New Buffalo, MI

Around the middle of July, it worked out that both kids would be gone the week of July 22.  I was ready for a break and feeling beach deprived by that time so I booked a room at Marina Grand Resort for a  couple nights.  I booked a room (instead of a campsite) to give the husband a break from pulling the trailer all over.  The husband can commute to work pretty easily, actually very easily.  It's a longer drive but he makes it in the same amount of time as he does from home because there isn't any traffic.  It's a bit easier for him to get ready for work in a hotel room than it is from a campsite, another reason I booked a room.

We were at the Warren Dunes the weekend before, it was hot and the lake felt great.  We headed over on Tuesday and I woke up that morning to the Chicago weather man talking about a cold front moving in from the North and dangerous conditions on the lake.  15 foot waves and dangerous rip tides.  What?  Why now?  Sure enough, I think the high on Wednesday was maybe 70 and the wind was horrible.  I assumed that meant paddleboarding was out for the week and I was right.  Packing was a little different.  I had to think about how to pack for traveling when it doesn't involve my trailer.  I have everything in the trailer, all I pack for camping trips is clothes and food.  I had to find nice clothes, not camping attire and I had to make two trips to the drugstore for things I forgot.  It sort of felt like that first trip of the season when I forgot some everything.

I went for a  chilly bike ride in the morning, I had to pedal fast to stay warm.  I'm more of a trail rider, the biking around New Buffalo isn't great for me.  There is a bike route but some of the back roads are windy and narrow and I don't trust that people pay that much attention.  To get any serious amount of riding in, I would have had to load the bike up and head north to find some good trails.

I spent the rest of that day at the pool.  It turned out to be an okay afternoon for the pool, but not in the water.  I stayed in the sun and I finished the book I was reading, The Midnight Room by Ed Gorman.  Great book! 

Thursday I spent the majority of the day at the beach!  It was cool still but the wind had died down.  Good thing it wasn't blistering hot because the lake was freezing by then. I came home Friday morning with my need for the beach fulfilled so I guess that means it was a successful trip!