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Home Lifestyle Travel Life Lately: Sleeping Bear Dunes & Traverse City Weekend Trip

Life Lately: Sleeping Bear Dunes & Traverse City Weekend Trip

Posted:5/26/17
Updated:9/9/19

’Tis time for another Life Lately post! Last weekend Drew and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by taking a little trip up to Sleeping Bear Dunes and Traverse City. I had actually never been to either – which is crazy because both of those places are iconic Michigan vacation spots. Sleeping Bear Dunes is located in the northern lower peninsula on the west side of the state right along Lake Michigan, and Traverse City is just a ways east of there along the Grand Traverse Bay, which connects to Lake Michigan as well. My fellow Michiganders know how gorgeous our Great Lakes are so even if you’ve never been you can understand why people love it up there so much. To people outside of Michigan, plan your next summer vacation along the coast of Lake Michigan because it is pretty incredible up there.

Sleeping Bear Dunes - Up North Michigan this recipe

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

The first day of our trip we spent in the Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore– Starting in Empire, MI to check out the Empire Bluff Overlook. It’s just a short hike to get to this spot and you get a really great view of Sleeping Bear Dunes and Manitou Island from here. There was actually a couple getting married as we were hiking! I thought it was just a little fun pre-ceremony hike but then they started the official ceremony and fellow hikers got quiet and we all watched.

Empire Bluffs, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Empire, Michigan
Empire Bluff Overlook

Empire Bluffs, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Empire, Michigan

Because we were short on time, and the weather forecast was looking dreary as the day went on– we then opted for the scenic drive around the Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore. It is a great way to see the landscape with different pull-offs so you can see better views of Lake Michigan and the dunes. I totally would have been for riding our bikes but we didn’t bring them with us… next time.

Scenic Drive pull-off on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

Definitely forgot to snag this photo at the beginning but remembered after leaving our hike! Hence Drew holding his thumb up.

We got out for the Cottonwood Trail hike which was pretty awesome. And tiring… We thought, “If we’re short on time we should probably do the shorter hikes… 1.5 miles, easy…” But then when you are walking through dunes and sand for 1.5 miles it is actually quite exhausting! It was pretty windy during the hike but turned out to be perfect. Traveling to Sleeping Bear Dunes is typically thought of as a summer vacation spot, but Drew and I were saying how hot it would get on those trails in the dead heat of the summer. So if you’re thinking about doing a lot of hiking around Sleeping Bear Dunes, I’d definitely recommend doing a late spring or fall trip.

Views from the Cotton Wood Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Cottonwood Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes
Cottonwood Trail Hike

 

The final stops on the drive was the overlook and drop-off of Sleeping Bear Dunes. It is pretty intense! Some people were climbing down but we were already tired from our Cottonwood Trail hike.

But just check out these pictures…

Sleeping Bear Dunes - Up North Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore. Stops 9 & 10 on scenic drive.

After we finished the hike and scenic drive, we went back to our hotel for the rest of the evening like a couple of old-timers. Seriously I think we were in our room at 6pm 😀 But in our defense it was getting colder and started to rain. We did think about camping but with it being such a short trip we opted for a hotel instead.

 

Traverse City

The next day we spent over in Traverse City. We really just walked around, checked out the shops, and ate (duh). I always spend so much time looking up different restaurants to check out. I find so many I want to visit but there is never enough time to get to them all. Or enough room in the belly… I had so many recommendations via Instagram that I wanted to scope out! We didn’t even make it up to Sutton’s Bay or Leelanau, which is another part to travel to while you’re in the area. But we really only spent one day in Traverse City, and there was no way we could try everything.

So where did we end up? Peace, Love, and Little Donuts to start off our morning. I was determined to find us cinnamon rolls but none of the places recommended were open on Sunday. So I came across the donut place and thought we’d give it a go. It is unlike any other donut place I’ve been to. The donuts are in fact little, AND they create the flavor combinations for you right there. Super fun.

Peace, Love, and Little Donuts in Traverse City
Peace, Love, and Little Donuts

Next we parked our car on the main drag and walked around while our donuts settled, before continuing on to our brunch place: Famous Frenchies

Famous Frenchies in Traverse City
Famous Frenchies in Traverse City

 

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Traverse City and life lately
Famous Frenchies… Teeny tiny. It was hard to get a good angle from where I was at in the front of the restaurant because it was so small.

Famous Franchise is a teeny tiny (really really tiny) place. I *believe* it is a place locals frequent. They open at 10am on Sundays… We were there at 10:10 and there was one table left… out of four tables total. Yes, it is that small. I got the gyromelette and Drew got the French’s American. Which I forgot to take a picture of his but I did capture mine 😀 It was delicious.

The Gyromelette from Frenchies in Traverse City

After brunch we came across an estate sale on our walk home and decided to rummage through. We actually both walked out with some great deals. Everything was half off on Sunday. I basically bought food props and spent a total of 11.50 😀 We walked about 3/4 of a mile back to our car with all of our stuff – we didn’t plan that part out very well.

Before we knew it was pushing 2pm and we needed to start the 3-hour drive back home. It went by so quick and like I said, we didn’t even get a chance to check out Sutton’s Bay or Leelanau – AKA wine country. It is just so pretty up this way in Michigan, you could easily spend at least three or four days exploring just this area.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore

Have you been to Sleeping Bear Dunes or Traverse City?

Any summer vacation spots you’re looking forward to this year?

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About Ashley

"Ashley Walterhouse is the founder of Fit Mitten Kitchen, based in the Greater Lansing Area of Michigan, AKA “the Mitten.” Ashley grew up as a picky eater but later discovered that eating healthy was actually easy and fun. She started FMK in 2015 as a way to share her newfound love of developing healthier recipes for all to enjoy."

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Reader Interactions

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  1. Erin @ Erin's Inside Job says

    5/26/2017 at 11:19 am

    Get out it looks so blue and magical. And those DONUTS!

    Reply
    • Ashley says

      5/27/2017 at 7:53 pm

      YES it is amazing. You need to come to this side of Lake Michigan… and venture North 😀

      Reply
  2. Emily says

    5/27/2017 at 12:56 am

    Those views are insanely amazing. The great lakes look like the ocean! They are so beautiful. And I always wish I was really hungry all the time when I go traveling so I could try all of the recommendations. Yet I guess that’s why you have to go back. 🙂 Those donuts look delicious.

    Reply
    • Ashley says

      5/27/2017 at 7:51 pm

      The Great Lakes are incredible! You should try to get her one day 🙂

      Reply
  3. Rhonda says

    1/20/2021 at 7:47 pm

    This area is where I grew up and Lake Michigan is where I go to “reset”. Yes, it can get hot in the summer walking those trails, but the Empire Bluffs trail is a nice, easy hike and so beautiful at the top. BUT, all that walking in the summer is SO WORTH IT with a stop at Grocer’s Daughter Chocolates in Empire for their homemade fudgesicles after!

    Reply

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