our weekend in sw michigan

we celebrated our four-year anniversary by stealing a little weekend getaway in southwest michigan, where alex's aunt and uncle live. alex rented us a car, which gave us a lot more freedom to explore and relax.

we slept in way too late on saturday, but when we made it out of the house we went to infusco coffee in sawyer. after a cup there, we headed across the street to clean plate club - a little breakfast spot owned by greenbush brewery. their biscuits and gravy plate was delicious. we then wanted to head toward the water. alex's family lives in a neighborhood with its own private access to the lake, so we walked to their beach. i love their neighborhood because all the houses are unique and have cozy features like screened-in porches and big windows. there are also remnants of summer life everywhere in this sleepy lakeside compound. people still have lawn chairs and kayaks in their yards, and even the outskirts of the beach were littered with colorful SUP and surf boards. we spent quite a while walking the beach and looking at the water. after some time we plopped down in the sand and ate some trail mix as we watched the gentle waves roll in and out.

we have this issue with collecting way too many lake michigan rocks, so by the time we were headed back our pockets were filled...

after a few afternoon hours spent on the couch, we headed to three oaks village for dinner at journeyman distillery. this was the gastronomic highlight of the trip for sure. they don't serve any wine or beer, so it's all about their handcrafted cocktails. but, their food was also delicious. we had a soft pretzel with homemade beer cheese spread and mustard, crispy pork belly with butternut squash, a "detroit-style pizza" topped with fig spread, duck, cheese, and arugula, and crispy brussel sprouts. for dessert we had a little flourless chocolate cake with homemade whipped cream infused with bourbon. damn good.

sunday i made sure we got an earlier start. we headed to luisa's for brunch, which apparently is a town favorite because we just barely beat the rush. then we headed to conway's, which was back in three oaks, because we heard great things about the owner, kieran, and the homemade traditional irish scones. we wanted to be by the lake one more time before we left, so alex surprised me by taking us to warren dunes. we had the best time climbing up the biggest dune, and then running all the way down it. it was so beautiful to overlook the water from a mountain of sand, and it felt so incredibly peaceful and calm.

overall, the weekend was slow and relaxed. it felt like exactly the pace we needed, and i was glad we were somewhere where there wasn't a whole lot to do. when we are at home we get overwhelmed with possibilities of places to go and things to do, but it is great to adventure somewhere with a lot less possibility. i also realize how even on our days off we usually will spend a little time apart, and it was nice to spend all of our time together that weekend.