Thursday, August 31, 2017

Silver Lake Sand Dunes–Part 2

Guys having fun at the dunes

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!

Little Sable Light House

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!

Sunset at the light house

Sunset at the beach

Enjoying the sunset with friends!

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!

Fair Food

Contemplating Mexican 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,

4H books

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Apple Harvest

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

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

Horse in disguise?

and the sheep and goats wanted to be our friends!

Bald sheep

Staring down from a goat

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The pigs just wanted to sleep!

Cute piggies

Awww

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

Rooster

Beautiful brown feathers

and these two were really enthralled by the ducks outside.

Watching the ducks


The big boys are pretty cool . . .

Big horses!











Another big guy!


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

What a face!


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

What could they be talking about?

Cow conference











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!

Baby cow

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

Time to head home

Kathy giving Bryce a hard time

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!

Sheep training

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

I don;t think the sheep wanted to jump!

Nope - definitely didn't want to











A great way to wrap up our little vacation!



Monday, August 28, 2017

Going back to Silver Lake

All set up at Silver Creek

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.

Getting the Jeep ready for the dunes

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!

Entering the ORV area

Bryce behind the wheel.

Bryce at 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,

On top of 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!

Going down!

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”,

Through the trails

and climbing the ridge in front of Test Hill.

Climbing another crest











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

Parked on Test Hill

Tom with his Jeep!

Tom with his Jeep

Family Photo

On Test Hill

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. 

Climbing Test Hill in REVERSE!


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 hills after Test Hill


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

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,

Cosmic Candy

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

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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!

Lunch on the patio


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.

Mears State Park

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

Big waves in the channel

Big Waves











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

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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!

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Campsites on the beach

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

Hi Bryce!Bryce finally agreeing to a picture

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!