Hello friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is looking forward to spring! Since this is the final weekend of winter, I want to share a winter day trip anyone can enjoy. This one sticks out in my mind as one of our most memorable trips since we went on a whim and it ended up being AWEsome.
The thing I love about all our journey’s in winter is how alone we are. It is especially refreshing when we are alone together in nature. During the other seasons, hiking trails, beaches, and of course, the parking lots are crowded with visitors taking advantage of the weather to sightsee. To me, trees are most beautiful when they have leaves on them – in any color, but in winter there’s a mystic beauty of trees covered in snow. The absolute silence of nothing but branches swaying gently in the wind or waves washing onto shore with no other human being around is exactly what you may need this weekend before starting another busy workweek.
I want to quick point out each of my trip posts contain a Google Map you may copy to your Google account. There you can download and edit the map as you’d like to help with your own trip planning!
~ Trip Summary ~
Type: Saturday day trip
Where: Ludington
When: February 6, 2016
Why: ***Tony wanted us to visit a place that was familiar to me.***We wanted to visit someplace relatively close because I worked until noon. ***To see another Lighthouse for the bucket list ***Saw an unbelievable photo of what is supposedly Lost Lake in Ludington that I knew wasn’t Michigan so I wanted to see it with my own eyes (photo from Pinterest below).
Time Traveled (one way): 1 hour 45 minutes
Time spent at destination: 3 hours 15 minutes
Budget: gas and a meal for two (around $50-$75 depending on car)
What We Did:
Hiked around the sand drifts at Ludington State Park
Snowy and beautiful hike around Lost Lake
House of Flavors for dinner
Other Opportunities to Explore: When it’s warmer out or if the wind isn’t bad on a cold day – ***Big Sable Point Lighthouse – can even enter and check out the views (daily, May through November 10am – 5pm) ***Nordhaus Dunes Wilderness Area ***Historic White Pine Village ***Waterfront Park that connects to the Marina ***Father Marquette Memorial Cross ***Sutton’s Landing ***Mason County Fairgrounds (if something is going on) ***Restaurants: PM Streamers, The Mitten Bar, Old Hamlin Restaurant, Blu Moon ***Breweries/Wineries/Local Spirits: Jamesport Brewing Co ***Local Shops – Blueberry Patch of Ludington, downtown along Ludington Ave – Evergreen, Gordy’s Skate Shop, The Windowsill, etc.
~ Trip Details ~
Exploring Ludington State Park
Adventure was not what I expected when I woke up on this Saturday morning. Having worked from 8 until 12, it was a pleasant surprise when I arrived home to Tony asking where we could go. I suggested we go to Ludington – a place not too far or too near, and one I’ve traveled to with friends several times in past summers for camping trips. I also was interested in checking it out during the winter. He was sold, and we set out immediately.
Our first stop was to Ludington State Park. At this time of year, we had no issue finding an available parking space in the small lot. We walked around a little bit, taking in the lake and climbing the natural sand and snow swirled dunes. It was quite windy which made the weather feel ten times colder so we didn’t want to stick around for too long.
Visiting each lighthouse onshore in Michigan is a personal goal of ours so naturally we wanted to visit the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit because the route to drive to the lighthouse was closed this time of year. Yeah, we’re kinda pansies- we didn’t want to walk the 40 minute trip to the lighthouse in that cold and windy weather along the beach. It looks like we will have to come back when it’s warmer out! When we do, we are going to go when we can tour the lighthouse.
Another big reason I suggested we explore Ludington was due to this crazy picture I kept seeing pop up on Pinterest. The caption says it’s Lost Lake in Ludington, Michigan. But the rugged mountains in the background made to know that the photo couldn’t be Michigan – at least not in the lower peninsula. Anyway, after showing Tony that picture, we looked up Lost Lake on the map to find out it does exist! After wandering the State Park, we decided to head here next to see what the Lost Lake of Ludington really looked like.
Ludington’s Lost Lake – Even more beautiful than the Pinterest photo!
Lost Lake is connected to the MUCH larger Hamlin Lake just a quick drive from where we parked at the State Park. We found a decent sized parking lot nearby some campgrounds and walked in the direction of Lost Lake our Google maps pointed us towards.
One of the first things we noticed was that it was so dang pretty! And quiet! And peaceful! There weren’t too many people we came across when we were on our journey around the lake. This getaway truly felt like we escaped the hustle bustle of everyday life. The cold wind we faced near Lake Michigan was no longer present by Lost Lake – the trees protected us from that. It felt like time stood still as we walked around this lake. Everywhere we looked was a beautiful view. At spots where there was no pathway to continue on, a wooden boardwalk was built allowing us to journey the whole way around.
Some parts along the trail were a little slippery and the path wasn’t fully warn in. We laughed at ourselves as we both almost slipped and fell at a particularly slippery spot nearby this tree that we marked on the map as our slipping point. That spot is ours!
Above are the last few photo’s I took along the trail. They have benches along the way that you may relax at and enjoy the view.
To wrap up our snowy and slippery adventure, we stopped by House of Flavors Ludington. During summers in high school, my friends and I would challenge ourselves to eat a whole pig trough worth of ice cream. On this day though, we stuck to hot cocoa and warm sandwiches. Because this is House of Flavors, each entree comes with a single scoop of their delicious ice cream. No matter what season you visit, I recommend House of Flavors – especially for their ice cream!
Have you ever gone on a spontaneous adventure in the winter? What did you do and see during your time at the destination?
I hope everyone has a great final weekend of winter and spends their precious weekend hours wisely!
from Michigan with Love,
Jackie
from Michigan with Love 
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