Silver Lake Sand Dunes–Part 2

Our friends, Bill & Linda, who we had met in Florida this past winter, wanted to check out the Silver Lake area, so they joined us for a couple days at Silver Creek RV Resort.  Bryce and Tom took them up on the dunes for a ride, and then they went on the Mac Woods tour, also.  They said they enjoyed both!

After a delicious dinner at Hart Pizza with Dave & Kathy, we enjoyed the view of the sunset at the Lake Michigan beach at Little Sable Light House.

It was a beautiful night for a sunset on the beach!

Enjoying the sunset with friends!

Our visit to Silver Lake happened to coincide with the Oceana County Fair, and we had so much fun there last year, we had to go back again!  Kathy joined us this time!

We were all in the mood for fair food!

Tom and Kathy were considering the mexican food . . . but we ended up with corn dogs & french fries, with an elephant ear & funnel cake for dessert!  Of course, Bryce had to have the monster bag of cotton candy, too!

We walked through the Exhibition Hall,

and then made our way over to the animal barns – my favorite!

The horses all looked like they were in disguise . . .

and the sheep and goats wanted to be our friends!

The pigs just wanted to sleep!

The chickens were pretty, but they smelled bad . . .

and these two were really enthralled by the ducks outside.

The big boys are pretty cool . . .

but my favorites are still the cows!  They just have the prettiest faces!

Sometimes they look like they are talking to each other, whispering secrets.

Bryce and Kathy didn’t like the cows at all – they said the barn was just too stinky – but Tom thought they were cute, too!

With our tummies full, and having looked at all the animals, our county fair experience was complete . . . we were ready to head home.

Not a bad way to spend a late summer afternoon!  Even Bryce had fun . . . although he did have to put up with Kathy harassing him!

On the way out to the parking area, we spotted the sheep team working out on the obstacles!

The sheep didn’t look like they were having as much fun as the kids were!

A great way to wrap up our little vacation!

Going back to Silver Lake

From Grand Haven, we continued north on US-31 to the little town of Silver Lake, and our home from last summer.  It was a short drive, so I worked in the morning and then we took off, still arriving by noon.

We got set up on our site, and after a quick lunch, Tom and I went for a walk with Casey to see who was around, and Bryce took the Jeep into town to visit some of his friends from the Wave Club and pick up the ORV stickers for the Jeep.

When he got back, he and Tom got to work setting up the Jeep for the dunes – mounting the flag and airing down the tires.

Bryce was anxious to get on the dunes, so after dinner we headed up to watch the sunset.

There was nobody at either checkpoint, so we just drove right in!

Bryce behind the wheel.

There weren’t many people up there for a Monday night (not too surprising), and we had just missed Dave & Kathy – they had left to go back to the RV Park because there wasn’t much going on.

Bryce went straight to Test Hill,

and made it up in one effortless attempt!  That’s not us, but we were similarly perched on top of the hill. 

Now down the other side!

Up and over the rest of the hills (some of these looked steeper than the first hill!), and then it was over to the “trails”,

and climbing the ridge in front of Test Hill.

Then it was time to go up and over again . . . this time we stopped to get out for a while.

Tom with his Jeep!

Family Photo

It felt so good to get our feet in the sand!!

There were a few more people on the dunes by then, so we watched several unsuccessful attempts to climb Test Hill. 

These 2 Jeeps were having a hard time . . . and then they decided that they should try going up in reverse – yeah, that’ll work!

At first we thought the yellow Jeep was our friend, Dave, but when they didn’t make it up Test Hill, we knew it wasn’t Dave!

Nice view from up here – looking toward Silver Lake and the successive hills behind Test Hill.

The sunset wasn’t too spectacular, but still a nice sight over Lake Michigan.

Tuesday was supposed to be cloudy and possibly rainy, so we made plans to go to Pentwater.  Kathy tagged along with us, and we all had a great time.  Shopping wasn’t too successful . . . lots of shops closed on Tuesday . . . but Cosmic Candy was open,

and we got a new MSU decal for the Jeep.  Now both of the boys are represented on the Jeep!

All that shopping made us hungry, and the Village Cafe had their daily special advertised on the sidewalk – beef brisket grilled cheese – YUM!

We got a table on the deck, and all four of us had the special – it was really good!

With the high winds, there was a beach advisory, so we after lunch we went down to Mears State Park on Lake Michigan to check out the waves.

We walked toward the pier and lighthouse, and the waves in the channel were really huge!

The pier itself was roped off, and we couldn’t go any further – there were a few people swimming, though!

From the beach, we took a walk through the campground – not my idea of a great campsite, but you can’t get much closer to the beach!

I tried to get a few pictures of Bryce, too, but he wasn’t being very cooperative!

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we certainly enjoyed hanging out with Kathy – it’s always a barrel of laughs when we’re together!!  We’re glad we decided to spend a few days up here before taking Bryce back to school!

More fun to follow!