Pooch-cation all I ever wanted.

If you've talked to me at all today, I'm sure you are already sick of listening to me rave. About up north. About Cabin on the Creek. About the winter wonderland. About getting away and relaxing. And, most of all, about how proud we are of the pooches for tolerating nearly five hours in the car (each way), for frockling off leash in the woods and not running away, for being left alone in a strange house and neither freaking out nor destroying anything (irreplaceable; Heidi did murder half a roll of TP). And, of course, for clearly having the times of their lives.

"Can you believe they are trusting us?! Suckers."

The cabin was awesome. When Brad and I first started talking about a trip up north, I had a very specific picture of what I wanted. Brad spent a few days researching cabins and came up with this amazing gem that was not only exactly what I had imagined but was also dirt cheap, despite being enormous (it could comfortably hold three couples and some kids on couches). It is a true cabin, but it is only a few years old so  everything is modern and clean. There are covered, enclosed patios, a grill, a fire pit, a fireplace, a bench by the creek (and obviously a creek), a DVD player (and a dang VCR AND a tape deck! If only I'd of known....), a wine/bottle opener (critical!), puzzles, games (I highly recommend Hunting and Fishing Trivial Pursuit), soap, a blow dryer. And there was a duck phone.

It is also out in the middle of the woods and although there are other cabins within walking distance, none are in sight and you feel totally secluded. So, of course, I brought some appropriate entertainment -

And, as I mentioned, there was cabin-appropriate entertainment available, too -

Because the weather was so crazy (I don't think it stopped blizzarding the whole time we were there), we stayed pretty close to home. Honestly, the point of this trip was to travel somewhere and spend time with the dogs anyway, so that worked out just fine. I guess Brad probably knew, but I was excited to discover Sleeping Bear was just down the road, so that was the perfect morning trip for the whole family.

Heidi gives Sleeping Bear her seal of approval.

I always attempt family photos... Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't - and that usually turns out the cutest.

You know we found time to eat some delicious food, though, and we were lucky to be just a few miles from Glen Arbor, so we braved the roads for our reservations Friday night, even though I imagine Brad's white knuckles were just starting to unclench. At Blu, we had a delicious meal of blue crab puffs, a little Blackstar Farms Late Harvest Riesling for me and a nasty gin and tonic for Bradford (he earned it!!), ricotta gnocchi with beets and apples (me), and steak with Gorgonzola cream (which, I must add, Brad actually said.... wait for it.... might be as good as his beloved Outback!). For dessert, I convinced Brad to get the honey tasting, which was beautiful but not his favorite (I thought it was fun and tasty).

After our dunes trek Saturday, we were starved, so we dropped the kids back home and turned back around for lunch at Art's Tavern - a dusty dive that came highly recommended. I started my meal with a warm gingerale and whiskey and was immediately won over.

Neither the perch sandwich (me) nor the grilled cheese (Brad) disappointed. The tator tots especially didn't disappoint. With full bellies, we walked down the street for a tasting at Cherry Republic. I especially love a tasting that includes various cherry sodas, and the black cherry cream soda is punch-someone-in-the-face delicious.

Back home, and a movie and a nap later, we were ready for dinner. Basically at the end of our driveway was the Little Traverse Inn, which was so flipping cute we were going to eat here regardless of what the internets had to say (luckily, the internets had good things to say). They had a super fun menu with lots of English pub fare, but, sadly for me, everything had meat (except for the fish and chips, which I basically had for lunch). It was ok, though, because after our heavy lunch, I was craving something light. Brad got the chicken pot pie and I was excited to order the spinach salad with onions, mushrooms, and an EGG as well as the smoked salmon appetizer on Irish soda bread.

The teeny bar looked and sounded like a lot of fun but we had pooches and games waiting for us at home, so after a glass of Sex and a giant Fat Tire, we headed back home.

I think it's safe to say that all four of us were sad to leave our woods retreat. So much fun was had, and so much more fun is left to be had in the area (blizzard weather pending). We're looking forward to heading back to Cabin on the Creek soon.... maybe even next month. Stay tuned!