CarrieDaway

My favorite spot during our vacation was Ludington State Park. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and has everything you could want: crystal clear Lake Michigan, sand dunes, stunning forest, a lazy river and more. We didn’t have time to explore the entire park but we did walk at least five miles and loved it.

Our first stop was a mile walk through the sand to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse.  Restored in the 1980s it’s a great tour and gift shop. I braved my fear of heights and walked up 130+ steps to the top. I even managed to get my back off the wall for a quick picture!

After the lighthouse we trekked through the dessert for a mile and half. Thankfully it wasn’t very hot and the walk was enjoyable. Although, it did feel like we were on a deserted planet. We saw one family the entire hike and they told us to turn back! Undeterred we continued and it was perfect. I can easily say that if I had to be left with one person on earth it would without a doubt be my Wordbird.

As much as I liked the post-apocalyptic preview, during our walk I mentioned that I had been hoping for a hike in the woods during our vacation. Turns out I could have my cake and eat it too. A beautiful forest appeared and we had twice as long to explore the woodlands. It was calming and picturesque but surprisingly we saw no other humans during our hike. There were many more trails we could have attempted but we were ready to go to the Lake.

The highway to enter the park is peppered with cars parked along the shoulder because  small paths take you down to a few feet of sand and Lake Michigan. There is so much coastline everyone can have a private spot and it’s beautiful. The water is cold and I didn’t swim but I waded a bit. My favorite thing about the entire trip is that there aren’t many seagulls, literally only a couple and I could brave that. We were so immersed by nature during our rest on the beach I forgot to take a single picture!  Ofcourse Danny’s only picture was of a ladybug on the beach but I suppose you can see the pure sand.

I worry for our planet often and it reassuring to see that natural beauty has been preserved in some places. I had an amazing time and really have to hand it to the DNR for having clean and respectable looking porta potties. While it didn’t make them any more preferred, they were at least not torturous to use.  I honestly want to go back in August for a day trip to explore more and enjoy the water. Hopefully, we can fit it in our schedule.