Sleeping Bear Dunes

Welcome to Michigan's coastline on the western shore of the upper half of the lower peninsula of Michigan (the mitten!). The scenery here brings to mind one of Michigan's slogans: If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you. Here's a scenic overlook near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.

It's a view of what paradise must be like....the turquoise waters and the slope of the shoreline and the forest that surrounds it.

The haze off the Lake that morning made everything magical...

We arrived at the dunes, and even though the climb is under 500 ft., it looks daunting, especially when you are almost fifty (ohmygosh, did I just say that??).

Partway up the hill, you stop to take a breath....and turn your back and look at the scenery behind you, which is one of the gorgeous Glen Lake...near Glen Arbor, Michigan. Then you decide you can keep going! It can only get better, right?

Upward, onward.....walk. Walk. Walk. Breathe.
Huff.
Puff.

Wait. Did I just die and this is heaven?

Still a way to go yet...so keep on, to the crest!

See that? That's the back of my baby leavin' me in the dust, clearly unconcerned that I'm about to DIE!

At least if I die, it will be in a most beautiful place, and they can roll me down the hill for easy loading into the hearse.

This is what's behind you...

And this is what's ahead....off in the haze you can see the waters of Lake Michigan.
(Way off.)

And so, once you crest the hill, it's time to take a rest and soak it all in....
And recover from your mild heart attack.
(click on any photo for a nicer view)

The way back down is much easier than coming up. (And don't let your husband and son talk you into the hike on over "just a few more scalding hot dunes" to the Lake Michigan. Unless you have a burro or a pack mule and a five gallon drum of water on its back! Trust me on this.)

But it was all worth it...and I lived.
I came.
I saw.
I conquered...

Sleeping Bear Dunes
(click for more info on the dunes)