My mom and I have been saying for a few years that we need to start an annual girls' trip tradition. For what we can consider our
first annual trip, I tagged along with my mom to go lake house shopping in Michigan!
We left Austin on Wednesday morning and had to connect in Chicago. We didn't know what we should do for the 2 hour layover, so we figured the obvious choice was to get a beer!
We got into Traverse City that night around dinner time, and I couldn't believe how tiny and empty the airport was. The people on our plane were literally the only ones there! We had a nice, scenic drive around the lakes that took us up to our bed and breakfast in Bellaire. We were pumped.
The B&B was awesome! Beautiful house. Funny, welcoming hosts. And delicious, gourmet breakfasts.
We checked out a little of downtown Bellaire that night and landed at the Bellaire Bar. Because the Tigers game was on, our giant beers were insanely cheap. Maybe $1? We liked this town already!
Thursday marked the beginning of the house searching! My mom was extra energized this morning to get this show on the road!
After breakfast, we met our realtor, Butch, in his office. He spent the day driving us around the area, and we must have seen 10-15 houses that day, plus stopped for lunch. I was surprised by how beautiful it was there! I could definitely see why my parents were choosing to find a place so far from our roots in Texas. I approved!!
The leaves were just beginning to change color in some places. Us Texas girls got excited when we spotted some, and the realtor probably thought we were crazy. I loved looking at all scenery- the farmland, hills, lakes, little towns along the way. It's much different than around Dallas or Austin, that's for sure!
One house caught our eyes immediately and continued to stay on our minds all day. Every house was then compared to that, and none matched up. This particular house sat on the northwest side of Torch Lake. There were just so much character with all of the wooden architecture.
My mom also liked that there was a deck, yard space, and you could walk right into the water. It had all of the items on their wish list (except it isn't as secluded as my dad would like, but we figured out that's not really a realistic option anyways.)
We came back to look at this house a couple other times, one with Butch on Thursday, and again with Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Les on Thursday night. After sleeping on it, my mom put in an offer on Friday!
(But.....long story short, it didn't work out. Their realtor, who is known around town for being shady, claimed that an offer was put in just minutes before ours. Mind you, the house had been on the market for a year or more. My parents were disappointed that it didn't work out, but they will just have to go up there in the spring and find a BETTER one!! The house hunting part of the trip was a success though, because, now my mom knows that she definitely wants to be on Torch Lake. She also has a better understanding of what she is looking for, what the area is like, etc etc!)
Backing up to our fun girls' trip details, after our Day 1 of house hunting, we went to the famous Dockside Bar and Grill to watch the Torch Lake sunset! The patio was packed, and this was the obvious place to be!
We continued the celebration of finding what we thought was
the lakehouse, by heading back toward Bellaire and going to their famous brewery, Shorts!
The live music there was awful, but we entertained ourselves with multiple renditions of Kidd Rock's "All Summer Long" song which is actually about partying on Torch Lake.
"...we were crusin' through the sandbar..."
And one last stop at Bellaire Bar again before going back, ha!
On Friday, we looked at a few more houses with Butch before walking around and eating lunch in downtown Bellaire. You could miss this little town if you blinked when driving by.
For dinner on Friday, we went over to Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Les' house! This was most definitely the highlight of the day. I can't claim to know them too well, other than seeing them at a family reunion when I was much younger. They cracked me up the entire dinner by getting on eachother's cases and sharing funny stories. It reminded me a lot of my Grandma Aud and Grandpa Bruce. I'm not sure I have heard anyone use the term "God dammit" so many times in a short time span as Aunt Jeanie did. They were pretty funny.
On Saturday, my mom and I took a scenic drive up to Charlevoix! It was a cute little town with a main strip of shopping, bars, and a pretty lake view.
We walked around for a bit before stopping in at Villager Pub! My mom was excited to stop in here since she had been here many years before with my dad. She loved seeing Michigan State fans everywhere and commented a few times how weird that felt. I could tell this all was a little piece of home.
We went in a few shops here and there, and we bought some Kilwin's fudge! Doesn't this look delicious?!
We split an appetizer at Bridge Street Taproom before making our way down to the lake to walk around in the sand and look for Petosky stones.
We didn't find any Petosky stones, but we managed to have plenty of fun! We drove back into Bellaire later that afternoon and spent a majority of our evening watching football at a country club bar. A large group of drunk guys in their 30's were there and provided plenty of entertainment for us. ("We would have bet that you girls were sisters.") A few of them ended up talking to us for a while. We must have been fun, because they all picked up our tab!
My mom was not feelin' the fireball shot.
When we went back to our hotel, Frank passed out within minutes, and my mom stayed up watching some baseball for a little bit.
Saturday came and after breakfast, it was time to leave. We had a heck of a time in the past few days! It was definitely a fun-filled trip with my mom that I will always remember!!
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| the sandbar! |
I missed David and Nico, but they were having a fun time in Dallas during this time too! Their highlights were going to a Rangers' game and Grapevine's Grapefest...
