I drove straight through to Michigan on the Friday before Labor Day and arrived early on Saturday morning. We hit the pool on Saturday after while I was still mostly vegetative, and then headed out to Saugatuck Dunes State Park on Sunday. Unlike our last trip to SSP back in July, it was not freezing, nor did we have the place to ourselves.
Leah posed a bit in the driveway before we left:
We hiked out to the beach, and actually had to look around and pick our way through people to find a place. While there is less beach than in recent years, I’ve still never seen it so crowded.
This picture from July:
is quite a contrast from this Labor Day weekend picture (and we’re a ways north of the main beach entrance):
We enjoyed being able to spend lots of time in the water, and both Aly and Leah showed off their new skills they’d learned in August at their swimming lessons. Aly’s skills included doing underwater handstands, and while proving to her that old people can still do things (albeit not correctly, obvs Dad), I left my wedding ring on the sand in about 4 feet of water. You may recall from past posts that losing wedding rings (usually temporarily) has been a regular occurrence lately for members of this 20-year union. We tromped around a bit, but it has been lost to the sea forever. I shouldn’t say forever, since we’ve found two other rings that spent the winter in our yard, but I should say it’s lost to us forever.
In years past, Aly has hiked off-trail on our way back to the car when we’ve been at this beach, and Leah somehow remembered that and asked if she could do the same on the way back. Much to Aly’s dismay, we said yes and sent them up the hill together when we were nearly back to the car.
