Monday, August 2, 2010

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

We woke Saturday morning to a steady rain, so we took our time getting out and about. The rained stopped around 11am, but it looked like it was going to be an overcast and slightly cooler day.

Sounds like a perfect day to visit the dunes!

We drove over to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in the National Lakeshore, and loaded Bryce, Josh and Kylie into the bed of the truck.

Nicolas rode with Todd to keep him company. We saw

a covered bridge,

Little and Big Glen Lakes (the bridge is the one we drove over yesterday on our way to Glen Arbor),

basswood trees with exposed roots,

and another tree that looked like it was trying desperately to hold onto the side of the dune!

At the Lake Michigan Overlook (by far the most popular stop on the scenic drive!), we saw lots of people disregarding this sign.

It certainly look menacing from this viewpoint looking down!

The kids are wondering if they should give it a try,

and we made sure they knew that WE wouldn't be rescuing them if they couldn't make it back up!!

Kylie wanted to go, so Bryce and Nicolas agreed to go with her -- they're on their way down!

In just under 4 minutes, they were at the bottom and cooling their feet in Lake Michigan!

Nicolas was like the little engine that could -- chugging his way up the mountain -- he made it back to the top in 12 minutes!

Bryce hung back and stopped to make sure Kylie was making it, so they took a little longer -- 17 minutes for them to make it to the top!

They were pretty exhausted when they reached the top -- especially Kylie!

We took some more pictures,

and then finished up the scenic drive. By then, it was time for an early dinner at Joe's Friendly Tavern in Empire, and then Tom & I and the boys went to mass. Back at the camper, we relaxed around the campfire for the evening. For a day that was rainy and overcast, it turned out to be pretty good!

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun day! That had to be quite a hard climb back up but going down looked like fun. Glad they all made it and you all didn't have to go down for the rescue! LOL

    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)

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  2. Great pics of that drop-off down to Lake Michigan. I can tell by looking at it that I'd have never made it back up those sand dunes!!

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