on these long summer road trips, derek usually has to work a few days here and there. on one such day, a beautiful one at that, we determined that it would be a good day for me to embark on a solo adventure, leaving him to work, and the kids to have a lazy day […]
even more UP to the keweenaw peninsula

the upper peninsula has it’s own whole other peninsula shooting off of it, called the keweenaw peninsula, and that’s where we were headed to next. on our way, of COURSE we stopped at yet another fabric shop. i may have already mentioned it, but we happened to be in michigan during their first ever “shop […]
a day in marquette

we capped off our first week’s stay in the upper peninsula with a day in the college town of marquette. technically, we had already been there, thanks to a rainy first day in town that saw us hit up the movies and do a little shopping. but, on this day, we had a few outdoor […]
lazy kayaking the au train.

we spent our first week on the upper peninsula in a little cabin on the au train lake. during that week, on every excursion to and from our cabin, we drove over two bridges that crossed the au train river, which lazily winds from au train lake to lake superior. on one particularly beautiful and […]
pictured rocks, the hiking views.

as you probably know, if you’ve followed our little family story until now, whenever we go on a long vacation, derek is always sure to work in a day or two for me to go on a bigger, longer adventure, usually a hike. sometimes anna comes with me. sometimes not. on this occasion, she somewhat […]
hiking and exploring the U.P.

after our sea kayaking adventure, we took the posse inland, for a bit of hiking, waterfall peeping, and general tourism. i think we were still technically on national park service land, but it was all mixed in with little towns and such. and if i’m remembering this day correctly, there were some closures that prevented […]
pictured rocks national lakeshore

our first big really super epic (expensive) adventure on this trip was a sea kayaking tour of pictured rocks national lakeshore. on the day it was scheduled, the weather wasn’t looking so hot and we weren’t even sure it would take place. but the crew was optimistic, so we loaded up into the ferry to […]
up to the u.p.

for those unfamiliar with the geography of michigan, most of it is the big mitten shaped bit, north of indiana, tucked between three great lakes. that’s where all of our first few michigan excursions took place. but. the main destination of our trip was the upper peninsula, commonly known as the U.P., and that is […]
the first step to olympic gold in curling.

i’ll be the first to admit. when derek told me that he booked a curling lesson, i was not that excited. i didn’t think it would be an activity our family would enjoy. i couldn’t have been more wrong. the folks at the leelanau curling club made the experience phenomenal. they were so patient and […]
sleeping bear. rafting. lighthouses. beaches.

our second day in the general vicinity of sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore started with some time on the water. initially we had planned a trip with one outfitter, but when we arrived, it turned out they were closed. thankfully, we found another spot, and while derek handled booking the trip and the shuttle bus […]