Saugatuck, Mackinac Island, and Door County trip 2015

We just got back from our family trip for 2015 and I cannot wait to write down all the wonderful memories we had. I planned this trip shortly after my mom passed away because I knew I needed to look forward to a vacation. A break. Tranquility and peace. I knew I wanted to go somewhere that wasn't very far away simply because the drive would be hard on the girls. Our last trip was a 17 hour car ride one way and it was incredibly taxing on everybody. This time I made sure we were never in he car longer than 6 hours.

The first leg of our trip went to Saugatuck Michigan. I chose Saugatuck because of oval beach on Lake Michigan. It's so beautiful and it looks like an ocean front beach in the Caribbean. The water isn't the turquoise blue, but it's dark blue and pretty (and clean). The beaches are a white sandy dunes that stretch as far as you can see. We stayed in a condo downtown Saugatuck which was very convenient to walk to all the shops and restaurants. The only negative I can say about this leg of the trip was that it was very expensive. I was shocked to see how expensive Saugatuck really was. It's like Disney World prices. Dinner was nothing fancy, but always cost more than $50 for the four of us. Clothing in the stores were outrageous. My final conclusion on Saugatuck would be that yes, I would return to oval beach, but I don't necessarily have to stay in Saugatuck to do that. Next time I would rather stay in a cabin on the dunes. Here are some pictures below of our time in Saugatuck:

Our little condo.

Sculpture at the park.

Photos of oval beach.

Beach babes.

Completely captivating photo of my family with a sailboat going by. 

Sister love melts my heart!

Very eclectic downtown.

Checked out a little Dutch village.

The chain ferry was literally outside our room. It's the last authentic and working chain ferry in the country.

After three nights in Saugatuck we packed up our bags and headed up to Mackinac Island. Mackinac has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I've read about it on several blogs and have seen it on travel sites. It has always caught my attention as such a magical place. I love the fact that there are no cars, but only bicycles and horse drawn carriages. It's historically preserved and some of the buildings are from the 1780s. 

Again we had a hotel right in the middle of downtown. I'm all about location, location, location! The minute you walk out the door you are surrounded by fudge shops, clothing stores, and dozens of restaurants. There are endless things to do here including horse drawn carriage tours, bike riding, throwing stones in Lake Huron, and also looking at an old military fort. I could go on, and on, and on about the place. Let's just put it this way, it was our favorite spot on the entire trip. Justin would love to move there, he even started looking at real estate while we were there. It's just that wonderful. Below are some photos from the stay on Mackinac. 

You must take the ferry over as there is no other transportation to get to the island. No cars are allowed.

Fort Mackinac

Total grandeur at the Grand Hotel

Downtown Mackinac

Bike riding

Arch Rock

Throwing Stones

History

Beautiful Homes

The Fort

One of the oldest homes on the island.

Butterflies!

Bike ride number 2.

The oldest tavern in Michigan, The Mustange Lounge.

Our last night on the Island.

Took home some stones

Our awesome hotel on the Island.

After three nights on Mackinac Island we packed up and got ready for the third and final leg of our trip. We left Michigan's Mackinac city and crossed over the third largest suspension bridge in the world to get to Saint Ignace Michigan. Once we were on the upper Peninsula of Michigan we jetted all the way around Lake Michigan to Door County Wisconsin. It was the longest leg of our trip being almost 6 hours in the car. We passed through Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and then was finally in the upper Peninsula of Wisconsin. We were only able to stay here one night which means we only got one full day of sightseeing. We didn't get to check into our condo until about 4 PM on Thursday which didn't leave us much time to see or do anything. 

They had an amazing indoor pool at the complex so we spent our first night in the pool and hot tub. We tried dinner from a local barbecue place which was really good. The next day was very stormy and overcast. We decided to take a driving tour and see as many of the bay towns as we could. We drove first to Fish Creek and got out and walked around for a little bit. It was small and not much to see or do. We then drove to Ephraim which would be the next town, and then finally got into sister Bay where we wanted to have lunch at Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant. This restaurant is notoriously known for the grazing goats on top of its grass roof. When we got there, there were no goats to be seen and  unfortunately there was a one hour and 45 minute wait to get a table. Needless to say we left and drove back to Ephraim to get food. We tried place called Wilson's that also came very highly recommended and it was absolutely delicious. This town was by far the prettiest. It had a gorgeous view of the bluffs and the bay. 

We want to stay in this town the next time we come back. Sadly, that was the end of our sightseeing in door County. We actually stayed in Egg Harbor for the two nights. We both felt we didn't get a chance to do this leg of the trip justice. It was too rainy and everyone was just too exhausted. We also ran out of money! By this time we were pooped and homesick. We plan on coming back and giving it another chance! 

Here are our few pictures of Door County

Hot tubbing

The cute condo. 

Fish Creek

Our short lived experience at Al Johnson's.

The scenery in Ephraim ;)

Lunch at wilson's! 

It was another wonderful trip with my beautiful family. I'm already excited to plan something new. We checked off two more states from our "50 states before they graduate challenge". We're going to have to up the ante and see more states in order to fulfill this challenge. I'm thinking about doing a spring break trip and will have to get back to blogging once that's figured out. I highly recommend adding these places to your bucket list's! They are beautiful and we will definitely be planning a return trip!