Hello, fine folks. Hope you all had a lovely weekend! I spent most of my Monday morning catching up on blogs and the Twitterverse and have found lots of inspiration as I do so - so many of you did races and long runs! I sweated a little bit just reading about all of it.
On the other hand, I didn't get much of my own workout on because Kevin and I spent the weekend in northern Michigan on a camping trip with friends. We stayed at our friend Kevin's parents' property in Interlochen, which is just outside of Traverse City.
The property is situated near a big patch of state forest, and it's really just property. No cabin, no electricity, no running water. Just a sandy spot of land, one fire pit, a few ferns, and whole lot of insects that I prefer not to think about as I recap the weekend.
After arriving on Friday afternoon, we the two Kevins quickly set up camp while the 5 ladies of the group headed out to the small-town market to grab some groceries.
We got back just in time to admire our weekend digs.
Kevin's and my tent is in the foreground, a little 2-person do-job that (for now) suits us nicely.
We took a time-out from the wilderness to eat at Boone's, a up-north staple where the portions are huge. Friend Kevin ate a 22-ounce steak. Yep, nearly a pound and a half of meat.
After surviving a night in the tents with God-knows-what crawling on us, we woke up bright and early on Saturday for a river bath, wine tasting, and canoeing.
Note to 17-week pregnant self: sleeping on sand on a half-deflated Thermarest is hard work. LBA did NOT enjoy it.
The water hole (gosh, I feel so Hickville saying that) is a short drive from our campsite, so we loaded up our bathing goodies and towels and headed out for a bath.
Nothing brings friends together like bathing upstream from one another in a cold river.
After our chilly morning clean-up session, we ladies put on our finest We-Didn't-Just-Take-A-Bath-In-A-River attire and headed to Traverse City for a mid-morning wine tasting session.
I decided to partake in the tasting just a teeny tiny bit. While I've always heard a glass of wine here and there during pregnancy is ok, I'm not about to indulge that much, but I do believe that a few sips won't do any harm.
If you want to have a fun day cheap day getting a bit tipsy (although I didn't this time around!), wine tasting is where it's at. Sure, you could head to Napa Valley, but I promise northern Michigan is pretty darn awesome.
We hit three wineries (out of the 7 that are on Old Mission Peninsula). Our first stop was the Brys Estate Winery. Tasters could try 5 wines for $5, plus you get a free souvenir glass.
Four of us left with a bottle of the Pinot Noir Riesling, a wine so tasty I can hardly stand to wait another 6 months to drink it.
Our tour also took us up to 2 Lads Winery. 2 Lads offered 6 wine tastings for $5 or two of their featured wines for free. I had a sip of their Pinot Grigio, but I think I liked taking pictures of the wine and the gorgeous scenery more.
Our last stop was one of the larger wineries in the area, Chateau Chantal. It's situated near the end of the Peninsula and overlooks both bays in Traverse City. Chateau Chantal had the best tasting menu, IMO: one could do a flight of 10 wines for $5.
I opted out of that, of course, but did sample two champagnes and purchased a bottle of their Celebrate sparkling wine that we will enjoy after LBA is born.
We were supposed to meet the boys for canoeing by 3:30, but wine tasting ran over. I think we just weren't ready to go back to Uncivilization quite yet.
After a few arguments over women not being on time, we finally made it out to the Platte River for a several hours long canoe trip. The Platte is a wide, slow river that makes for a great, easy trip.
I did a lot of sitting, not too much paddling.
Our canoes stopped for a break at Loon Lake, a very shallow lake that's perfect for pit stops. LBA's in full effect here!
By the time we finally made it off the river, it was nearly dark, and we were all starving. A local pizza place was about the only thing open at that hour, so we hunkered down and devoured two large pizzas and about a half ton of bread in 15 minutes.
We awoke Sunday morning to quickly pack up camp and do a little beaching and shopping and ice cream eating in downtown Traverse before making the 4-hour trek back to the "fast life" in Metro Detroit.
We may have been roughing it, but spending an entire weekend with friends in beautiful northern Michigan really isn't that rough at all.
What are your most favorite places to visit in the state where you live??