LakeShore Haven, our cottage on Lake Michigan

You may or may not have noticed, but I haven’t written a blog lately…

Last time I wrote, though, we were on a boomerang trip to Michigan (visiting Richard and Shannan, and family – they come up in my blogs from time to time) where we stayed for a month.  (More about that trip later.)

 

One night, during our visit, we were all sitting up having some inspirational drinks (wine for the girls, scotch for the boys) and having one of those inspirational conversations that people often have at 2:30 in the morning, and it went something like:

 

 

“Hey! You know what we should do? We should all by a house together and rent it out!”

 

“YEAH! LET’S DO IT!!”

 

and then, it didn’t come up again – I completely forgot, until on the way home.

 

I said to Peter: “I wonder if they thought we were serious about that? Or if they thought it was just one of those fun-to-talk-about-at-the-time conversations?”

 

Not too long after that, we got a text: “Look what we found!”

 

Maybe just the cutest cottage EVER!

 

It’s 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom cottage walking distance (maybe 3-5 minutes) to Lake Michigan. 

 

We can see The Lake from the living room window.

 

It’s right beside a nice park with a playground, and 630 feet of white sand beach!

 

Richard’s family already has a cottage here and he’s been coming for 30+ years to visit the area.  So, we know all the ins-and-outs of the place – where’s the best restaurant, where’s the nearest golfing, where can you find a local chocolateria, and don’t forget the wineries!!   (Also, Michigan has recently voted a #1 place to come for beer connoisseur with all of their local Craft beers!)

 

Basically, there’s something for everyone in Michigan, and especially at our cottage!

 

Let me tell you all about it! (This has been all-encompassing for me, which is one reason I haven’t been around in blog-world.)

 

As soon as we decided to purchase it, I decided I had to make a quilt. Having never had made quilts before, I decided the best thing for a LakeShore cottage was a “rag quilt”.  I could go on and on about rag-quilts, but then my blog would be about quilting.  Suffice it to say: I bought a sewing machine and made my first quilt, and now it’s in Michigan, in the main bedroom.

 

 

 

 

As mentioned, the Cottage has 2 bedrooms. One is on the main level with a super comfy queen size bed, and the second is kind of like a loft bedroom with 4 (also comfortable) twin size beds.

 

 

 

 

 

The most picturesque thing about The Cottage is that it has an enclosed front porch solarium area with summer screen windows – I cannot wait to have a nap out there in the summer.   That is, if the hammock (which will hang between two of the oak trees) is occupied!

Right now, the Cottage is a one bathroom place, but we have big plans for that second bathroom, and there’s talk about an outdoor shower, too.

 

The area is mostly known for summer activities (wine tours, bicycling, hiking, walking around the cute little character towns – Saugatuck, South Haven & Douglas (we are about 5 minutes from Saugatuck, 3 from Douglas, and 10-ish from South Haven) but we all agree that it is gorgeous in the winter and people should be invited to come - maybe cross country skiing, snow shoeing, snow fort building… possibilities are endless!!  (To this end, we’ve added a gas fireplace – well, like a wood stove fireplace.)

 

We have a currently undeveloped basement (home of a future bathroom), but it does have a laundry utility room down there, and we are working on converting the rest into a social place for kids.  (One portion for a TV, DVD player, books, etc – a movie area - and the rest for a playground for smaller children.  So far (because we just have arrived Thursday night and are leaving Monday), we have added those rubber prime colored square puzzle flooring pieces, and it seems to be a hit with Shannan & Richard’s 4-year-old son, so yay!!

 

We’ve installed cable, Wi-Fi, and free long distance phone calls.

 

Let me see… what else!!? Well, I’m sure I’ll have more to say the more I get to know the place and the more the updates continue, but for now:

 

JUST COME VISIT!!

http://www.facebook.com/lakeshorehaven1
www.vrbo.com/511943

Michigan

Once upon a time (2004), we went on a roadtrip from Calgary to Nova Scotia, one way, through the States. Our plan was to drive a "disposable car" there, and fly home. Which, we did.. except that the disposable car only made it to Omaha, Nebraska, and we had to rent a car for the rest of the trip. (I did mention this before, if it sounds familiar, in my October 17, 2012 blog about the Jolly Green Giant.)

 

But that's a story for another time. The reason I brought it up now, is because, that trip, we drove passed three of the Great Lakes. I took a picture out of the window as we passed Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario.

 

I had NO idea how immense they were, until the trip we took to visit Richard and Shannan (mentioned often in previous blogs), in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

I met Shannan and her family, when I was 15 years old, and they moved to our little tiny town, in Montana. (Also briefly mentioned in my September 19, 2012 blog). Shannan's family moved to Montana, from Michigan.

