Saugatuck, Michigan

We went to Saugatuck, Michigan this weekend for my birthday! We'd never been to Michigan before, but we kept hearing about how nice all these little beach towns are on the western coast, so we decided to check it out. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Chicago. We LOVED it! The town was so quaint, with tons of cute shops, restaurants, orchards, wineries and a great beach. And the leaves were right at their peak for changing color - it was beautiful!

Matt found a cabin for us to stay at that turned out to be fantastic!

This was Will's room! He still sleeps in a pack-n-play, but he got on the top bunk with his daddy at night to read books!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was eating breakfast on the back porch with my little man (and big man!)

Saturday morning we went to an apple orchard and picked apples! They had hay rides and a corn maze, and Will just had the best time running around!

He likes to pump his arms in the air while he runs:)

We ate at their restaurant for lunch, which I guess is popular this time of year - the wait was over an hour! We kept Will happy with an apple cider popsicle!

And they had beautiful grounds to explore while we waited.

Saugatuck is also a coastal town with marshes and dunes. I took this picture driving over a bridge - it reminded me of St. Simons.

Saturday night we decided to forgo a fancy dinner (not so much fun with a toddler!) and took a picnic out on the beach to watch the sunset instead!

Saugatuck's beach is Oval Beach, and was named one the the top 25 beaches in the world by Conde Nast! We could see why - the sand was white, there was beautiful dunes surrounding it, and there was not one building in site!

Will had a great time running around and playing in the sand. We decided this was the highlight of our trip. And the temp was in the upper 70's - just perfect!

Will said "happy birthday mama!" about 10 times over the weekend - so sweet! Another funny story - in the car after we left the beach Saturday night Will put his hands together to pray and said "Thank you God for dinner!" (We usually say a blessing before meals and had forgotten to that night). He kept on, without any prompting, and said "And thank you for sand. And for shovels. And for buckets. And for daddy. And for Will. And for pizza. And for mommy. Amen." I never want to forget this!

Sunday morning we wanted to explore the downtown area and go in a few shops.

We left around noon because we had a very tired and cranky toddler who needed a nap! He woke up an hour later, just as we were passing by the last beach town before leaving Michigan - New Buffalo. Since he was awake we decided to see what the town and beach were like.

It was also nice! Maybe we'll come back.

We were so impressed with Michigan. We would love to visit Traverse City someday when we have more time (it is 7 hours away, or you can take a ferry across Lake Michigan). Good Morning America recently named it the most beautiful place in the US (video worth watching!) And we also read an article in Bon Appetit this summer about how Mario Batali spends his summers there and loves it.

It was a great trip and a great birthday! I'm sad it's over:)