Checked in at the Timberline Motel

It was January.  In the midst of one of the coldest winters I can remember.  Ella and I were sitting at her opthalmologist's office waiting room.  Leafing through Martha Stewart's magazine (a July edition), I saw a spread on Leelanau County, Michigan.  Photos of farm stands, quiet, sunny beaches and country roads seemed quite enchanting to this winter-weary reader.  Days later I was on the phone with the National Park Service and we had a reservation made at Sleeping Bear Dunes, otherwise known as the heart of this Martha Stewart wonderland.  It didn't disappoint.  We snacked on local cheeses, perch sandwiches and smoked fish.  We sampled hard ciders, climbed dunes and saw scenery reminiscent of the sunsets in Greece or the country roads in the south of France...minus the chainsaw wood carvings (distinctly rural America I think).  The girls did  great on the car ride.  They listened to classics on CD, Frank Baum, Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl.  They slept long and hard at night, peacefully sleeping to the steady rains in the late evening.  Vivian actually cried as we took down our tent this morning.  We promised that soon we would allow for a backyard campout.  Jerry and I will gladly leave the mosquitoes in Michigan.  Room service and a pool certainly await during our next vacation.