Our Anniversary Getaway

This last weekend, Jim and I headed out of town to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, which was on August 22nd. After leaving Chase and Ian in the wonderful care of Nana and Papa early Friday morning, we drove to Silver Lake State Park. This is a special place for us: I (Kylee) camped at Silver Lake with my friend Kelly almost every year when I was young and Jim has gone there for the last few years with his Construction ministry team. I hadn't been there in about five years, so I was eager to see the view and climb the sand dunes again. We climbed up the highest dune near the park entrance and enjoyed the view of Lake Michigan, the dunes, and Silver Lake surrounding us. It was a windy day but warm. It was a good start to our adventure.

After climbing down from the dunes, we went to Little Sable Point Lighthouse. Though I love history, I've never been big on the lighthouses of Michigan. We went up the spiral stairs, to the top and checked out the view. We got dizzy coming back down the stairs. On the beach near the lighthouse were a handful of Kite Boarders. These guys had huge kites attached to their waists and they rode the waves in and out on boards about the size of a snowboard. Since it was so windy, they were moving fast and jumping high. During our drive out to the highway, we met a little snake in the road. We tried to shoo him off to the side, but he would have none of it. Hopefully he didn't get squished.

We then headed down to the city of Whitehall, where our Bed and Breakfast was located. We stayed at the neat place called Cocoa Cottage. It was a really posh, clean and classy B&B themed around chocolate. We stayed in the Hershey room, which was decked out like a lodge with snowshoes and skies and red hunting trousers hanging in the closet. Shortly after we arrived, we were served with asiago cheese spread and crackers, a glass of wine, and some 'flourless chocolate decadence' with strawberry. Very yummy. After a dinner that night at a Mediterranean restaurant called Sam's Bistro, we turned in for the night.

In the morning we were served a delightful breakfast.It started with chocolate zuccini bread and fudge spread. That was followed with an 'Elegant Souffle', Italian breakfast sausage, and poached merlot pears with lemon sauce. Wow. It was so classy and delicious. After packing up our stuff, we headed out to the Hart-Montague rail trail to go for a bike ride. We ended up riding 20 miles! The trail was so flat, straight and boring, we kept going in the hopes that we'd come to something worthwhile. We didn't find anything special. After buying something to drink and some snacks at a gas station 10 miles down the trail, we turned around. We had some good laughs, mostly about bugs. Our bums are still sore from riding that long, but otherwise we survived.

After our bike ride, we headed back to Lake Michigan. We visited a beach next to the channel that connects Lake Michigan and White Lake. There were some big sailboats going up and down the channel and a really great view of the coast. We tried sitting on the rocks, but the bees chased us away. I walked around in Lake Michigan for a while, getting my pants completely soaked. We ended up sitting on a small bench and reading books for a bit (strangely enough that was Jim's idea!) After soaking up the sun there, we headed back to Harrison to pick up our boys.

All around, we had a wonderful getaway. That was the first time that we've been away without any of our kids in a very long time. It was nice to take off our parent hats for a while and spend a couple of days without responsibilities tugging at us. We feel very blessed. We've had a wild ride for 10 years. We're excited to see what God will do in our lives (and in yours).

I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Psalm 9:1,2