Monday August 18, 2008

Southwest Michigan Vacation

This past weekend we packed up the family and headed to our Allegan house for the weekend.  We planned on spending the entire Saturday relaxing in the Saugatuck/Douglas area.  We got to our house late Friday and Saturday we caught a nice breakfast in downtown Allegan, packed our bags for the beach, headed to the Shiver Shack for a lunch Reese’s and Chocolate Brownie Fudge Sundae, and made our way to Oval Beach.  On the way we decided to climb the stairs to Mount Baldhead.  Mount Baldhead offers some wonderful views of Saugatuck from the top.  It is not an easy hike with 282 stairs and dozens of platforms to climb.  My calves are aching today, the second day is always the worst!  Here are some images from Mount Baldhead…

There is a really nice park with picnic tables at the base of the stairs and you can also get a great view of Saugatuck from the river’s edge at the park too.  The picture above shows one of those views looking downstream.

After the exhausting climb we headed to Oval beach, a city owned beach, for 3 hours or so.  It was probably three hours too long for me.  The white boy from the UP got a bit of a sunburn.  I did apply SPF 70 that my wife had, and I didn’t get burned where I applied.  It was where I didn’t apply, right on the stomach.  Think of the reddest thing in the world and the whitest and that is my stomach in a nutshell.:-)  It was worth it though.:-)  The water was a brisk 65 degrees and the air was a bit over 80 with a nice breeze.  It was pleasant and warm all in one.  The beach was packed with families and vacationers.  The waves were breaking pretty good so it was fun cooling off in the water.  Here are some images from your time on the beach and in Lake Michigan…

We had to visit one of my favorite breweries of all time The Saugatuck Brewing Company.  I have tested hundreds of breweries in the lifetime and I would have to say that Saugatuck Brewing Company is one of the most consistent and best tasting.  Megan and I visited the brewery from time to time when we lived in Allegan.  Now they have moved across the street and they opened a large brewery with a small menu, for now, and a handful of beers, for now.  They are expanding by the minute and they are funding the expansion.  So go and drink some beer and help the Saugatuck Brewing Company expand it’s walls!  Here is a shot of the front of the building.

We were hoping to catch a dinner at Everyday People but forget it, a two hour wait by the time we got there!  Downtown Saugatuck was slammed so we made our way to Fennville for great Mexican food at the Su Casa.  It was top notch and we relaxed and had Margaritas and Mojitos.  Good stuff!  I picked up a six pack of Wild Blue beer and we had a night cap with a fantastic blueberry beer at our house.  By the way, our house is still for sale in Allegan!  Don’t miss out on this fantastic spot! 

Sunday we cut the lawn, weeded, and buried St. Joseph for help selling our house.  Our trip home was perfect and took about 5 hours.  It was a beautiful weekend at our old house and we do miss it.

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    Petoskey, Michigan
    231-445-1793 Paul@PaulRetherford.com