On Thursday, Aug. 18, we headed north to Traverse City for one last bit of summer. We stayed for a long weekend at a resort on the eastern bay (snaps to Kevin for finding the place). It was right on the beach so the boys got to swim twice each day. In fact, they were in the water within a half hour of arriving! Kids and water!We love Traverse City and this is the third time we've been there as a family. We have some favorites and we hit one up - the Blue Tractor - for dinner the very first night. There IS one in Ann Arbor too but the Traverse City spot is so much better simply because of the Tractor Twists - OMG!
On Friday, we headed west to Glen Arbor (Cherry Republic - ah yes), the Dune Climb and the Lake Michigan overlook. The boys had fun in the sand and Kevin and I had fun just looking at Lake Michigan - so beautiful! On the way back to town, we hit up the Underground Cheesecake Company just before closing. In addition to getting some great cheesecake and yummy cookies for the boys, I bonded with the guy manning the store - he was working his last few days before heading back to Ann Arbor to the greatest University in the land. The boys shoveled down some dinner back at the hotel before hitting the beach for an evening swim.
On Saturday, we made our way to the Old Mission Point Lighthouse and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. In between those lighthouses, we stopped at another restaurant favorite, the Jolly Pumpkin. Again, Ann Arbor has one but, again, the Old Mission one is better. It was so good that me and the boys rocked some t-shirts. Another long day ended with some very dusky swimming and a lot of sadness as this was our last night at the resort.
We hit the road out of town early Sunday afternoon and we all were very sad. Harmon was a bit teary-eyed and Simon couldn't stop saying that he wanted to stay. I think part of the sadness was that we knew what we were returning to - an end of summer and the start of kindergarten. I just wish we could make these long summer days last even longer ...
