Our Sleeping Bear Camping Trip

We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this past week. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive north, and as the picture indicates, we camped. This trip was special for a few reasons. Reason #1: It's our last family trip before Alyson starts kindergarten. Reason #2: It was Ellary's first camping trip. Reason #3: Everyone has been telling us to see northern Michigan, and so we did it! We couldn't be happier with the way our camping trip turned out!
After setting up camp we bought some tubes and Kris, Alyson and Kourtney floated down the Platte River (the Platte River in Michigan). The river itself starts at Platte Lake and empties into Lake Michigan. Ellary and I dropped them off about half way down the river and took pictures as they began to drift down stream. They hadn't been in the water for more than 2 minutes when Kris flipped backwards off his tube and then Kourtney followed suit falling sideways off hers. If I hadn't known the water was only about 4 feet deep at the most in just a few places, I would have vetoed the whole floating down the river thing. I got the chance to drift down the river with Alyson and Kourtney just a few days later. It was fun, and we even got to see a crane.
Here is a picture of Ellary as she and I played at the end of the river while Kris and the girls floated down it.
Kris and Ellary are still in the Platte River in this picture. You can see Lake Michigan in the background. Ellary got a very brief ride down the river too.It was so neat how warm the Platte River was in comparison to Lake Michigan. In this picture Kris is standing where the two waters mix.
Alyson and Kourtney loved playing at the beach.Kris took pictures of the girls and I floating down the river, but they look just like the ones I took of them (except I didn't flip out of my tube! Love you Sweetie!)

Here is Kris and Ellary after the girls and I floated down the river. Don't they look cute? What a great dad!
We drove the Stocking Scenic Loop the second day we were there. Here is a look out point from one of the most famous dunes in the park that is located right off Lake Michigan. Check out the sign. It is a 450 foot tall dune and it is so steep that they had to post warning signs.
Here are two pictures of Kris maybe a quarter of the way down. Some people went all the way to the bottom and had to crawl back up on their hands and knees.Here is a picture of the same dune, just from the side. See how steep it was?
The water is so beautiful especially when you view it from overhead.
You can see Kris in the background of this picture. He's wearing a grey shirt .
Here is another famous dune in the park that is open for the public to climb up.
We also drove a little north to a town called Traverse City. It's right along Lake Michigan as well and it is a big tourist town. We took a walk down main street and saw a clothing boutique called "Ella's". We had to stop and take a picture.Here are two more pictures at another beach we stopped to look at on our way to the scenic loop.
The girls loved eating smores the way their cousin Ariell taught them how (wrap the smore sandwich in tin foil then place it on the campfire coals). It may turn out a little gooier than the usual method, but wow-the chocolate and marshmallow melt perfectly.
Here is little Ella snoozing away while we enjoy the campfire.Kris thought is would be a good idea to bring the girls' bikes with us so they could bike around the campground. He was very smart because it was also one of the things they enjoyed doing most. Here he is tying them down to the back of our car so we can go home.
Here is a picture of Alyson the day we took down camp.
Here is a picture of Ellary waiting very patiently for us to finish packing the van.We spent two nights camping then took a leisurely drive back home. Here are two pictures taken from a look out stop along our way. It was so beautiful to look out on Lake Michigan.
We had such a fun time that we can't wait to go back next summer. Hopefully we can take some family with us and share some of the fun things we discovered. We'll keep you posted about our next great adventure in Michigan!