Camping in Michigan's Wine Country

Hubby and I spent last week camping in our motor home in beautiful Northern Michigan.  We had a nice and relaxing trip, and thankfully great weather, too.  No internet connection for the entire week though!

(that's my idea of roughing it, haha!)

So now I will have to play catch up to see what you all have been up to!

Many people would be surprised to learn that Michigan is a big wine producer. While there are wineries all thru out our state, the majority of them are in the north western part of the lower peninsula.  The area is at the 45th parallel (just as much of France and northern Italy are!), making for the ideal climate to grow grapes!

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is visit wineries.  It was so much fun to drive around in the motor home (ok, hubby did the driving, I did the relaxing and navigating!) to various wineries for some tasting.

 The views were just beautiful!  Row after row of vineyards, rolling hills, quaint resort towns, and of course gorgeous Lake Michigan.

Below is one of the first wineries we visited on this trip, Brys Estate.

 I forgot to snap a picture of the inside of the tasting room, so I grabbed this one from its' website.

It was just gorgeous inside!

And so were their many flowers!

 Here's hubby and our little Katie, and our home on wheels!  You can get a glimpse of Grand Traverse Bay in the background.

The grounds were so pretty, with the adirondack chairs overlooking the gardens and bay.

 More lush landscape.  The area is also known for their many fruit farms.  Did you know that we are the top producer of red tart cherries in the world?  So every half mile or less you will see cute little road side stands selling peaches, apples, cherries and more.

 We were super excited to find a dog friendly beach!  Katie loves the water.

 I thought this photo of the rocks in the ripply water was neat.

 One of our favorite wineries is Black Star Farms. They have three separate tasting rooms.  Below is their inn, which looks just amazing!

I got lazy and didn't take any more photos of the wineries, so the rest of the pictures you see here I got off line.

(I guess I was having too much fun wine tasting!)

 Inside the main tasting room, looking at the amazing ceiling and their star logo.

 Here is another one of their tasting rooms.  I love the bar which is fronted with slats from wine barrels.

 Below is Chateau Chantal. Again, I got this photo from their website (note the autumnal colors?).  It is a really impressive winery and inn, perched on the top of a hill overlooking both the bay and Lake Michigan.

It was one of our favorite stops.  We felt as if we had been transported to France!

 I would highly recommend a trip to this beautiful part of our state!  There is so much to see, and so much natural beauty, we are already looking forward to our return trip!

I just had to share with you this photo that I snapped of Katie this morning!  Just look at those eyes!  This is her last day of being wooly, as she is getting her very first hair cut tomorrow!  I am going to miss all of that fluff, but she really does need to be trimmed!

Have a great week!