Michigan ain't so bad after all

We went to Michigan to celebrate the end of Dave's semester and to visit our friends Eytan and Sara and their 10-month-old twins, who moved to Ann Arbor nearly a year ago. We drove there, surprised to find that it's less than a 5 hour drive from Pittsburgh.

Dave gives Avi his first piano lesson:

Virg constructs yet another tower for Maya to destroy:

Virg displays feats of strength after a picnic at the arboretum:

Our next stop on the trip was a cute lake town called Saugatuck on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

This is the inn we stayed in overlooking the Kalamazoo River:

On our first day there, we attempted to drive to the famous Oval Beach, but the access road was closed and there was no other way to get there. Feeling desperate for adventure, we instead climbed this crazy set of 280+ stairs to see what was at the top:

It turns out that there was nothing but this nice view of Saugatuck at the top. We immediately walked down again, and our calves ached for the remainder of the trip.

A sign at the Dairy Daze creamery asked us to receive our ice cream in waffle bowls for environmentally friendly reasons. This is how it was served:

The next day we went to Sand Dunes state park to try and get to another beach. The trail map indicated we would have a 2.5 mile hike to the beach from the parking lot, but it took less than 10 minutes to get there. We enjoyed this beach on Lake Michigan until the tide suddenly swept up and over the berm, almost sweeping our shoes away. (A "berm" is a narrow ledge or shelf typically at the top or bottom of a slope.)

Kilwins ice cream (which we also had in Ann Arbor) was the best ice cream shop in Saugatuck. Look closely at the photo and you'll see two things: Virg enjoying delicious ice cream and a second Kilwins location across the street.

We enjoyed many loving strolls around town:

Virg glows in the sunset after succeeding in the final attempt to access Oval Beach (named for the oval-shaped parking lot).

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