Michigan's West Coast

After spending our Tuesday on the East side of the State, we made plans to visit the West coast on Wednesday.  I love spending time on the shores of Lake Michigan and there are so many beautiful places along the coast to visit.  Our plans for the day were to visit both some new places as well as some old familiar areas.  Vanessa joined us again and we're always glad when she does.  

Once again we were on the road before 9am headed toward our first stop in Muskegon.  While Maddie and I have been to Muskegon before, our first stop was the Muskegon State Park, which was a new spot for all of us.  Not only was this a visit to a State Park we had never visited, this was also listed as the most beautiful spot in Muskegon County...so I was doubly excited to visit.

We arrived at the Park, drove as far as we could to a parking lot along the shore and headed out for a walk along the pier to the Lake.  Maddie was pretty happy to get to the water for a big drink.  Peaches was busily sniffing and exploring the whole area.

The sun was shining and the temperature was rising, but it was still comfortable when we arrived and life is just better when there is a Great Lake near by and we were excited for the day ahead.  

After our walk along the pier, we headed back toward the Jeep to explore the park more.  We drove through the park, got my State park book stamped, did a little more exploring, found a geocache and then were back in the Jeep to head out to our next stop.  I can certainly understand why this would be considered the most beautiful spot in the county.  The Lake views and wooded areas were both beautiful. 

It was peaceful and uncrowded while we were there and we all enjoyed our time at the Park.  But Maddie was ready for a break, so after a quick stop to take a picture at the State Park sign, we started the slow, meandering 30 minute drive toward the dog beach. 

       

I was anxiously anticipating our arrival at the dog beach at Kruse Park in North Muskegon.  It is one of the few off-leash dog beaches in the lower Peninsula and has been a favorite location of ours for many years.  I have many special memories here with Jake and Imke, and this was the first beach Maddie ever visited with me 10 years ago.  I remember that trip well and just how terrified she was of the waves.  While she's still not a big fan of waves and has never been a swimmer, she has come a long way and is always excited when we get near the water.  We hadn't been here in a few years, and this was going to be Peaches first visit.  I was excited to make some new memories with them both.

Due to the high water levels in the Great Lakes, we weren't able to park in my normal parking spot at the far end of the beach, and instead had to park in the parking lot for the Park itself.  I was disappointed to see that the boardwalk and steps down to the beach were in disrepair and that we had to pay to park now, but we found the least difficult route we could to climb down the dunes so we could get to the water.

As we reached the bottom of the dune, we were greeted by some pretty happy dogs and I immediately dropped Peaches leash to ensure a pleasant experience for everyone.  She was immediately best friends with these new buddies.  I had a brief moment of panic realizing that Peaches had never been to the dog beach or spent any significant time off leash in new areas...so I wasn't 100% sure how well she would listen and how she would act.  But she did amazing!  She came when called even mid-chase with the other dogs and stayed close by when I asked her to do that.  She absolutely loved running on the beach and making new friends and I know now that we can go back and I don't have to worry at all about her.  I really look forward to taking her there again.  

Maddie was happy to be on the beach too and just enjoyed lying in the sand, sitting with Vanessa, and soaking in the sun.  Definitely a different experience than I 've had with her here, but I was just glad to see she was happy.  After some fun at the beach(and meeting an adorable GSP puppy!), it was time for us to continue on our journey along the coast, so up the dunes we went and loaded up the Jeep to head toward our next stop.  

Our next stop was the PJ Hoffmaster State Park.  I have been here several years ago, but since it was right along our travels, we made a quick stop to do a short hike, find a geocache, get my book stamped, and use the restrooms before getting a quick shot at the State Park sign and then continuing on our way toward Grand Haven.

By the time we reached Grand Haven it was late afternoon and Vanessa and I were definitely ready for lunch.  Luckily we drove past Arturo's Tacos on our way toward the beach and both of us love tacos.  So we ran in and picked up lunch to go and headed toward the beach to eat.

The Grand Haven State Park is not a place I ever want to spend much time.  The camping area is always packed and is a treeless cement slab in the middle of the beach.  The rest of the park is a crowded beach.  If the weather is nice, this beach is full of people and is just not a place I love to visit.  We sat in the parking lot in the air conditioned comfort of my Jeep with a view of the beach and that was enough exploring there for us!  But we needed to visit the park so we could get our picture at the sign, and we were successful in doing just that.

I am always amazed at the difference in the number of people at the Grand Haven City beach, less than a mile down from the State Park.  This is definitely more my kind of beach!

We left Grand Haven heading toward Connor Bayou, one of the many dog-friendly Ottawa county parks.  While the most beautiful spot in Ottawa County is listed as Rosy Mounds park, that location is not dog friendly, and so I decided we'd find an alternate location where we could take the dogs.   I was not disappointed.

Ottawa County actually has a lot of really dog friendly options, but this particular location right along the Grand River was amazing and beautiful.  We checked out the hiking trails and the kayak launch for some good views of the river and really enjoyed our time here.  This is definitely an area I would return to explore more.  The humidity and heat were both high, but Maddie still did a great job keeping up with us for a good amount of exploring.  Plus we found one of the coolest geocaches I have ever found!  Overall it had been a very successful day of adventures.

On our way home, we made a quick stop at Lookout Park in Grand Rapids, which is listed as the most beautiful spot in Kent County.  It is a small park with city views and a group yoga class was going on at the park when we arrived.  We made a quick walk around the park so we could check it off our list, and then we were back in the Jeep to head home.

But we had to make one more detour for a stop in Lowell for an ice cream party to celebrate Vanessa's birthday which had been earlier in the week.  It was a great excuse to try a new ice cream place and we weren't disappointed!

We had officially finished our day full of adventure after a long and busy day, and a great time was had by all!  While this was our last big adventure of my vacation week, we were glad to have made the trip and can't wait until we can get back on the road for more fun lake adventures again!