Family Vacation // West Michigan

You should be a tourist in your own state, right? Well, one of my favorite places to go within my own state is the west side and Lake Michigan. It's amazing how close it really is. My dad and brothers were supposed to be at our church district youth gathering the end of June/beginning of July and when that got cancelled we decided to do a small family trip. The guys all had the time off anyway so we didn't want to waste that. It was such a relaxing weekend!!

All we did was spend the days at the beach. Being by the water, listening to the waves, there are few places I like to be more. I would take my chair and sit at the edge with my feet in the water and read. Paradise!! We went to Tunnel Park and Van Buren State Park. The beaches are small this year because the water level is unusually high but that really just means there isn't a lot of dry sand to lay towels on. We made it work. On Sunday, my dad made a very Swiss Family Robinson-esque sun shade for our cooler by jamming large sticks into the sand and draping a blanket over it. My mom and I squished in there for a little bit too :) Despite our best efforts, we all got a little bit sunburned. Well, some of us got a lot sunburned (my poor brother).

Sunday evening we took a sailboat ride on a schooner. It was very relaxing and fun. On the channel you could see giant, gorgeous houses. There is so much wealth over there. And we did see the boats on the lake but in the marina and the channel they were so concentrated. I could not believe these homes and boats. It's kind of mind boggling to know there are that many people with that much money.

One side benefit that we did not know about until we arrived at our hotel was that there was a window seat. I always sleep on the floor when we go to hotels because I'm the only girl of the kids (plus I don't like sleeping with my brothers. I love them but they are weird sleepers). Sometimes there is a couch or something but usually I'm right on the floor. This window seat was very narrow (between 2 and 3 feet across) but it was very comfy! Just like a bed, only narrower :)

That's pretty much it. We didn't do a lot but it was such a good weekend. I'm glad we got to do something fun this summer when all the things we had been looking forward too were cancelled. Oh, and no one at the beaches were wearing masks!!! Most of the people in the town where we took the boat ride were not wearing masks either as they walked around. It was very nice to see.