I am married to a sand dune loving man. Rick and I spent pretty much our entire first summer together up at Silver Lake, driving through the dunes in his Ford Explorer. We've gone every summer since. I have a million and a half memories of exciting things that have happened at Silver Lake. I get him an ORV sticker every year for his birthday, since the dunes open April 1st and his birthday is April 11th. We went up there today for the first trip of 2011 to celebrate Rick's birthday a little early. It was absolutely amazing. Beautiful weather, not too busy, but enough big trucks and Jeeps around to still make it fun. We took the Escape since we don't currently have a big, beefy truck. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my little girl did! She can't make it up the biggest, steepest hills, but she gets us around just fine. Plus, she looks really cute with a dune flag on the front :)
The boys were really excited, but Joshua started to get a little nervous as we were going in. Keep in mind, we've always taken the kids up there, so there's no reason for them to be worried, but it is really bumpy and takes some remembering what it's like if you're in the back seat, I suppose. I reminded Joshua about the time he was in my belly (I was like 8 months pregnant...) and I had to bail out the passenger side window because we got in water that was too deep and the Explorer stalled out and there was water pouring in. I told him that the sand dunes are in his blood, so he might as well relax and enjoy the ride!!
I got some excellent pictures to mark the 1st Dune Day of 2011, so enjoy!!
Blue skies, sand and Lake Michigan.
Taking a break to watch the action on Test Hill.
Testing out the Lake Michigan water - probably about 40 degrees this early in April.
Me and my dune loving man!
3 of the strongest men in the world!!
Driftwood bench.
Logan making a "Sand Angel".
Waiting to get the tires aired back up.
