I can’t believe how quickly the month of June went by! I feel like it was just the start of 2017 and then I blinked and missed half the year. But last week, I had some time off (which always flies by) to go camping in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a nice trip. Though some of the days were cold, it was really nice to get away!
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a beautiful place, and if you’ve never been there, it’s time to make a roadtrip! There is still a lot of it I wanted to explore, but this year Damien was insistent that we do a trip very similar to last year’s for some reason, staying at Little Brevort Lake (you’ll find out WHY below. hint: it’s worth scrolling for).
Camping is nice because it can be very budget-friendly, and it also forces you to unplug from the craziness of everyday life — which was much-needed. It’s a simple way to travel, and can be done in an affordable way.
We camped near St. Ignace, in Moran, like we did last year. The first time I went to this area was with my family, so it has a lot of memories. In my opinion, this town is a more laid-back version of Mackinac Island (which is awesome and worth taking a trip to if you haven’t been before), with some touristy attractions (like this deer farm) but not as much of the crowds.
l love the downtown area, which is right on the water! One of my goals is to live somewhere that I look out the window and see blue for miles, just like this. This year we went into town a few times because of rainy days, and I enjoyed exploring it more.
Camping isn’t camping without s’mores! We ate too many of these on our trip, but at least the meals we cooked were healthy to offset it. I also couldn’t resist buying fudge, but unlike last year, I bought less and still brought a lot home to put in the freezer.
One of the shops in St. Ignace had a bunch of awesome loose-leaf teas at an amazing price. So far I’ve tried the red fruit cocktail I bought there, and a gunpowder green. Both were tasty.
Also in town, we stopped and got a snack and coffee at this breakfast spot called Java Joe’s, that I discovered online and wanted to check out. I’m so glad we went, because they had all these adorable teapots, and I bought one! I’ll share it in a future blog post, but it’s super cute. 😉
So as I said earlier, Damien really wanted to do a similar camping trip to the one we did last year (basically exactly the same). I thought that was kind of weird but I went along with it. On our second night camping, we went to the beach at sunset for a walk, and I was taking photos of the sky. I turned around to take his photo, and he was standing on one knee to ask me an important question. I said yes! Last year, we walked across the beach along U.S. 2 every evening at sunset, and for my sunset-loving self, this was the perfect way to propose.
The weather wasn’t perfect while we were up there, it was still springy, with a few rainy days and cool evenings, but it was still so calming and relaxing to get away, and will definitely be remembered as one of my all-time favorite trips. 🙂
lifesacupoftea.com 
Omg, Stephanie! Congratulations on your engagement–so happy for you!
I also am quite familiar with the UP as that was the only place in Michigan that counted as ‘up north’ in our family when the kids were growing up! You captured many of the beautiful sites in your photos.
Again, congrats, and be sure to keep us updated on your wedding plans!
Christel aka ‘Eric’s mom’!!
Thanks!
I love this story! I’m so happy for you two, and I’m glad you had such a memorable time up north this year. Sunsets and s’mores: You can’t get much closer to perfection than that.