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Summer vacation June 13-17, 2026

Summer vacation June 13-17, 2026

Saturday: This year we chose to go visit Amy and Rocky, Noelle’s sponsor family in Petoskey, MI. They are there for 8 weeks of the summer. Since they weren’t arriving from Annapolis until the 14th, we decided to start our trip slow and stay two nights in Curtis, MI. We initially had a hotel reserved in Gladstone, right on Lake Michigan, however once we realized 2 nights in one hotel room with dad’s snoring might not be so great for our sleep scores, we switched to a 2 bedroom ARB&B in Curtis. Curtis was a town of maybe 60 people, actually we aren’t sure since it is unincorporated.

We started our trip with both my car and Matt’s Four Runner. We dropped off one at Erm’s with the plan to swing back through on the tail end of our trip allowing Matt to go to the farm from there. We visited for a while with Erm, Felix, and Lisa. We then hoped in our Four Runner and headed to Curtis. Once to our ARB&B we pretty much dropped our bags and went to town to find a place to eat. The place right behind our rental was perfect, Tally Ho BBQ. Everyone in town was at the joint for dinner, all 13. We sat at table with a Harley Davison’s sign above it, honoring those who have served in the Navy, imagine that. Everyone enjoyed their BBQ, minus Jill who order a salad with limes and grilled chicken. Afterwards we went for a walk in town hoping to find a cute shop to buy Amy and Rocky soulvineerz. No such luck, our only store open was a gas station of sorts. We did however find a grape Culture pop soda for Jill and an ice cream bar for Fuzzy. We then walked back to our place. We listened to Matt and Noelle sing and play guitar and soon thereafter hit the sack.

Sunday: I opted to skip a run this morning to instead do yoga and Pilates. The girls slept in. We started our day with a to drive to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore to hike The Chapel Basin loop. We didn’t quite do the full 9 mile loop, however we did hike to the beautiful Chapel Basin beach and saw the turquoise waters. We also saw several waterfalls and Chapel Rock. We didn’t make it along the cliff edge back…instead we opted for a quickest return to refuel. It did sprinkle on us a little and we did have several muddy trails to cross—nothing to stop us. Matt and I enjoyed Noelle’s tunes. She had brought her speaker….that is new to us. Once we made it back to our car our tummies were growling! We found a nice Mexican restaurant on the water and then made our way back to Curtis. We showered up and spent most of the afternoon recharging. We all read our books, napped, and watched The World Cup. We decided it was time for an adventure so we headed to find ice cream. After finding Chocolate shop, we then went to the welcome sign for Curtis. It said, “welcome to Curtis, Indepence Day July 5th”. We had to pose infront of it. July 5th? Shows you how intelligent those Clinton folks are….I mean Curtis folks. Lol. We then went to dollar general to grab snacks for dinner. On our way back we encountered a local Curtis neighbor chainsawing his lawn, with a helmet on and shirtless. These Curtis people are interesting….

Once back to our place we played Euchre. Noelle and dad against Greta and I. Noelle and dad beat us, but only by one point. We then watched The World Cup and MMA fight at the capital. Yes…watched both simultaneously from the TV and from Matt’s phone. Noelle checked in with Jacob and Greta with Henry. Matt and I took another stroll to try and find ingredients for an evening cocktail for Matt….no such luck, the town had gone to bed. Once back to our place all of us girls went to bed and Matt stayed up to watch his entertainment into the early morning hours.