 

In fact, in her lifetime, Shannan has lived in almost every state in the United States. (And, she's still quite young! :D ) But, between States, she often moves back to Michigan. It's her hub.

 

Which brings us to this trip. After she & Richard moved back to Michigan from Alaska (an upcoming blog segment), we decided to go visit. And, they took us for a weekend at the Family Cottage on the Lake.

 

And, by "Lake", I mean the second Greatest Lake, Lake Michigan. (Don't roll your eyes, like that's obvious - the state of Michigan also borders Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and a tiny section of Lake Erie.) Having never really spent any time staring at the Great Lakes, and since this one is especially great, I actually had to remind myself and convince myself that this was "just" a Lake, and not an Ocean. I was in complete and total awe!

 

Located along the US and Canadian border, the Great Lakes provide 21% of the world's surface fresh water supply! and are connected by The St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

I think we were even looking from East to West across the water, which is the narrower view - and I still couldn't see the other shore! It's so huge, you can see the curvature of the earth. There are waves I'm sure you can surf on. Over and over, I had to remind myself that the water is "fresh water", not salt. I kept imagining that there must be a tide. But there isn't. (If you think I'm crazy, it can only be because you haven't been there - go there, and you will see what I mean!!)

We spent the weekend at the Family Cottage playing Settlers of Catan...at which...I'm terrible... For one thing: I feel bad about wrecking someone else's goal...and I build my "walls" or whatever, based on patterns and designs. Needless to say, I lost.

 

One of the days, we spent the entire day making Boeuf Bourguignon, from Julia Childs' cookbook on French Cooking. It was delicious! and worth the hours dedicated. In fact, I make it regularly now, and even though I've found a faster "cheater" way, I won't do it - the original way is, in fact, the best way. ("Boeuf" means "Beef", and "Bourguignon" means "Burgundy." I guess that's for the bottle of wine that goes into the meal... And that's not including the wine you drink!) (http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-recipe/1/)

 

Did I mention that we were there in December? It was COLD! Not Alaska cold, but cold. It was the first time I'd ever seen frozen sand. Again, with the ridiculousness, I collected frozen sand, and for some reason was expected to bring home dry, yes - frozen - sand.. I got home with a bag of really wet sand in a puddle. (I know, its not that frozen sand is rare... just normally when we travel in winter to a place with sand - it's Hawaii.)

 

Speaking of shorelines, though - It turns out that Michigan has the longest freshwater coast line in the world! and its borders, as I mentioned, touch 4 of the Great Lakes! (Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie.) And! it has almost 65,000 lakes and ponds...(what qualifies as a pond, I wonder? that is ALOT of water!)

 

Also, the state is cut in half by Lake Michigan, and it's two halves (the Upper and Lower peninsulas) are attached by way of the Mackinac Bridge.
 

The word "Michigan" comes from an Ojibwa word "Mishigamaa" and then adapted by the French. "Mishigamaa" means "large lake." That makes sense!!! (More sense to me than "Saskatchewan" meaning "fast flowing river", running through an almost completely flat province...as per my September 26, 2012 blog.)

 

During our stay at The Cottage on the Lake, we spent a day going wine tasting and to a little town called Saugatuck.

 

Wine tasting was, of course, delicious, and we all came out with some new favorites! Since we can't get the options here, I only can dream about my favorite, which was the Vignoles Reserve. http://www.fennvalley.com/

The little town of Saugatuck is one of those little towns you just walk around and around and up and down. It's right on the water - a marina and beach, I guess. I think it'd be amazing, high energy, and super busy there in the summer, but since we were there in December, we really had almost the entire town to ourselves!! (According to the 2010 Census, less than 1000 people live there, and (including water) covers 1.47 square miles!)

Not knowing, at the time, that I would be starting a travel blog sometime in the future, I didn't really take careful notes of what we did and what we saw...

Here's what I remember:

~ there is a DELICIOUS candy store - chocolates, candied apples, chocolate...

~ I remember a wine accessory store, where Shannan bought the most beautiful wine glass, which I (in a funnier-than-it-sounds story) promptly broke...

~ a quirky little clothing store for children-it could've been a toy store, but I definitely remember some little tiny hand crafted clothing

~ and we ate at the Butler Restaurant, which, it turns out, is famous for its Butler Burger! I had a super YUMMY burger there-I'm pretty sure I didn't have the Butler Burger, though! But, where's my picture!!? I can't find it..I hope I didn't delete it...
http://www.butlerrestaurant.com/index.html

On Wednesday, we will be back in Grand Rapids,
for more Adventures with Richard and Shannan.

http://www.saugatuck.com/index.asp