Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

For our Easter weekend we decided it was time to go camping! In talking to a few people camping doesn't really get started until the end of May or June but we weren't really wanting to wait that long. We had an extra day off work and I spent it cleaning up the house while Kevin spent it getting all of our camping stuff out and organized for the weekend. Since it's the first time we've gone since moving it took a little longer and we had to evaluate things we needed. Then we were ready first thing Saturday morning for the drive to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.

Our first climb of the dunes

 It took about three hours to get there and before setting up camp we wanted to check out the famous sand dunes. They are located right off of Lake Michigan and they seem so randomly situated. Very beautiful though! We started walking up the first dune next to this parking lot and it was so steep! Talk about a good workout!

At the top of the first dune

We kept going after that and then had to gear up for another steep climb. 

Kevin made a run for it and only made it halfway!

Our plan was to make it to Lake Michigan until we finally caught a glimpse of it and realized how far away it was. We settled for a nice view from a distance. 

View from the top

 After our hike we headed to the campsite to get setup for the night. Being so early in the season it wasn't very crowded at all and most of the sites right next to ours were empty so it felt a little more excluded. While out collecting wood we ran into a guy who had camped the night before and was staying until Monday. He told us it was really really cold the last night (low 24!) and that while it wasn't going to be that cold this night it was going to rain. Call us crazy but we were kind of excited. We've always had good weather camping and we've been wanting to try out our tent in the rain to see how it did. Our wish was going to come true!

Kevin getting ready for a fire.

 It wasn't going to rain until after 10pm sometime so we slowly got ready. We picked up stuff as we went along so that by 10pm all we had out were our chairs and us and we were pretty much ready for bed too. Shortly after 10pm we gradually started hearing the wind pick up. About 30 minutes later a big gust of wind blew and we thought...we better get in the tent. No sooner had we put the chairs in the car and spread out the coals of the fire it started to sprinkle. We quickly made our way to the tent and as we zipped up the rain really started coming down.

 Our tent performed fabulously and kept us dry all night (and it rained all night). The only bad part came at about 2am when I had to go to the restroom. I didn't want to head out in the rain but there was no way I was going to make it until morning. There is one particular skill I learned as a cross country runner that came in handy that night....'popping a squat'. I managed to do this in the small vestibule of our tent and not get anything on our tent at all. Still dry and now very comfortable! Had to share because I was pretty proud of myself.

The next day we opted for another hike on another section of the sand dunes. This one made it easier to get down to the water. This is actually Sleeping Bear Bay next to Lake Michigan.

It was just us for a long time! Absolutely beautiful!

A little further on our hike we came across Devil's Hole. There used to be trees until the sand eventually covered them killed them leaving these 'ghost trees'.

We had a fantastic weekend and we're excited to plan our next camping trip. There is so much of Michigan to explore!

 

Vegas!

It has been a few weekends now but I still wanted to share about my trip to Las Vegas with Amy. We'd talked about taking a girls trip to Vegas for years and we finally were able to make it happen. I had never been before and Amy was excited to show me around. Since she lives in Phoenix and it is only a short flight away (and pretty inexpensive) she has been several times over the last few years. I got in sort of late on a Thursday evening so we just hung out in the hotel with drinks and appetizers catching up. A year and half is too long!

In the Mirage Hotel

 The following day was a gorgeous day (especially considering it snowed in Midland a little that day) so we figured that would be our pool day. We chilled by the pool and grabbed lunch and just enjoyed not being at work that day.

View from our hotel

 We ventured out a little later and took a fun dance class. The class came with tickets to see a show but we weren't able to go to it (story to follow).

After a little nap (my body was telling me it was 3 hours later) we were ready to hit the town. We attempted to get into this club where Fergie was making a birthday appearance but the line was taking forever so we gave up and just wandered the strip for a bit. We stopped by an outdoor bar and found a group of guys there for a bachelor party. It turned out they were all from Kansas originally so we had fun talking with them.  Amy made friends with the guy who went to KU and I made friends the others who went to KSU and don't like KU fans. It was great!

We were a little lame and didn't make it too late of an evening. I guess you could say we are getting a little old. I need sleep!

For our last day in Vegas we had big plans. First thing was brunch which we had at this amazing place inside of Caesar's Palace. Then it was over to this outdoor bar which is a favorite of Amy's and our friend Dustin. The place was great! The bartenders were really interactive with all of the customers and it made for a great atmosphere. They made fun of people and joked around with them....a blast!

It was another nice day so we headed back to our hotel to catch a few more rays. Our plan after that was to take a quick nap and then be up to watch the KU vs Ohio St basketball game. That is when things sort of went wrong. Amy slipped in the bathroom and cut her eye on the tub. At first we didn't think it looked that bad (it was bleeding but you know how head wounds are). We put ice on it but after our nap (which led us to miss the game...I was okay but Amy was pretty upset about it) it was really starting to swell. It was going to need stitches. Urgent Care was closed so we took a cab to the E.R. That was at about 10pm and as you can imagine a Las Vegas E.R. is not short on activity. We were there until about 5am! The cut wasn't too deep but because of the swelling (and now it was getting really purple too) they needed to put 5 stitches in and took a head scan to make sure she was okay. Poor Amy!

After getting back to the hotel I had just enough time to shower and pack before heading to the airport. There was no show or dancing for us our last night! We laugh about the entire thing now since she is okay and  her eye is healing. At least we'll have a great Vegas story for the rest of our lives and I can technically say I was up all night!

Even though it wasn't the trip we had in mind it was still great spending time with Amy. Our next get together likely won't be in Vegas though :)