Months ago, when we were envisioning what we’d be doing in late September, we imagined we’d be on the road by now – perhaps traveling through the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota en route to Colorado and then continuing on to points south, like New Orleans in mid-October. But a couple of things have kept us in Michigan all month: 1) the stuff we shipped from Alaska STILL has not arrived (but we’ve been told it should be delivered today! Yay!), and 2) turns out our car needs a little attention … when we called for an appointment two weeks ago the earliest we could get in was Sept 28.
However, we’re far from sad or disappointed. Michigan in September is AMAZING! We’ve been having a lovely time: the weather is perfect (mostly sunny with a handful of rain showers here and there, highs in the mid-70s to lower 80s!); tons of delicious locally-grown food (and beer!); friendly folks; excellent biking and water activities; and bonus time with my dear sister!
We’re thinking we’ll probably take off this weekend for a few weeks on the road, but since all our plans have been tossed back up in the air, we’re still undecided about where to go. So many possibilities, and now with a more limited time frame … how terribly exciting! We’ll keep you posted, and maybe see you along the road somewhere?
In the meantime, here’s a few snaps of our last couple of weeks, including a wacky road trip to check out vintage campers, our ongoing quest to visit local breweries, and hanging out with some local people and wildlife.
It all started when we saw an ad like this: cute vintage campers for sale! 
Curiosity was piqued when we saw the campers are part of a big antique farm where Great Danes are raised. Whaaaa??? Road trip! 
We drove 200 miles into the “thumb” of the Michigan “mitten” to the Great Dane Antique farm north of Lapeer…. 
…and this is the first thing we saw. 
Of the 30+ campers on their lot, 3-4 of them were pretty cute. But mostly they looked like this: 
Although we had made an appointment to meet the owners and see some of the campers, we wandered around their entire property for 45 minutes and never saw them. Two big Great Danes barked at us, but no people! 
I think this one was priced at $3,500. 
Oh well – although it was weird to not meet the owners, we weren’t really *surprised* that the campers were overpriced and in poor condition, and the craziness of this place made the road trip totally worthwhile! 
Plus we got to enjoy EagleMonk Brewery’s beautiful backyard beer garden in Lansing on our way home. 
80+ degrees and sunny?? Wiki wiki – to the beach! 
Lovely day in downtown Grand Rapids, where we watched folks fishing in the rapids … 
…. enjoyed more local beer from CityBuilt Brewery … 
and had dinner and drinks at Max’s South Seas Hideaway! 
There’s a creamery about 5 miles from where we’re staying — we biked over there one day to get some cheese and say hi to the goats. 
We thanked them for their good work with some good scratches. 
South Haven is just 10 miles south of us. Here’s where Lake Michigan meets the Black River, and the main boat harbor is just inside here. But check out that wave action! Seems like a crazy place for a harbor! 
And lots of splashing over the piers. One wave caught me off guard and my feet & ankles were soaked! 
Blustery beach wedding, with runaway flower girls! 
There has also been some more garden preserving. 
This time it was tomato jam and more bloody mary mix. 
For the jam, tomatoes get cooked down in skillets with just a *smidgen* of sugar. (Ha!) So yummy! 
Biking through the neighborhood one day, we saw over 15 deer in this yard! 
Salt of the Earth is a farm-to-table restaurant in Fennville – we had an incredible dinner there. Everything was delicious, but this s’more was unbelievably good! 
The What Not Inn is just a few miles up the road … 
…and on Monday nights they have a jazz trio playing, with sort of an “open mic” atmosphere. Folks can come up, name a tune for the band, and grab the mic to sing along. 
Amish country, near Bloomingdale … 
…where we learned about the most amazing bulk foods store and bakery. 
Even with all our wanderings, there’s been plenty of time to enjoy the porch by day … 
…and by night. Feeling VERY lucky and grateful to be here.
Dear K & M, Excellent report, Alas, my rails to trail has been nuts, bike chainwheel destroyed in a hard shell suit case, how is that even possible? Smoky weather, not enough riding and way too much driving, I will figure out plan b. Taking the bike back to the folks who made it, unless you want it. Aloha, Jeff b
Oh no! Jeff! That’s sad news about your bike Friday and your rails to trails misfortune. There’s a great trail from South Haven to Kalamazoo – I’ll share a few pictures in my next post.
Looks like you are doing what you are supposed to be doing- LIVING!
YES! Living!! And feeling very grateful to have the opportunity to just breathe and wander for awhile.
Looks like that camper was used as a meth lab! Yikes!
Haha, no kidding! Yeesh! Definitely too much of a “fixer-upper” for us!