girls trip: tawas + oscoda

Now that all traces of my vacation have worn off I figured it was time to bring that weekend to the blog. As a kid we would go to Tawas each summer with my mom and her friend and two sons. Those trips are some of my favorites memories growing up. Before the internet, before Airbnb and HomeAway; we would drive up and find a cabin that had vacancies.. something that stresses me out just thinking about it!

Needless to say it has been fun taking the girls on these same trips. This time around we stayed in Oscoda at a family friends house. It wasn't right on the beach like when we were kids, but the beaches in Tawas were just a short drive away.

Our first full day we started the day off with a canoe trip down the Au Sable River and ended the day on Lake Huron at Oscoda Beach Park. The lake was so rough! Even sitting on the shoreline we were getting knocked over and thought of swimming out any further scared the shit out of me and I only lasted awhile holding one of the girls at at a time.

^^ because I wouldn't catch a seagull for her.

 Friday night we were joined by 'Izzybell (aunt Isabelle/Izzy)' and we headed out to 3 Mile Beach and visited one of our favorite novelty gift shops. Piper went with traditional bag of polished rocks and Kennedy picked out a unicorn. An authentic symbol for the area. We ended the day hanging out at the house catching toads and 'relaxing' in the hammock.

Then on our last day we spent the morning packing and cleaning up the house before heading out to the beach one last time. We ended up at Tawas City Park and Beach and it was perfect. There was the coolest wooden jungle gym (albeit it was almost too hot to play on) and a beach just beyond. The water was too weedy for my liking but Kennedy had a blast in the water with Granny as the water stayed shallow and wasn't very rough. I attempted to read a bit but that was a fail and Piper had fun getting buried and playing in the sand with Izzybell.

It was a nice little getaway but with the kids vacations can definitely seem like a chore and you come home less rested than when you left. Between the sand and the water I only took my camera out one time and snapped only a few photos. All of these were taken with an iPhone and I am SO HAPPY with how they all turned out.

Contemplating opening a beachy lakeside motel in the future.

Leia

ludington state park

This place was such an unexpected gem! The day prior we stopped off at Sleeping Bear Dunes which was somewhat of a disaster. I was 100% disillusioned in what I expected them to be. I imagined that we'd pull up with the kids, hike up and down a few dunes and then get down to the beach. Apparently there is a scenic hike that is just that, but we were miles from the beach the way that we came. So not only did we sweat our asses off and fight with kids who were tired of walking, I had messed with my camera settings and never adjusted them back so it was also poorly documented.

Anyhoo, the day after we set out to see the dunes Rachel's mom told us about and boy was it heaven. The water could've been warmer and we could've survived if it was less windy but the kids didn't mind a bit.

Everyone seemed to just be parking on the side of the road within the state park near a pathway down to the water so we, being outsiders, simply followed suit. We gathered all our gear and set off. The route down to the beach we picked was a bit steep but everyone handled it like a champ. Once we were down by the water, we found our own little section of beach and set up camp.

^^ this picture is just an illusion. There really was no time for adult relaxation.

Every 30 feet or so there was a large wood plank dividing the beach into sections and it was nice for the kids to have that physical barrier; they could see it and know they couldn't go any farther. Haha, who am I kidding. We had to yell at them countless times to get back into our area. It was also nice because I never felt like the kids were bothering other people, because at that point if you plopped down next to our section you did it to yourself willingly.

^^ these are the posts that had the beach separated into sections. We couldn't quite decide what they were there for or what they had previously been.

 The Sandy Buttcrack Gang.

 The water was so cold. It sent a chill down my spine just looking at the kids let alone trying to wade in with them. There was a sandbar not far from shore that people were going back and forth from. I kept trying to get the balls to take the kids out there but seriously the water was too cold. I don't have time for that mind over matter crap. The kids nonetheless were not affected by the cold or the thousand grains of sand in every crevice of their bodies and they had a blast. Sort of the whole reason for the trip anyways. Rachel and I mentioned countless times how nice it's going to be the next time we come without kids, haha.

Oh, Mr. Sandman.

Leia