Monday:

This morning I did an out and back run on the country roads. I finally discovered a more normal looking neighborhood, paralleling the lake we were near. Once back we packed up and headed to Amy and Rocky’s in Petowki, MI. The live in a cute neighborhood called Bayview. Bayview has its own library, theater, church, activity center, you name it. Amy is highly involved with her woman’s group, plays piano, sings in a choir. Rocky does odd’s and end jobs…basically what is told to by Amy. They know nearly everyone in their community. Their kids grew up, spending their summers here…spending many hours at the boat house, sailing when they could. Their kids are super close to their parents. Neither of them were there while we were there…however they did call several times daily. Once we arrived we got the official tour of their home with a full explanation of how the home used to look before the remodel. We also took a tour of the neighborhood. The most amazing place to me was the costume house. There were never ending closest filled with any kind of costume or prop you could think of. There kids had been in many shows in their younger days. The boat house was really neat to see too. Both kids had worked there, their daughter even painted the interior. We met so many people I couldn’t even keep track. Amy had so many stories to tell about all of them. We decided to next find Petowki stones and skip rocks into the Lake. The dogs had come along and wanted badly to go swimming. The current was too high for that. We then walked to the first ever Kilwins for an afternoon treat. Afterwards we hiked back to their place and took a breather. The girls and I went into the neighboring trails to get our runs in. Matt sat back to snooze. Once back, Amy informed us that a neighbor of hers had just spotted a bobcat in that same wooden area we were running in! Thank goodness we didn’t spot it! Once back we showered up and walked to the park for the Monday night hotdog gathering. We sat on chairs in the grass and met many of Amy and Rocky’s friends. Afterwards we headed straight to the Bayview theater for the Monday night show…a French Cuisine film with English subtitles. It was real cute. Afterwards we watched the sunset in Bayview Park, over looking the lake. It was a bit cloudy…but still picturesque. Once back to our place we sat and chatted until dusk. No television here!

Tuesday:

This morning I ran along the bike path down to the Petowski Marina. It was a gorgeous morning with spectacular views. Once back we walked downtown to Julienne Tomatoes for breakfast. It was so good! Jill was in Heaven after that when she was informed of a natural health store called grain train—-just down the road! I grinned ear to ear and asked how much time I had. I didn’t want to bore everyone so I got my essentials…new komcuchas, cold brews, dark chocolate, fig walnut crips. Just then It started to rain. Rocky picked us up and brought us back to their place. We took a short breather and then Hoped back in the van to tour the neighboring community of harbor springs. Holy cow! What an upscale community! The houses on the water were literally mansions! We did a drive by tour and then made our way to the Marina. We walked around some and then headed to the Main Street to browse in the upscale shopping area. We found a gift for the Christenson’s….pottery coffee mug with a dog print on it. We all enjoyed looking at the Lulu Lemmon wear in a running store. Looking….not buying. The store was actually a gym but with merchandise in it! Clever idea! The cilastrom energy gu’s were an eye turner. I am not willing to try that! Our way back to Bayview we stopped at 2 thrift shops….found some good deals. Once back to our place we had just enough time to take a breather before Joe came over. He is a Vietnam Vet from the Navy who shared with us his story. Thank goodness for Matt Hanson our interviewer. Tom hadn’t shared with many what he told us this afternoon about his story. It was really special. He wished Noelle the best and we all took the famous “Amy selfie” together. We had all worked up an appetite so we piled into the van to head to the food trucks. Matt was in Heaven. I think he would eat 3 meals a day there if he could. After our bellies were full we took a country side car tour and found a cute Maple Syrup Winery. We added artwork to their painting, bought soulvineers and returned home for our next adventure, “The Polar Plunge”. Lake Michigan was roughly 55 degrees. That wasn’t gonna stop us Hanson’s. We hoped in their van and made our way to Lake. Rocky was our videographer. We counted down, 3-2-1…and all jumped…minus dad. He had hoped the count down was from 10. He eventually joined us. We all proceeded to do it again. We took a family photo —all shivering. Luckily our van was only 100 yards away. Once back we showered up and ended our evening with music, stories, and laughter. Amy is one heck of a piano player! Rocky knows how to play guitar….and too fast in Amy’s opinion. Matt wished he could have belted out more the songs Amy was playing on the piano….his eyes certainly lighted up when he saw the opportunity! We ended our evening with funny family stories that had us all in tears.

Our trip was a new adventure for us. We were so greatful to have them so openly invite us to stay. And to think, we would have never met, had Matt and I not gone to the Army Navy game in 2024. Thanks Amy and Rocky, we are certainly blessed to have met you!

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