Living It Up, Up North

Well, getting a driver who didn’t know his way around Downtown, a 3hr delay at LaGuardia and the rental car company being short staffed, we finally made it to Michigan on Saturday! As we were starving, we made our way to downtown Traverse City (quite different from the downtown where we started the day) for a late lunch at 7 Monks Taproom on Union Street, a new place since we were last here serving a huge variety of microbrews on tap and a really inventive menu. I wish I had taken pictures of the wall of taps and the flat bread pizzas we devoured, but I was too hungry at that point to even think about it! Seriously delicious though and the bar tender was really knowledgeable about all the beers Woody asked about and they offer tastes to make sure you’re going to like what you order.

After a stop at the grocery store to load up on provisions, we headed to the cottage! I was like a little kid every time we went by another landmark as we got closer to Mill Point. As soon as we turned onto the drive, we rolled down the windows and both took in deep breaths of Up North Air. You know, pine needles, ferns, dirt and fresh air. It was amazing.

My sister and her family had been at the cottage for two weeks and we were overlapping with their stay by one night. When we pulled up to the house I saw a little boy standing at the top of the stoop with a huge smile on his face. Then a little girl popped out. What a welcome!! For the next 5 hours (which seemed like 12 for us since we’re not used to this) we played with our nephew and niece and let them show us all that they’d been doing. It was so great to see them running out of the house and around the yard, to the beach just living it up. They were so comfortable and so easy about it. I loved seeing them there, really enjoying the place. I remember growing up at the cottage and now that my generation is grown, getting to see these two little ones explore is so great.

The four of us piled onto the bench at the beach and tried to get a self-portrait, but apparently it was a little difficult to get everyone smiling at the same time and the camera at the right angle!

It was a fun night hanging with these two. They are growing up so fast!

Early Sunday morning we had to say goodbye as they piled into their car for the long ride home. It was still pretty early but already getting hot. We put on our running shoes and headed out for a short run. We have a race tomorrow, after all!

Our cottage is on a lake that’s basically in the middle of nowhere. It’s on a road that gets some traffic, but not a ton, so during our 30 minute run we saw a total of 11 cars. The road has some pretty serious hills and is lined with woods and farm fields. A pretty drastic change from our typical surroundings when we run in the city!

After our run and breakfast on the porch, we headed into town to Cherry Street Market for fresh fruits and veggies. This place wasn’t around when I was really young but has been open for a while now. It’s such a great addition to the food options in the area. There are so many small farms around growing fresh produce like tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, watermelon, cherries, blueberries. Unfortunately though, the cherry crop took a huge beating this year because of the crazy warm weather during the winter and spring. They’re hurting up here but making due. It’s still the National Cherry Capital!

The rest of our day was literally spent reading, kayaking, playing scrabble and eating. Oh yeah, we have a TV that gets about 3 channels if the weather is right and no internet connection. I read 5 magazines my Mom had left for me and have almost finished my book and that was on our first full day at the cottage!

Now, Woody is off golfing…

And I’m hanging out in Harbor Springs, a cute little resort town with beautiful houses and little shops right on the water for the morning then we’ll spend the afternoon down the road in Petoskey. 

Unfortunately we have to get up pretty early tomorrow morning because we have about an 1.5hr drive to get to the Glen Arbor for the Running Bear 5K which starts at 9am, but it’ll be a fun time, so it’s all right. Thankfully the humidity is supposed to break a little so it won’t be too bad running and hiking Sleepy Bear Dunes!

Well, that’s all from here for now! Hope your week is off to a great start!

• What was the highlight of your weekend?
• When you go out for a run, what do you run by? Are you in a city, neighborhood, farm lands, water?
• I’m watching a kid walk down the street eating an ice cream cone – it’s not even noon. Is it ever too early in the day for ice cream?