Without a running bus, our summer was quickly disappearing without meeting any of my summer goals! After we fixed up the bus, we squeezed as many goals as possible into one big road trip along Michigan’s M22!

We started out in Grand Rapids at their Friday night Cars and Coffee event. I was stoked when they put us front and center up on the curb instead of packing us in between the modern Mustangs and Corvettes. There were a lot of modern sports cars, but there was still a good representation of antiques and muscle cars!

The next day we celebrated a milestone birthday for my brother, with a big backyard picnic party!

Sunday we drove out to Grand Haven to really start our beer tour, we met up with friends and walked out to the lighthouse then got drinks at Oddside Ales.

Monday morning we headed out to our first stop: Ludington! I was hoping the Badger would be in port, but unfortunately I could only find a propeller.

We walked through town and stopped at Ludington Bay Brewing, which had phenomenal beer. They’ll fill a sixpack of whatever you want, so we got blood orange pale ales and a few IPAs to go!

That afternoon we started at the southern end of M22, intent on taking it all the way north and back down around the pinky of Michigan in the next few days. On such a leisurely trip, we made sure to stop at all the scenic overlooks. The best one we found today was just past Arcadia, I believe this is called Inspiration Point!

Monday night was supposed to be the most active for the Perseid meteor shower, and while you can’t camp on the beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes, they do encourage star-gazing so we spent most of the night on the beach in Glen Haven.

Kyle scavenged enough driftwood to get a good fire going. It was wonderful – such a serene location, all alone on the beach, a cool night with a warm fire.

The moon was nearly full, so there was a lot of light pollution, and there was a lot of cloud cover. It wasn’t a great night for astrophotography, but I did manage to capture one meteor on camera. You can faintly see the Milky Way as well.

We eventually gave up and headed back to the bus, where we tried to grab a few hours of sleep.

Every May, we take anniversary photos, but this year we didn’t get a chance until now (I don’t keep my dress on the boat)! So bright and early I donned the dress and we went hiking down Empire Bluff Trail.

I’d had a couple other locations picked out, but my tenacity waned after the first mile of “moderate” hiking, so I switched back to regular clothes and we drove out to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, a highlight of the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

With lake levels so high, the park has instituted rescue fines for anyone who climbs down the dune at the Lake Michigan Overlook and can’t get back out, because the only way out is to climb the dune. It’s a brutal endeavor – you can see the people climbing the dune in the lower left of this photo!

We opted not to climb any dunes, although we did stop at the Dune Climb in search of the NPS photo op, and we found it!

Kyle’s mom and granny were on their way up from Indiana to meet us, so we killed some time at Hop Lot Brewing before meeting them in Sutton’s Bay. The next day we kept pushing north on M22, this time with family, until we made it to the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula!

It was pretty choppy and there wasn’t a real beach (just rocks!), but the water was gorgeous. We celebrated our accomplishment at The Mitten Brewing Co!

We took a short hike out to Lake Michigan, and were rewarded with a view even more beautiful than I’ve seen at Sleeping Bear Dunes. This was at the Clay Cliffs Natural Area, you can barely see North Manitou and South Manitou islands off in the distance.

We also stopped at a few wineries, because that’s where the Leelanau Peninsula really shines!

The next morning we made a quick stop at the 45th parallel.

After that we drove over to Bellaire, where the senior center was putting on a very chill car show during the week-long rubber ducky festival!

A beautiful 1970 Chevelle showed up, and I barely saw the owner since she didn’t stick around, but I bet Darlene is a total badass and I would have loved to hear her story.

Then a stop and our fifth and final brewery of the trip, we couldn’t miss a chance to stop at Short’s!

After that crazy week, we couldn’t wait to go home and catch up on sleep! We had amazing weather and beautiful views, but maintaining that kind of schedule is exhausting! Right after we got home, I took the bus to get groceries and I realized it was seriously lacking power, so we’re back in rehab mode, trying to diagnose the problem and get her back in business.