Michigan Trip - Sleeping Bear Dunes

On the 5th day of the trip, we headed up to north to Sleeping Bear Dunes which is Northwest of Traverse City.  We drove for almost 4 hours and finally made it to most northern access point called Glen Haven, a small fishing town established in the 1800's. 

We were able to dip our toes in the freezing Michigan lake waters.  It is definitely not swimming water, but sand felt good between the toes. The color of the water was light blue and very clear - it was beautiful.  After, we visited the old cannery and went to see the old coast guard house and life boat.  It would be a very scary job to perform back in the days.

We then headed down the road to a scenic drive of the dunes.  The tree cover was beautiful along the road.  Our first stop was an overlook of the bay where you could see the different colors of blue and the sand bars in the bay.  The next stop gave you an overlook of the north side of the sand dunes that had sparse trees and rolling hills.  The final stop brought you to the huge sand dunes that climbed straight out of the waters. 

We walked up the dune and out onto a lookout tower.  There were people climbing up and down the dune, which is a huge workout!  Ashley and Nathan loved playing in the sand - I think they had about a pound in their shoes and clothes by the time we headed back to the car.  After the sightseeing headed down the road toward Traverse City where we were going to stay the night.

Until next time...