Growing up in the suburbs surrounding Detroit it was always kind of an inside joke that going “up north” was “white people $#!%”. The excitement radiating from my peers about going to their cottages up north or to Mackinac Island peaked my curiosity: what was soooo great about northern Michigan? Did people even live there? After years of jokingly planning a trip we– me, my parents, younger sister and cousin– decided to pile in my truck at the start of August and make the 3 hour and 45 minute drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes and another 30 minutes to Traverse City.
The Drive
As a life long night owl and lover of autumn, I appreciate early summer mornings. I welcome air not sharp enough to knock the wind out of you while piercing the back of your lungs; just a comfortable cool enough to haphazardly drape on a hoodie with a touch of humidity from the freshly evaporating dew. I appreciate the lack of traffic allowing me to be hypnotized by the whirring of the Grand Cherokee cutting through air and gliding across concrete. To be fully transparent I spent much of the beginning of the trip in a daze waiting for my coffee to kick in. The most memorable parts about the drive up there were our stop in Clare, MI where I was too shy to ask an Amish couple by a McDonald’s about their prices for preserves; as well as snippets of rural mid and northern Michigan that sent a chill down my back. Thankfully we would not need gas until we arrived at our destination.
Sleeping Bear Dunes (Empire, MI)
Winding roads weaving through perfectly dense forestry and dotted with family vacation cottages and speckled with small local lakes lead us to the main attraction: Sleeping Bear Dunes. To be quite honest, I did not know what I expected, perhaps a desert-like terrain with the sweet promise of water on the other side. That fantasy combined with competitive gene running through me, my sister’s, and cousin’s veins motivated us to kick off our shoes and climb that dune.
The blisters on my feet from the hot sand and regret of not bringing the inhaler I had not used in over a year to soothe my burning lungs were well worth the views.
Lake Michigan (Empire, MI)
Since we were making excellent timing, we decided to stop at a near by beach and enjoy the water. My cousin and I were daring enough to climb over the rocks with our phones to capture a few seconds of the view but even our short video clips for Instagram didn’t do it justice. The coolness of the crystal clear water soothed our sand burnt feet while the sound of waves rushing and retreating from shore put us in a state of hypnosis. There seemed to be a level of understanding as we lazily watched a trio of teenage paddle boarders pass by with polite smiles. Truth be told, I would’ve been content if my family left me on those rocks. Open water tends to have such an affect on me.
Traverse City, MI
I’m not going to lie: I got lazy (and shy) with the photos by the time we got to Traverse. While it was still pretty early into the afternoon– maybe even midway through– it was quite apparent we all were tired and just wanted to lazily take in the atmosphere. And that is exactly what we did.
In comparison to the rural village-like surrounding towns, Traverse City was bustling. Full of first time and seasonal visitors taking their time to peruse the sectioned off main street lined with novelty gift shops and we were no exception. All of us left with something. Two books (that I plan to post about) and a hoodie for me, cherry wine for me and my mom (it was… interesting), cherry jam for my grandma (she enjoyed it), fudge for my dad (and I… it was delicious), and more candy for my sister and cousin (they ate it too fast for me to partake).
The atmosphere of the city equated to that of Ferndale– especially with the abundance of pride flags. To be quite honest, it made the city feel all the more welcoming in a strange way. Possibly because our party stuck out like a sore thumb for obvious demographic reasons. It was even more highlighted stopping into a specialty tea shop for some refreshing iced tea and the employee looking like he’d seen a ghost. Maybe they really aren’t used to seeing Black people up there or that’s just his default disposition… either way I enjoyed my leaf water.
Final Thoughts…
In short: I very much enjoyed our little day trip up north. So much so I am hoping to return in the fall as I’ve heard it is a beautiful sight with the turning leaves. The next time I journey up there I plan to go with friends and see if the experience is any different and possibly stay a whole weekend as opposed to a few hours to take our time.
This is my first ever travel post therefore I hope to get better with practice. In the meantime, I’ll be thinking of some other local (Michigan) or regional (midwest) day trips I could possibly do before I leave for Korea.
She Was Here 
Leave a comment