michigan

After much thought and debate (aka..me not making up my mind), we decided to head to Michigan for our 1 year anniversary. Growing up, Ryan and his family would go to the dunes and he has always wanted to take me there.

Our trip started early saturday morning, with our first stop being New Buffalo, MI. There we saw the after math of the storms from friday night. Nobody had power, trees were down, and we saw a truck with a shattered windshield. We had borrowed my parents GPS, which turned out to be our best idea yet! Saying Ryan and I are horrible at directions would be an understatement. We really didn't have a set plan and still needed to book a hotel room. So we typed hotels into the Garmin and off we went. While driving along the coast to Stevensville we saw some amazing homes.

The GPS had given us a couple hotels around each other, which Ryan told me to call and book a room. Ha. funny. There was no way I was going to blindly call and book us a room without seeing the place first. I totally judge a hotel by it's cover! AND of course, the one I wanted had no vacancy. So off to choice #2: Candlewood Suites. We couldn't check in until one, so we headed to Tiscornia Beach and did a little pre-shopping downtown St. Joesphs.

After getting settled into our room and a quick shower, we were off to Warren Dunes. Ryan insisted we climb up the sand dune and see the lake from the top. I was excited at first when it was just words and a good idea, but once the climb began it was hard. Every two steps I had to stop and take a breather. We got about 2/3 of the way up and I needed to take a break. We sat on a log and relaxed a few minutes. Finally, after about 10 minutes (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little) we were at the top! Standing at the top really makes you feel powerful. I'm so glad we decided to go there.

Oh, and yes if you were wondering...that walking stick made it home with us and is collecting dust displayed nicely in our guest room.

Also if you focused real hard you could see the Chicago Skyline...

So I guess the protocol for going down the dune is to run down as fast as you can. Um. Yes I'll pass.....but Ryan just had to.

After meeting my husband at the bottom and telling him how neat that was, I asked if I could have my sandals back. That question was followed by, Ummmmmm, do you really need them? Yes, I need them! My husband had left them back up at the log we had stopped at. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to climb back up the dune. So my wonderful husband strutted his stuff back up the hill. That second trip was followed by a little AC time in the car.

We spent some time on the beach before heading to our final event for the night, a Wine Festival on Weko Beach. And little did we know we were going to run into Ryan's Aunt Beth and Uncle Dean. What a small world. We probably wouldn't have stayed as long as we did, as the wine samples were a little rich in price for our blood, but it was fun spending time with his family.

(me, cousin brittany, and aunt beth on the shuttle back to our cars)

We spent Sunday shopping and site seeing. If you know us well, you know we like to hit up vintage shops, thrift stores, and any flea markets we may come across. We found some pretty neat shops that I wouldn't mind going back to. Here are a few pictures of our anniversary gifts to each other. (photos by ryan)



my awesome spoon ring!!

He is a little too excited about this lamp.

On our way home we stopped in Three Oaks and shared a homemade waffle cone with cookie dough ice cream... YUM Even though we didn't go far, we had a great weekend getaway!

Here we are sharing the top tier of our wedding cake! Real classy...

One year down...many more to come. Can't wait :)