twoshoes365: 238:366 - Sleeping Bear Dunes

After waking up to another hot sunny day, we made breakfast and headed to our first stop: Empire Bluffs Trail. It was about a mile hike out to the overlook and worth it. Zoe had done her Celebration of Learning report on Sleeping Bear Dunes and I wanted her to see what she had created for her diorama. It was so cool to see her experience it for the first time! After the trail, we headed to the Dune Climb before it got too hot. The 3-4 hour trip up and over dune after dune after dune was not going to cut it but we did about half of it before the kids decided they had had enough! We took the Pierce Stocking scenic drive and stopping at a picnic spot overlooking North Bar Lake to make pb&js and eat smoked almonds. Beckett was fascinated with the tiny chipmunks scurrying around. We decided it was time to cool off so we blew up our tubes, did a quick presto chango into bathing suits by the side of the car and splashed into the Platte River -- along with everyone else! We saw people floating by in anything and everything. As Rodger said in his own smarmy PSA, "this river has been brought to you, and carved by, Budweiser!" Wow...perfect for kids though. The river emptied out into Lake Michigan where we could have spent hours looking through the water for the perfect stones and rocks. It was time to pack up our tubes and head into Frankfort for Moomers ice cream at The Scoop and corn on the cob for grilling for dinner. We wrapped up our day with an awesome dinner on the grill, roasted marshmallows on the fire and showers (yeah!) at the campground.