Thursday 20 February 2014

LIFE: Blue Skies and New Places

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan Lake Michigan

The prolonged snowy, horridly winter weather is making me long for spring, blue skies, being able to go outside without having to wear two layers of gloves, you know, warmer times. A quick pick-me-up are the photographs from our October holiday up north (yeah those that i'm still blogging about), yet blue skies seem to far away.

Traverse City was a place we drove pretty much over two hours to visit from Rose City - we'd heard about all the antique stores there and there's a rather good sushi place - which is always an awesome excuse to visit (although in the end we didn't end up eating there because it seemed rather posh and we were hot and sweaty after climbing the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes). I could say that Traverse City remains of Royal Oak or Ann Arbor (which to many won't mean a thing) but has a cool sense of lots of unique stores, restaurants, it's on a lake front. Granted it sees a lot of tourists in the summer months, but it doesn't seem to scream tourist destination like say Mackinaw City.

My camera didn't really come out in our visit to the city - bar eating at the English themed Cornish pastry place, it was more of a time to just relax and soak it up. The city came up in discussion the other day - one that's been added to our "where we might buy our second house" - yeah we're thinking about where we might live come 7/8 years down the line. I like Metro Detroit don't get me wrong, but I don't think it'll be our forever place. While we'd be giving up the zoo and metro parks we'd get gaining National Parks, sand dunes, a lake shores, including Lake Michigan, forests, somewhere a little quieter, more of a life not dominated by freeways and most likely less pot holes.

Where would you love to settle?

13 comments:

  1. These photos area amazing! I would love to visit America one day, it looks like such a lovely place to be, especially in the summer. I'd would really like to have a little cottage in the countryside, but I've got a while to go before I get there!x

    www.teand0nuts.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Yeah i'm very lucky in the Midwest how beautiful it can be here - and some what off the tourist trail too which is nice! I grew up in the countryside and now being in suburbia, I do miss it at time!

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  2. Nice photos! :) Ya I hear it's been a pretty rough winter this year over on the east coast there... don't blame you for looking up some fall pictures & reminiscing haha! I've grown up in one city all my life so I'm not quite sure if I'll end up staying here or moving away, but I am quite a home-body so wherever I end up settling down, I'll just want to keep in touch with my family :)

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    1. Yeah here in my part of the midwest the news were reporting that we'd have 71" this winter already - not to count the snow we had today that went into a slushy pile of ice, crazy times! Some of the photographs from the same time, the skies are so blue, just beautiful, then you look outside and it's just grey. How depressing!

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  3. The photos are beautiful. I would love to have scenery like that near where we live. I've seen lots of photos of the snow you guys have been having over there, it's looks slightly on the crazy side x

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    1. Yeah the news was saying 71" inches last weekend for snow totals this winter (we've had even more snow since the weekend although it has been melting a lot today). As Traverse City is even further north, I think they are reaching 100" for the winter so far, so I should probably get use to it! There's a lot of lakes a little drive from where we live but they are nearly all built around so there's few public places to get out to see and enjoy it.

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  4. Beautiful photographs Peach!

    Super cool to have a little insight into other peoples lives, this way. Hearing about your thoughts on your future together, pretty darn cool.

    I however am no where near to thoughts of future, as I'm beginning a whole new chapter right now. But who knows, all things go well I can have some ponderings of where to settle too!!

    Gemma x
    Faded Windmills

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    1. It's funny futures change too, 5 years ago I wanted to settled in Newcastle and I would have been happy too, then I fell in love with an American and everything all changed! I'm always a daydreamer about possible places to live though!

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  5. I think I'd choose lakes but I'm partial as I grew up around them :)

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  6. If were going to settle, it would either be there, Sault Ste Marie or DeTour. Likely the latter two because of the ships.

    When you went to TC, did you make it to Old MIssion Point and Grand Traverse Lighthouse?

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    1. Yeah the Grand Traverse Light was the first lighthouse we saw on this little trip after we'd eaten lunch in Traverse City and headed back down the coastal route to Sleeping Bear Dunes. (twenty-something-sherbet.blogspot.com/2013/10/to-lighthouse.html)

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  7. Gorgeous! I'm so anxious for Spring right now. We're moving to the North woods of Wisconsin and I am SO excited to be surrounded by lakes and forest. For now, it seems like the perfect move for us but who knows what the future holds!

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  8. I could go for some sunshine now. I'm bored of the dark days and rain...
    It looks a lovely place to buy a house. I can't quite imagine settling down, I'm just to fidgety and want to move around all the time and go to new places. I don't know if I'll change my mind but I just can't see me settling in the foreseeable future.

    ~ K

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