:
So tired (the parents). So awake (the children).
Eventually, the kids fell asleep around 10:30. Theo and I climbed into van and found that it wasn’t horribly uncomfortable. It was better than sleeping on the ground in a tent! It got pretty hot, so Theo rolled down the front windows and cracked one of the doors a bit. I thought the bugs would be terrible, but they weren’t! Around 1am, Tera started thrashing around and screaming her head off. She was awake, but not awake and we just could not figure out what was wrong with her. This went on for nearly an hour. Since Kiah had had a runny nose and sore throat for a few days, we figured she was coming down with something and gave her some Tylenol, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Once we convinced her to stop thrashing and flailing and crying, we all went back to sleep. If it hadn’t been for that random episode (a nightmare? A tummy ache? A sore throat?), the night actually wouldn’t have been all that terrible.
Bright and early, dry Cheerios and pistachios for breakfast around the fire!
We absolutely loved the campground and took a walk around. It was beautiful and right on the lake. We were also so fascinated with all the different types of RVs and campers there! Remember when camping used to mean pitching a tent? HA! Of the hundred or so spots in the campground, we were one of three people who didn’t have an RV.
Some people did not get enough sleep in the night…
Meltdowns every five minutes. Thankfully, we had a low key day planned. We needed to check out of our campground by 1pm, so we left around 11 to grab some brunch at Bob Evans and then start the 2 hour drive towards Traverse City.
My deal with Theo was that if I camped out one night, we would get a hotel the next night. It’s a deal that has worked out great for us ;). Nothing feels better than that hotel shower and air conditioning after a night of roughing it!
Traverse City is located on the Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. It’s a beautiful location and there is nothing for miles and miles until you just hit Traverse City- and then there is everything! Prices are sky-high for hotels, but we knew this was what we had budgeted for. We arrived at the hotel around 2:30, so it gave us a full day of relaxing and exploring the city.
But first, what hotel stay is complete without a swim in the pool?
We headed downtown and walked the beautiful streets lined with shops. Traverse City really is such a fun place to explore. They have a lot of fun shops and dining options, and we even splurged on some ice cream!
Every single store had water bowls out front for the dogs!
Walking down the street. Does anyone else have kids in the stage where they still kind of need a stroller, but still want to walk half the time? And here you find yourself as a parent with two kids slowly lollygagging along while you push an empty stroller and your kids initiate WWIII over who gets to push the empty stroller next? No, just us?
And look at this. My perfectly capable four year old sitting in the stroller, with her shirt on backwards and a pair of her brothers shorts. We had so many potty accidents at this point, and we had already used up most of the clothes I had brought. We were so tired and getting hungry.
Here is what we needed:
The gorgeous beach, with a beautiful breeze and beautiful water.
A sweet family arrived all jumped into the water, but before they started swimming, the Mom offered our kids all her beach toys! They sat there like this, just playing peacefully in the sand for a good 30 minutes. It was SO BEAUTIFUL.
Theo and I just sat on the wall and watched them. It was so peaceful and just what we needed at that time in the trip.
For dinner, we hit up a food truck area. It was very crowded, very loud and rather overwhelming. The only thing that looked good to me was the most expensive thing at the entire rally. Oops. The kids enjoyed pizza/tacos and I got a big bowl of Ramen.
We headed back to the hotel and began the fiasco of trying to get the kids to go to sleep. I took Tera out to the lobby while Theo started to lay Kiah down. Kiah was so tired, I didn’t think it would take too long. 10 minutes passed, then 20, then 30, then 40 when I finally decided to call Theo and see what was taking so long. Poor exhausted Daddy fell asleep within five minutes while Kiah down. LOL. Tera and I read through the entire newspaper and played “Eye Spy” with every single color we could find in the lobby (there were only about five colors in the lobby). Next was Tera’s turn, and she was out within 20 minutes. The two kiddos were so sweet up on their big hotel bed until Kiah rolled right over a pillow and landed on the hard floor. Then the two kiddos were so sweet all snuggled up on the floor with a bed of blankets. Until Kiah stood up in the night next to my head and yelled “MAMA” until I put him into bed with us. The End.
The next day we slept in a bit, ate some of the hotel breakfast and slowly made our way towards the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes! Stay tuned for that post tomorrow!
Price Breakdown:
$29.25 Applebees dinner
$39 campground
$5 firewood
$35 Bob Evans brunch
$30 gas
$216 Traverse City hotel (we stopped at about 6, and this was the most affordable that looked safe LOL)
$5 ice cream
$28 food truck dinner
Total: $387.25
Figuring out sleeping with kids when traveling is the hardest part of the trip.