Hey everyone!

This was SUPPOSED to be the last day of my trip. Spoiler alert: I stayed three extra days because something bad happened on my last day. At any rate, what do you do on the last day of a vacation?

…You do it all!

We had to wait for the day to warm up before we could go to the beach, so we went to the lavender fields in a nearby farm town. This was definitely something I was excited for. In my head, for some reason, lavender grows like corn or sunflowers and I’d be running around in a white sundress through big boughs of scented lavender. That’s not what happened, but I still got some good pics!! 😂

Lavender fields!

Well color me surprised, but lavender grows close to the ground. And the air isn’t vibrantly scented lavender. I couldn’t smell it at all until I picked some. Still, this farm had a lot more to offer than that and was absolutely beautiful.

There were also gardens with tons of different plants. My aunt knew to take this laminated guide book out of the box to wander around with. We were the only people there who were doing that, which really enhanced the experienced. The guide book explained what was planted in each bed.

We ate a LOT of herbs in this garden. I don’t know if we were exactly supposed to, but we tried everything. There was cocoa mint, ginger mint, basil, oregano, dill, grapefruit mint, rosemary (the best rosemary I’ve ever had) and tons of other herbs and plants that Severus Snape would totally harvest for his potions.

Pottery shop!

We stopped at a beautiful house tucked into the woods after that. It was a pottery shop that sold their wares to the public. They were all unique and cool, and we picked out a mug and hummingbird feeder. The house itself was amazing and felt like fairies built it, and an old golden retriever lived there.

As you can see I was cold. Jeans AND a long sleeve top! That’s the lovely top I got in Grand Haven. The lighting was so good my aunt and I couldn’t resist some selfies. #aunt-niece-time, #millenialsandbabyboomers 😊.

MADE IT TO LAKE MICHIGAN!

In the afternoon, it was finally warming up enough that we could have a beach day! We made sandwiches and packed the cooler, and headed off to the private lake entrance. We parked and walked up a big hill, heading down to what looked like the OCEAN!

It is pretty surreal that Lake Michigan is that huge. I couldn’t see the other side, just like with the ocean. I was so glad to finally be there, since this Michigan trip has been in the works since I was a kid, practically. I finally made it to Michigan and finally made it to their gigantic fresh water lake!

We set up camp on the beach and ate our lunch right away.

We only got about an hour of sun before the clouds set in. Then there was wind. And the water was WAY too cold for me to go in. I shivered even just putting my feet in. Not many people were in the water, anyway, except for two kids paddle boarding and kayaking. It was so relaxing! The vibe was very different than the beaches I grew up with in New Jersey.

Dinner & sunsets

We showered off after the beach, and then headed into town for dinner. We went to an old restaurant and sat in the back room by the salad bar. Our waiter was afraid of us (lol not really but there was some bizarre behavior), and my aunt and I got special summer martinis. I tried London broil and it came with salad bar, which was good, because the salad bar had CHOCOLATE MOUSSE and I needed to get my hands on that. I guess in the midwest it’s normal to have jello, mousse, and strawberry fluff next to watery chickpeas and cherry tomatoes in a salad bar selection!

Then we headed back home and decided to go watch the sunset. We drove to the beach area next door, and I bundled up in my Lake Michigan long sleeve tee.

We caught the sunset! It was gorgeous. I haven’t watched the sunset in a while. I used to watch all the time when I lived in Hawaii and hung out on Waikiki Beach. It’s always extra special to watch the sun dip down behind water.

As far as last nights go, this one was perfect.

Tomorrow I’m posting my last day in Michigan, why I stayed later, and a recap of the week after that. I’ll be in New York instead of Austin these next few days, so I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be getting done in between all those bagels and pizza slices!

-Taylor