This is the best time of year in Michigan. Warm, summer days, rarely humid, cool nights. It’s also the time of eating. There are so many orchards and farms growing fruits and veggies that you can buy really fresh. It almost makes winter worth it.
We spent the weekend of the 4th up around Traverse City. We visited wineries along the Old Mission peninsula, tasting wines and getting tours. I always have a hard time judging wines when I try them individually at meals, but when you have them side by side, you can really taste the difference in flavor and quality. We got a tour of Chateau Grand Traverse’s production area – very cool! We stayed at a golf resort near Bellaire that was just so-so. Every hotel in the area was full, so our options were limited when we booked at the last minute. I think one of the coolest things about the area is the number of small towns with boutique restaurants and shops. On the grand scale of things, it really isn’t that touristy once you get outside of Traverse City. In Bellaire, we had an amazing breakfast at a coffee shop called Moka. I also got to sample Short’s brewery over lunch. Some of the best beer I’ve had. After our stint in TC, we headed to Empire near Sleeping Bear Dunes where Julie’s advisor has a small art shop and a cottage. We climbed a steep dune cliff up to a deserty plateau. We had expected to reach the shore of Lake Michigan just over the cliff, but found we had 2 miles to go. We were already exhausted so we gave up.
All in all, a great, short vacation.
This week, my dad’s coming to help us finish up the plumbing on our half-bath. It will be nice to finally have that done.
I’ve been spending a lot of time freelancing, working on our neighborhood home tour committee, and various tech-related meetups. I’m also continuing the church website tradition, working on updating code on our church’s website.
The future doesn’t look too exciting. But then sometimes that’s a good thing 
