One benefit to my extra-long blogging hiatus is that I’ve had plenty of time to catch up on my reading – which means lots of reviews and other bookish content soon to come, but those are a little tougher to write. [Read: they take more way more time.] In the meantime, I thought I’d share a post about the family’s recent plane adventure in Northern Michigan.

For the Memorial Day weekend, Ryan flew Ruby and I to Traverse City to see my parents. Flying north for a holiday weekend beats driving every time, even if it’s a little bumpy. No traffic and crazy drivers! The forecast was also promising a sunny, cloud-free Saturday, so we took the opportunity to shirk responsibilities and take a sightseeing flight around the area. This was also my dad’s first time in a single-engine airplane! 

Our route meandered west to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, up around the Leelanau Peninsula, back to downtown Traverse City, and along the coast, where we cut over and stopped for lunch in Bellaire at Shorts Brewery. The brewery was a little over a mile from the county airport, which provided a chance to stretch our legs with a walk. As our responsible pilot, Ryan had iced tea while we sampled the brews, but we made sure to pick up a few growlers to enjoy at home.

A map of the area, with a rough detail of where we flew. Luckily Ryan is better at flying than I am at Photoshop. He put together a nice video of the tour over on Captain Doom.

Two growlers for the road. (The Farmers Carry comes in handy!) False advertising:  about a two blocks after this we put them in a backpack and my dad had to schlep them back to the plane!
The next day, after working dutifully to prepare for an upcoming garage sale, we took a walk along the shore in downtown Traverse City. When we left the house it was raining – only the more optimistic among us were dressed for the abundant sunshine!
All in all a great weekend!