Day 5 Old Mission Peninsula

This day was our big wine day. We tasted 8 different wineries total! I do have to say the wineries on Old Mission Peninsula are a bit more commercialized, but still wonderful nonetheless.

We started at Douglas Vineyards in Manistee and this was one of my all time favorite wineries from the trip. It had a small tasting room with a lot of charm.

Next we drove to the tip of Old Mission Peninsula and worked our way down stopping at all the wineries. For dinner we went to Mission Table. It was delicious. We ordered goat cheese tomato soup, scallops, a mixed vegetable salad and crusted whitefish. Sadly, it was raining for most of the day and night. Good thing we weren't camping! We stayed at Overlook Bed and Breakfast where they only offer one room. There is a great deck overlooking the bay, but because it was raining we couldn't enjoy it. Our room and bathroom were perfect and we felt so comfortable.

Photos: Douglas Valley tasting room, Old Mission Peninsula vineyards and bay

Days 3-4 Ludington

On our way to Ludington we stopped in Saugatuck at Uncommon Grounds for coffee (really good!).  We also stopped at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, Tartan Hill Vineyards and Fox Barn.  We bought a Semi-Sweet Vignoles from Tartan Hill.  Fox Barn is near Silver Lake Sand Dunes, which is a beautiful area.  We visited this area in May for a wedding and would high recommend it.  The view of Silver Lake with the sand dunes behind is so surreal.  

Finally we arrived at Ludington around dinner time.  Ludington State Park is great because there is just so much to do. You can bike to the lighthouse, go on hikes and of course the beach.  Next time we’ll bring some tubes and tube down the Sable River.  Our first night we made campsite dinner and had a quick bike ride to the beach for sunset. 

The next day at Ludington we hiked the Skyline Trail and some other numbered trails in the morning.  We saw 4 deer on our hike.  That afternoon was another beach day followed by dinner in Ludington. 

For dinner we ate at Jamesport Brewing Co. and it was delicious.  The beer is phenomenal!  Loved the Apricot Wheat and the Hefeweizen.  We even got to meet the brewmaster Tom.  That evening we tried to ride our bikes to the lighthouse for the sunset, but were running late so we had to watch from the beach.

Photos: Saugatuck Dunes State Park,  Tartan Hill Vineyards, View from Skyline Trail, Beach at Ludington, Sunset at Ludington 

Days 1-2 South Haven

John and I live in Ann Arbor and I wanted to spread out the driving time during our trip so I tried to make each drive about 2hrs.  Our first day was planned as a beach day at South Haven, but the weather wasn't looking so good.  We switched our first two days and went on a wine tour of sw Michigan.  

We started by stopping at a roadside park for a picnic lunch in Paw Paw and then proceeded to St. Julian for tasting and a tour.  Love their sherry! We then walked next door to Warner's tasting room.  We loved this place!  The lady that did our tasting was so nice and they didn't have that annoying stopper thing on their wine bottles that only allow you 1oz.  She even mixed up a concoction (peach wine with sparkling) for us to try!  We decided to also try ice wine here for $5.

On the way to the next vineyard (Fenn Valley) we stopped to pick some blueberries.  They were super delicious and cheep! Because we were mostly camping we ended up eating them every morning in our cereal.  Yumm.  At Fenn Valley we saw our first vineyards which were so pretty.  We tasted and ended up buying a bottle of blueberry wine.  


We drove to Saugatuck to walk the town and visit our last tasting room (Tabor Hill).  We then had dinner at Saugatuck Brewing Co.  It was nothing special, but definitely worth the try because they have some good dark beer.


While visiting the South Haven area we stayed at Van Buren State Park.  I have to say I was very impressed with all the accommodations at all the state parks we stayed at.  The showers were on the older side.  Van Buren has some beautiful dunes that are along the beach and we must have walked about 2 hrs the length of it to watch the sunset.  Beautiful.  


The next day was our beach day in South Haven.  We ended up going to North Beach and had a very great time.  Lake Michigan was so warm!  We packed a picnic lunch and also cooked dinner at our campsite.

Photos: Warner's tasting room, Vineyards at Fenn Valley, Campsite at Van Buren, North Beach

Hello!

I'm Sarah and I would like to share our trip with you!  My boyfriend and I took this trip July 18 - 27 2010.  We wanted to encompass almost all that Michigan has to offer.  I like to call this our wine/road/beach/scenic/camping/farewell to Michigan trip.  I hope you enjoy and don't be shy to leave comments!