While staying in Holland, we took in some sights in Traverse City and Saugatauk. We had several people recommend Traverse City so we headed north from Holland. Our first stop was Clinch Park which is a beach and marina. The weather was a little chilly 🥶 in the 40’s in May so we doubled up with the hoodies while Michiganites were taking in the sight riding their bikes with shorts on. We were such rookies with Michigan May weather!

After visiting the beach and marina, we headed to the downtown area and grabbed some lunch at the Firefly restaurant. The restaurant had some amazing food and a short wait time. Our waitress clued us into that Traverse City is the cherry 🍒 capital of the world with a store dedicated all to cherry. Who knew💁🏻‍♀️??

If you are ever in Traverse City, check out Cherry Republic store in the downtown area. The store has everything you could ever want with a cherry flavor!! Anything from salsa, salad dressing, candy to wine 🍷!! Of course, I opted for candy and wine!!

On a separate day, we traveled south from Holland to the town of Saugatuck for a sand dune buggy ride. We pulled up to the place that really looked deserted but turned out to be a great time!!

We loaded up in the dune buggy and the driver took us to the private dune lands with a wild and crazy ride to the top of the dunes. We all weren’t sure whether the driver had an actual driver’s license!! In the top right picture, the dark blue is Lake Michigan. The entire ride and stop at the top was approximately 40 minutes with a cost of $25/per person.

This video was taken at the top of the dune that shows various trees, however, they are actually branches from huge trees from below the dune. It is considered a ‘live’ dune as the sand blows around and covers the majority of the tree except for the branches. On the way down, we stopped at a ‘dead’ dune where the sand is not blowing around and the trees have grown tall. The temperature is 20 degrees cooler than the top as the tall trees are blocking the sun. On a hot summer day, the dead dune is definitely a spot to cool off!!

Whether it is Holland, Traverse City, Saugatuck or another Michigan town, enjoy finding great adventures that Michigan has to offer. This was my first trip to Michigan and I would definitely go back!!

Safe travels!!