Our first week at Silver Lake -- getting settled

We've been here a week now, and it's been a pretty typical Michigan spring so far . . . some sunny days, some chilly, rainy days . . . and chilly nights!  We have had a few beautiful sunsets, though,

and one pretty amazing rainbow!

It had rained all day, and finally around sunset, the rain stopped and the shelf of clouds started to move away, leaving clear sky to the west.

It's still pretty quiet around here, with only a few people in the campground, and even less in town! 

One nice warm evening, we went in search of an after-dinner ice cream cone . . . only to find that none of the local shops are open yet!  That was disappointing . . . so we drove over to the pedestrian area of the dunes instead.

Bryce and I decided to climb to the top to see the sunset.  It's a steep climb, with stairs going about halfway up, and then deep sand the rest of the way!  The sand was still cold, too!

We made it to the top, where we could see Silver Lake in one direction,

and Lake Michigan in the other direction.

Bryce walked out a little further to get a look at the ORV area . . . he's just dying to get out there in the Jeep!

It's a great spot for watching the sunset!

Tom and Bryce have been helping with getting the campground ready for the season . . . and getting our Jeep ready for the dunes!  It's not quite as simple as getting a sticker, and slapping a flag on the bumper!

There are actually THREE stickers required -- a state park pass, an ORV sticker, and a Trail sticker,

Then there's the flag, and a bracket to attach it!  This is no small feat -- Tom bought a bracket from the local motorsports shop, but didn't like how it attached to the bumper, so he returned that one and went in search of something different.

He finally found a guy at a local buggy shop who made a  bracket specifically for our Jeep, and that one worked well.





So, $115 later, we were ready to hit the dunes!

Tom and Bryce took the first trip up there by themselves on Saturday after dinner.  They didn't have a lot of time, but it wasn't crowded, so they could drive a around and get a feel for how the Jeep would handle the sand.

They watched some others on Test Hill, but didn't give it a try yet themselves . . . gotta work up to these challenges!

Not too many people hanging out at the beach tonight!

Some people will take anything out on the dunes!

Bryce enjoyed his "trial run", and he's ready to spend some serious time out there this summer!