So the story goes......
Many years ago, in a state now called Wisconsin, lived a
mother bear and her two cubs. One day, as they were in the woods gathering
food, a fire broke out. All of the animals, including the mother bear and her
cubs, had to leave the forest. The mother bear and her cubs swam across Lake
Michigan to the state we now call Michigan.
It was a very long swim. Soon, the two cubs grew very tired and fell behind
their mother. When the mother bear came to the shores of Michigan, she climbed to the highest point
she could find, a large hill made of sand, and waited for the cubs. She waited
and waited and waited. But her cubs could not make the long journey. Instead,
the Great White Spirit, who watched over all the animals, turned the cubs into
two islands. The mother bear, who soon grew tired, saw her two cubs in the lake
and knew that the Great White Spirit had taken care of them. She soon saw the
two islands in Lake Michigan. Knowing that her
cubs were safe, she soon fell fast asleep. Today, the cubs are known as North Manitou
Island and South Manitou
Island. Their mother, who
the Great Spirit covered with sand to keep warm, now watches over her cubs from
her spot atop the giant hill made of sand. We call her Sleeping Bear Sand Dune.
They were truly a sight to see.......the pictures don't do it justice......
Mom and Brooke getting ready for the climb.
Hey Lexi .....wait up........
Deep knee bends.......feel the burn......
Dad and I taking a break half way up.....
Victory shot from the top!!
We were instructed to not keep going over the dune down to Lake Michigan as it is a mile an a half down and most people don't think about it until they are climbing back up and saying .......why did we go down this??? So we took there advice and climbed back down from where we were.
Lexi strutting her stuff......she was the first one up....
Novaceks.......
Munsons.....
Cousins....
Did we think that he wouldn't?
Of course we knew he would.......
The best part of conquering the climb up is the run down!
Monkey see monkey do......
Brooke faked an ankle injury for a fee ride....
super weird when she got to the bottom it suddenly felt better.......hmmmm
After the climb there is a scenic overlook drive that we all took and say these amazing views......
This is the spot they promoted on Good Morning America...... It's nice to look at from the top but not to go down and up again (refer to Jake at end of post)
It had a very steep drop off to the beach and it made us all very nervous upon our first trip there...
Then Tom senses every one's hesitation and well you know.....did what Tom does :)
Including grabbing both my ankles and pulling me down the hill....
I was cleaning sand out for days.......
Brooke getting a bit more brave....
It was hard to not sit there all day and just look...
Freighter coming though.....
Mom and the sand dune.....the knee brace and the climb did not agree.....
This was Jake prior to running down the hill and this was Jake after he had to climb back up it...although he did it in an impressive 20 minutes......but felt like throwing up afterward........
And that my friends is The Sleeping Bear Dunes....
