Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival

This past weekend was the big end-of-season event in Silver Lake – the Apple BBQ Festival.  It’s a very popular event, and all of the local campgrounds, including ours, were fully booked.  The festival used to be included in the Kansas City BBQ Competition circuit, but that was dropped for some reason this year, but there were still many BBQ enthusiasts from around Michigan – there was plenty of great BBQ to choose from! 

The event also included a large craft show, musical performances, and a classic car and buggie show scheduled for Saturday.

The weather forecast for Saturday was sounding a little iffy, so we thought we’d go on Friday afternoon to see the craft show and get some BBQ for dinner, and then we could go back again on Saturday if the weather was OK.

Our friend, Kathy, joined us and the three of us rode our bikes into town.

We walked through the craft show first,

 

and we saw lots of really nice stuff.  Kathy found lots of things she was going back for, and I even found a couple of gifts to buy, and a homemade apple crisp kit.  It’s pretty rare that I find things to buy anymore, but I did . . .and I can’t wait to make the apple crisp when we get to South Carolina!

 

 

 

 

After walking through all of the craft booths, we were pretty hungry (the BBQ smell was really getting to us!), so we headed over to the food vendor area.

We checked out all of the BBQ vendors,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there were several that looked really good . . . and smelled really good, too!

There were BBQ ribs, brisket, pulled pork and BBQ chicken . . . as well as sides like corn on the cob, french fries, and cole slaw.

We looked at all of them and calculated how many tickets we might need, and then went back to select our dinners.  Tom went with the brisket sandwich and I got pulled pork, and Kathy got the pulled pork sundae (pulled pork with mashed potatoes, gravy and cheese – topped with a cherry tomato).

We sat at a picnic table and listened to the band while we enjoyed our dinner.

We were all really happy with our choices, but then some people sat down next to us with ribs . . . and those looked REALLY good!  Tom said if we came back on Saturday, he was getting the ribs!

For dessert, the three of us split a piece of apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and then had to try Petey’s Donuts!

Apple-cinnamon donuts . . . they were good . . . almost as good as the apple orchard back home!

To work off all that food, we walked back through the craft area to pick up all our purchases, and then rode the bikes back to the campground.

On the way past the lake, I spotted a beautiful sunset in progress, and just had to stop for a picture!

Saturday proved to be rainy, as promised, and we weren’t sure if many of the cars were going to show up for the show.  Tom and I ended up spending most of the day inside getting the motorhome ready to leave and doing laundry, and only went out later to go to church and get some ice cream at Country Dairy afterward.

It looked like the rain was done when we got there, but while we ate our ice cream, we had another storm roll through!

It made for a beautiful sunset when we got home, though . . .

 

Just two more days, and we’ll be back on the road!  It’s been a pretty great summer!

What to do in an empty nest?

Waking up that first morning after we dropped Bryce off at MSU, it was a strange feeling to walk into the living room and not have anybody sleeping on the couch! 

With just two weeks left until our own departure, we’ve had some work to get done in the motorhome.  With Bryce and his stuff gone, we’ve been re-organizing storage spaces, clearing out clutter, and generally rearranging our living space . . . although not too much, because once we get to South Carolina we’ll have Nicolas and Casey spending some time with us!

Our living room is looking pretty good!

We also took my bike to a local bike shop for a tuneup after the bearing between the pedals started making a knocking noise.  Need to have it in good running order for the fall!

The Woodshed Bike Shop is just down the road in Mears, and came highly recommended.

 

From the road, the bike in the tree indicates the location of his shop . . . and it’s in a handy location – right next to the Hart-Montague Bike Trail!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We called him just in time, as he was closing up for the season after Labor Day, and heading out of the state for vacation!

Thanks, Jake, for fixing up my bike!

It hasn’t all been work, though.  We had a beautiful Labor Day weekend here, and although we stayed away from the craziness of the dunes, we enjoyed a great day at the beach in Pentwater.

 

We had full sun and a cool breeze off the lake, making it a beautiful day to be at the beach. 

