"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."
(John Steinbeck)
I know it's still summer, but autumn and then winter will come quickly, so before the baby arrives and the Michigan snow falls, we've been trying to take quick but fun nearby trips here and there. We visited family in the Chicago area over 4th of July weekend, went to Traverse City, Michigan the weekend after that, and just came back from a quick trip to Toledo, Ohio where my husband took a 2-day exam and I explored local activities.
I'm due in November but we already had a mini babymoon too, our last little getaway before our family of 2 becomes of family of 3. September and October will be very busy and we couldn't find the time to do anything then, so almost 3 weeks ago -- at the start of my 3rd trimester -- we drove upstate to Mackinaw City and took the ferry over to Mackinac Island (pronounced
MAK-in-aw).
I was originally going to break these up into 2 posts, but please see below for lots of photos from our regional trips and then from Mackinac Island. I shared a couple of bump photos from Chicago and Traverse City in my last post,
"2nd Half of 2nd Trimester in My Build-A-Baby Workshop", and I'm also reposting some
Instagram photos. Since it's so photo-heavy, I won't add any commentary other than basic captions.
Chicago over 4th of July Weekend
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| Sam with Micah and Christina |
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| Isaiah |
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| Pool party at my sister-in-law Grace's friend's house |
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| Blackened tofu, BBQ chicken, and sesame-chili shrimp Korean tacos at Del Seoul |
Traverse City, Michigan
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| Our hotel was right next to downtown Traverse City |
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| Food truck dinner included my cherry BBQ pulled chicken sandwich |
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| Traverse City is the cherry capital of the world |
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| Enjoying the annual National Cherry Festival and cherry pie a la mode |
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| Lots of cherry goodies, including cherry peanut butter |
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| National Cherry Festival Parade |
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| Picking sweet cherries at Rennie Orchards |
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| We picked and bought 9 lbs. of cherries |
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| Visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore |
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| After a sandy hike up the 110 ft.+ high Dune Climb |
Toledo, Ohio
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| Toledo Museum of Art |
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| The Art of Video Games, a current exhibition |
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| Fun & Games: The Pursuit of Leisure, a current exhibition |
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| Some of TMA's collection highlights (Glass Pavilion was closed) |
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| Museum Cafe was really good, and QQ Kitchen take-out was tasty |
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| Toledo Botanical Garden's beautiful grounds |
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| Lovely Globe Centaurea |
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| Stunning dahlias |
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| More vibrant dahlias |
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| Pretty roses |
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| Vegetable garden |
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| Polar bears, seals, hippos, and African penguins at the Toledo Zoo |
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| Giraffes and zebras |
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| Elephants |
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| Zoo graffiti |
Mackinac Island Mini Babymoon
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| Mackinac Island in Lake Huron |
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| On the ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island |
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| Round Island Lighthouse |
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| Approaching the island |
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| Lots of horses and bicycles, and no motorized vehicles |
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| Cute bicycle planter |
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| #mackinacisland #michiganlife #puremichigan |
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| Mission Point Resort, where we stayed |
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| Lakefront mini golf, and a not-so-super supermoon |
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| About to embark on a 2-hour-long bike ride along the shoreline of the island |
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| Bumping on a bike (carefully, of course) |
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| Rock cairns along the coast |
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| Me and Sam |
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| Arch Rock |
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| Fudge and sweet treats at Sanders, Ryba's, May's, Murdick's, and Joann's |
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| Joann's won my own taste test, so I bought dark chocolate nut fudge to take home |
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| Food we ate at Mission Point Resort |
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| S'mores, carrot cake cheesecake, "coffee and donuts," and a giant cookie and brownie |
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| The 2nd day, when we left, was very rainy but I wanted to go out on the lawn |
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| Historic churches/chapels on Mackinac Island |
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| Horse-drawn carriage with Fort Mackinac in background |
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| Visit to Fort Mackinac |
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| View of Mackinac Island marina |
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| My belly is getting huge! |
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| Sam at Fort Mackinac |
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| Ferry back to Mackinaw City |
As excited as I am to get closer to meeting my baby girl, I am not feeling ready. In the meantime, I'm trying to soak in these last moments of summer, and hope that time will go by slowly. Have a great Labor Day weekend!
