Thursday, August 29, 2019

UP Adventures: Arrival Day


We went on a last summer hurrah to the Upper Peninsula.  We’ve been wanting to take our daughter up there and have talked/tentatively planned for the past five years.  With as much driving is necessary up there and stop and jump outs we wanted to make sure she was long past naps, whiny about walks, and could entertain herself for bouts of time.  With the upcoming addition we figured we’d better head up now when she was 8 and do somethings we won’t easily be able to do for a few years.

We headed up Saturday morning and our first stop was Clyde’sDrive In, in St. Ignace.  It was all of ours first time there.  The burgers were delicious.  We all had a chocolate malt and then split fries/onion rings.  It was a good meal.  Definitely took about an hours time but we had plenty to spare.  Next we hit up a gas station in search of UP beer to add to the cooler.

Next we headed down US 2 and stopped at a roadside beach, very near where we had stopped 3 years ago for a swim.  It was a bit chilly but the sun was out so we took our beach chairs, sand toys, and book and sat on the shore of Lake Michigan for about 45 minutes.  Then we decided we should better brush off and head back on the road to our rental in Curtis.





We got to the resort we were staying at, Pine Bluff Resort, about 3:30 which was 30 minutes before the 4pm check in.  We settled our bill and walked around the game room/indoor pool area and then our cabin was ready.

The cabin was perfect for us.  It was 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, had a kitchen, sitting area and two porches.  Because of how uncomfortable I’ve been sleeping lately and the set up of the beds the husband and I shared the room with twin beds and gave the 8 year old the room with the queen bed.  The beds were comfy and the temperature was cool enough that the no A/C in the cabins was fine.  We had box fans and ceiling fans going with windows open.  We brought extra fans from home but didn’t end up needing them. We were bummed we didn't bring firewood with us because it was perfect temps Saturday/Sunday for a fire and the stars above were beautiful!!


                                                        the bedroom with the queen size bed..








After we unpacked we walked around the resort and checked out the beach area and the pools.  The beach area was small and a bit rocky.  When you walked in the water there were rocks for a bit but it was shallow.  We never ended up swimming down there because of logistics and temp but it could have been do able.  They had kayaks you could use and my husband was bummed not to try them out but didn’t want to go alone.  I didn’t want to go because of the rockiness and I don’t know if I would have felt comfortable in their kayaks.  They had a beautiful dock set up and you could rent a boat or bring your own.  The lake was beautiful and I would have loved to explore it if we were there for a week.



We did go swimming in the pool closet to us.  It was an outdoor heated pool.  It was really nice.  Surprisingly, every time we used it to swim we had the whole pool to ourselves.  There were 30 cabins at this place and we would see other people but just not at the pool!

After swimming we had a late dinner of hot dogs, green beans, mac and cheese and blueberries out on the back deck.  We liked the ability to bring our meals and ate dinner/breakfast at our cabin every day.  After dinner, we hit up beach area for a beautiful sunset over Big Manistique Lake.  Then we went back to the cabin and planned our logistics for the next day and watched some football/read books.






Have you ever been to the Upper Peninsula? What is your favorite family vacation activity?

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