We didn’t go into the water though . . . we put our feet in, and were amazed at how much cooler Lake Michigan had become since we were last in it a couple weeks ago!

 

 

 

After enjoying a few hours of sunshine, we changed clothes and went into Pentwater for dinner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We tried a new restaurant for us – The Antler – where we enjoyed a delicious dinner . . . for less than $20!

Woo! Hoo!  Tom likes this part of being empty nesters!

 

That was a great start to the holiday weekend, and we wrapped it up with another beautiful day at the pool and evenings with friends playing outdoor Jenga . . . lots of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was a rainy day, but that was OK . . . we needed to make a Walmart run anyway, so on the way there we made a stop at a doughnut shop that we recently learned about.

The original shop is in Clare, and has been around for quite a few years, but just this summer a new shop opened in Ludington.

They’re known for having a full selection of doughnuts all day long . . . not just early in the morning (sounds like somebody stole Bryce’s idea!)

Looking good at 11 am!

Not just doughnuts, either . . . they have cookies, muffins, bread, and even their own brand of coffee!

I had to take a picture of the maple-bacon doughnuts for Nicolas, but we didn’t try them!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom posed for a “mug shot” while we waited to get our treat . . . he’s never been over 6 feet in his life!!

If Bryce were with us, he probably would have been over the 7 foot line!

Their doughnuts were great . . . and HUGE . . . we couldn’t eat more than one!  YUM!!

We’ve got one more busy weekend left to our season – this weekend’s Apple BBQ Festival – and then on Monday we get back on the road . . . let’s hope we remember how to do everything!

Oceana County Fair–one more night of family fun!

 

After cleaning all the sand out of the Jeep after our dune adventures, and getting it loaded up with all Bryce’s boxes, we had an early dinner, went to church and then to the Oceana County Fair in Hart.

It had rained quite a bit in the morning, so we weren’t sure we’d be able to go, but it was just cloudy in the afternoon . . . and I was determined to go!

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, they were clearing the mud from the previous night’s tractor and truck pulls, to get ready for the demolition derby.

We weren’t sure if we were going to stay for the derby or not, so we didn’t buy tickets right away.  We walked through the arts & crafts barn,

 

and checked out many of the award-winning fruits and vegetables, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, we made our way over to the animal barns.  We were amazed at the number of animals!  We’ve been to a few county fairs back by home, and there are animals . . . but at this fair, the animals are a main focus!

We saw chickens,

goats,

and horses,

including some really BIG horses!

Walking through this barn was really nerve-wracking . . . we tried to stay as far away from those hind legs as we could!

Our favorites, though, were the pigs and the cows – they were very photogenic!

Most of the pigs were sleeping,

but others were awake,    

 

and some were very entertaining, and anxious to “talk” to everybody around them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above most of the stalls were posted “Thank You’s” to whoever had purchased the animal, including these poor guys who were purchased by the local grocery store famous for their homemade brats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then there were the cows . . .

and steers . . . some really big steers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The white one did not want anybody to touch him, especially Tom!

This little guy had such a pretty face, I couldn’t resist him!

 

We had seen all the animals and were on our way out of the barn when a little boy asked us if we saw the 11-day-old calf.  I said no, and he offered to show us.

He walked us back to the pen, but warned us not to try to touch it, because when he tried to pet the calf, the momma almost kicked him.  Thanks for the warning!

 

 

 

After seeing all the animals, we were ready for some food . . . yummy fair food!

Tom had some authentic mexican food, we shared french fries and lemonade, and then split an elephant ear!

Bryce just had to have his giant bag of cotton candy!

After we all had our snacks, we walked through the area of rides and games.

 

I remember the bear ride from our church festival many years ago!!  We rode in it with Nicolas!

There were all the typical games . . . and I didn’t see many people waling around with prizes . . . actually didn’t see many people playing the games!

These are the sights and sounds of the fair, though!

 

It was just about time for the demolition derby to start, but Bryce wasn’t really interested in staying, and we had to be up really early the next morning, so we headed back to the Jeep.

It looked like they had a really good crowd!