Destination: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

The Sleeping Bear Dunes are located about fifteen minutes outside of Frankfort, MI and about forty minutes away from Traverse City in Empire. When I was a little girl, the Sleeping Bear Dunes weren't a national park. I'm really excited that, coming back up here, they are!

There's two big parts to the Sand Dunes National Park: the Scenic Drive and the Dune Climb. The Scenic Drive will take you around the back of the Dunes, giving you a view from the dunes of Glenn Lake and Lake Michigan. There's a cool stop off on the drive where you can explore a variety of trails. I wouldn't call it a hike, but more of a walk. If you are able, I would definitely get down and do that! I had a fun adventure just walking around for about 20 minutes and climbing up some of the sand mounds. I think it was the 3rd stop.

The Lake Michigan view is absolutely the most gorgeous, but the dune that you do NOT want to climb down! There's a sign (I've got a picture below) where they say there are rescue fees and it will take 2 hours to climb back up. They mean it. No, I don't know from personal experience, but my dad's personal experience :D

Disclaimer on these dune climb: the Dune Climb was SO much taller when I was a kid. Maybe it's because I'm a taller person or because the dune isn't as tall, but I didn't feel like I was going to fall down and topple over running down the sand dune.

VLOG coming soon at the end of our trip :)