best place on earth

I spent the weekend in Traverse City with Mike and the dogs. It was the best weekend ever! We had a blast! We went for my birthday and our 5th anniversary. 

On the way up to Traverse City. . .it was a five hour drive. It was Maggie's (the black dog) first vacation. Cooper is an old pro at going places. They love car rides, however, after a while, Maggie started to look worried. . .she had never been in the car THAT long!

The hand-carved Welcome Bear at Moomer's, the best ice cream ever!

The Stone Cottage that we stayed in! It was so cute! Perfect for us! It had a little kitchen, a claw foot tub, and a loft for sleeping. No TV, no computer, and spotty cell phone service. . .perfectly relaxing!

The patio area. The stars were so clear and beautiful at night from this patio! The Big Dipper looked amazing!

The wood stove. It kept the cottage warm and toasty. . .sometimes very warm and toasty. Mike was the burn master, starting the fire, keeping it going, and getting the wood.

A view of the land from the patio. Twenty nine acres of awesomeness! And there were some trails cut out for hiking. Of course, we checked these out with the dogs!

 A little bridge over a creek. 

Running up a hill! Most of the property was hillside. The trees and colors of the leaves were amazing to see!

Made it to the top! The dogs had so much fun running around. Me and Mike got our work out for the day! But after that long car ride, it was needed. We all slept good the first night!

Maggie's first vacation did not start off so well. She tried to escape back to our car, she was scared of the loft area in the cabin, and she tore off her back nail, past the quick. Mike did emergency surgery on her toe and we bandaged it up. She later realized that the loft was okay and that we would not leave her at the cabin.

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes! Such a pretty sight! We love this place! There is nothing prettier than standing on top of the dunes and looking over Lake Michigan!

We hiked all over the dunes with the dogs. They loved it! Sand is incredibly hard to walk through and has a sneaky way of making it through socks and shoes.

They were too excited to sit still for a picture! We are on top of a dune here! So many new smells and sights for Maggie and Cooper.

 A little lake that we found that opens to Lake Michigan. So pretty!

Cooper and Maggie went for a swim. Maggie likes to retrieve sticks and Cooper just likes to wade. The water was so clear and peaceful. We were the only people out there, so the dogs got to run free.

Deer hoof prints in the sand coming from the water. And some paw prints from the dogs. 

 Mike said that if he was on Man vs. Wild this would be his home base.

Scenic drive through the woods.

We stayed just north of this sign! How cool!

Time to head home. 

Maggie's vacation ended up much better than it started and Cooper takes pretty much everything in stride. We all had a great time. The weather was beautiful. We spent all day Saturday walking outside and discovering new places that we have never seen before. We went to downtown Traverse City and bought all kinds of cherry things from our favorite store. Traverse City is the Cherry Capitol of the World! If only Shyloh could have fit into the truck. . .