What a trip!

I can be kind of a snob sometimes. I'm not saying I'm extremely well-traveled, because I'm not. But I've never been that enthralled with vacationing in northern Michigan. It's good for camping, hiking, hunting, snowmobiling, and lots of ourdoorsy stuff in either the heat of the summer or the dead of winter. But people who have lived here longer than 1/4 of their lives will invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on vacation homes "up north" when I, personally, would rather spend that money on plane tickets.

I think, though, that this weekend might have won me over.

Brad and I celebrated my fall break, our second anniversary and our general happy place in life right now by taking a long weekend trip to Traverse City. We stayed in Shanty Creek, which is a golf/ski resort about 50 minutes away, in Bellaire. His aunt and uncle have a beautiful condo there that they were hospitable enough to lend us for the weekend.

It was truly one of the best vacations I've ever had -- certainly the best in Michigan. We ate and drank our way through several counties, and it was incredible. The fall colors really won me over. I don't know that I've ever seen a more stunning display of nature.

We also visited 7 wineries (I'll have to follow up later with a more detailed winery report) and came home with a case of wine. Everything we liked, we bought a bottle of. Sigh...we are compulsive wine-buyers!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of a good time.