We so wished we could have returned to Gulf Shores, Alabama this summer or found another awesome beach to spend a week enjoying. This summer went by fast and we just didn’t have the time to get away. Since the kids go back to school this week we decided on a close beach vacation at Lake Michigan. Since we live in Central Indiana the drive wasn’t bad, 3.5 hours to where we stayed. Our Mini-Vacation at Lake Michigan was a great escape, 2 days and 1 night away with lots of beach time.
We didn’t book our accommodations until less than a week before we left. That ended up being challenging for a family of 6 when apparently everyone else decided to head to the lake too. We were able to reserve a chalet at Chalets on the Lake for just 1 night. The chalets are usually rented for a week at a time but we found an opening. This would be a good place to spend more time at and with other families. They have a pond for fishing, two pools and a private beach. We only found time to hit the beach. Like I said it would be a good place to spend time with other families because there were lots of big families together on the beach which left us feeling cramped on the small beach. It’s location was nice, we could walk or drive through the property to the beach. When we all went to play in the sand and water we drove down. Later that night the older kids walked down to the beach. My biggest complaint about the property was there was no foot spray or shower off area near the beach. Yeah, my car is full of sand now.
After hanging out at the chalet we decided to check out what was in the area to make plans for the next day and find a place for dinner. We ended up at Silver Beach County Park. What a fun place. The first night we walked around, watched boats and found the splash pad.
Since we were only staying the one night at the chalet we had to be up, packed and out by 10. After we checked out we headed right back to Silver Beach County Park. 10 AM is a good time to get to a public beach on a Saturday morning, we got a great spot near the water. It didn’t take long before the beach was full of families. The sand at this beach makes you feel like you are at the ocean. We had fun playing in the waves and sand all morning. We made the mistake of picking up all of our stuff from the beach as we headed to find a table in the shade for a picnic lunch. Lunch was a combo of what we had packed in our cooler (affiliate link) and a few things purchased from the snack shack on the beach. After lunch some of us headed back to the beach and found it very crowded.
After some of us had naps and changed we checked out more of the area. There is a carousel and other fun things for the kids to do. Sun and lots of play time especially in the water makes for cranky kids and that makes for cranky parents so we decided we had enough sun and walking to see more of the town would just make for bad afternoon. So, we headed home. Knowing we had found a great place to return to someday.
Nolan (4 years old) kept saying “this is the best vacation I never had.” I love how much he enjoyed it and has no clue we weren’t really at an ocean and no concept of time. He had fun and will now has good memories to go with this vacation.
Thanks for stopping by At Home with Sweet T!!!
-Tracy
More At Home with Sweet T posts for you to enjoy:
