Year 2, Day 227: Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, plus more!

August 15th, 2017

Castle Farms, Charlevoix, Michigan
On my bucket list and for the women in our family especially, I found an ad that showcased a Castle right there in Upper Michigan including a huge working model train display!  Well, I didn't know we were going to drive right past it on our way to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, but since it was on our way, decided to go ahead and stop there first before we got all dirty at the dunes (more on that later).  I'll explain more about the castle as I show you probably 1/3 of the pictures I took.  I didn't spend much energy in creating the best shots and more or less "sprayed and prayed" as some call it when shooting a gun.  Anyway, here's what we did find.

The castle was built in the early 1900's as a working dairy farm.  But in order to attract more customers, the owner designed it to be like a modern castle with sprawling gardens and gates and all stone buildings.  There were many displays throughout the buildings that featured famous people, especially kings and queens.  The grounds were used for huge rock concerts in the 60's, 70's and 80's I believe, and then it's been a place for weddings and receptions.  Thus, this case has many gorgeous wedding dresses from different decades of the 1900's.  I can only imagine that these were worn by the very wealthy, and indeed, when Gary asked what the starting rate was to hold a wedding there, they said they would not discuss it in public and would rather send something in an email.  The grounds are so large that they can hold 6 weddings and 5 receptions all a the SAME TIME.

Just some of the beautiful flowers in the many gardens.  One garden only contained flowers with feminine names like Rose and Lily.

The butterfly garden had butterfly shaped chairs and lots of flowers to attract butterflies.  Although, there is a screened in gazebo that holds a lot of the cultivated butterflies that you can go in and see.

We went on the self guided tour and it had something like 30 stops and took 2 hrs!  I think some of the other family members thought we would be in and out and on our way to the dunes (which was still 1 1/2 hrs away).  Anyway, this pathway leads to the pond we could see from the parking lot.  It was something like #4 on the tour.

Sid the sea monster!  Maybe to represent the lochness monster of England?

Feeding the ducks at the pond.  There were 3 wooden bench swings in the gazebo and you had to not swing too hard or you'll crash into each other.  Thankfully Grandpa had some quarters so we could get some bird food for the ducks and fish.

Abishai was enthralled with the duckies!  And why not?  He carries around duckies on his blankie all day!

Lots of whimsical touches like this little Frog Prince.

Elaborate bird house.  They also sold in their gift shop lots of little things for fairy gardens.

Really?!  Yes!

Beautiful bridge on the other side of the pond, with the castle in the background.  The castle is mostly 1 or 2 story buildings, so it's more like a huge billion dollar estate than a true castle.

Every castle has to have a dragon!

The main entrance for guests and wagons carrying milk out to be shipped.

Lots of different chess sets in this turret, including the Simpsons one and Star Wars one we own.  It goes with the theme: knight, queen, king, etc.

I bet some might borrow this for a wedding.

There was a scavenger hunt and these two were very diligent in completing it.  I love scavenger hunts that make you really stop and look at cool things, like how many windows are in a room.

Yeah, I got in a picture!  Thanks Justin for taking this!

Just one of six places people can gather for special events.  I was listening to Aaron retelling some of the things he learned and he said that after this castle was used as a dairy farm for about 12 years, it fell into disrepair for awhile.  There were lots of caved in roofs and floors that needed fixing.  I believe that was before the rock and roll concert era.

Gorgeous wood!

The true King and Queen on their thrones with their grandkids.

Aw,.....my mother always said she remembers watching it on TV when these two were married because it was the same year I was born, 1981.  Classic.

And THEN they had Will and Kate stuff!  Oh my goodness, I flipped out!  When you live in Canada, you learn to take an interest in the royalty of England.  Or if you are of English and Welsh blood like I am.

A gateway from one room to another.

Now THIS is what we really came for!  The model trains!  Abishai was thrilled!  So much so, that he didn't want to go on the rest of the tour.  So Daddy and he stayed behind to play on these electric Thomas ride ons and the many trains in the train tables behind him.

But this, too! I forget the numbers exactly, but it's the biggest display of continuously running model trains I've every seen!  So many hidden gems and features.  Each little area was associated with the letter of the alphabet, including the plants that were nearby.

Model train of Thomas!  Abishai kept trying to find him again.  The tracks looped around shrubbery and with each other.

Creepy Benaiah.  And yes, that is a train track above his head!

And that's Gary down below! Trains on all kinds of levels!  It was a train lovers' dream world!  (Nice sun spot, too!)

More trains!

Hi, Everly!

There were trains in the roofs as well!  They each had their own loop.

A huge shop to house the unused trains and all the supplies for fixing everything.  They have a full time train guy or two working on it all the time.

This is the train control room.  Sweet!

And then there's this crazy contraption with slinky dog and Winnie the Pooh, and Minions and all kinds of different themes.

Another castle for the train area.

This is the building where they sold the dairy products.

The 100's of thousands dairy cows that were registered at the time are contained in these books.  Yes, each cow/bull has a number!

Milk truck.

Another reception hall.

View from the turret.

Amateur photographer shot, but I tried.

Taking a picture on the carriage was party of the scavenger hunt.

No stinkin' way!  Little People, or a knock off brand, came up with a set celebrating Will and Kate's marriage!  There's Queen Elizabeth and even one of her dogs!  And Prince Philip! So cool!

The largest wedding/reception area can hold like 600 people or something.  It was incredible!

Look at those stone walls!  To think they are only a little over 100 years old.  They look like they are 500 years old!

They had an area that I think belonged to the blacksmith that showcased a lot of WW1 and WW2 stuff. Maybe that's when there were some lean years at the farm.  Plus, local boys were hurt or killed in those conflicts.

The real Harry Potter lived in Michigan and was wounded by the war.

Scary clown/soldier face.

What a dream!

They had TWO life size chess boards and game pieces!

This is the second and larger one.  Gary and Justin were playing a real game.

Gorgeous!

A few cases showcased photography through the years.

Just a few of the big names that played a gig hear.  I'm talking huge names.

Another banquet hall for a wedding.

Various plates featuring centuries of royalty.

Gorgeous play house.

When we finally finished the self guided tour, it was time for lunch! I think we were supposed to have lunch at the dunes, but this actually worked out better.

Typical Johnson picnic lunch is deli meat sandwhiches, chips, raw fruit and veggies.  Sometimes peanut butter or hummus.  Always mayo and mustard, although we hadn't picked up mustard at the grocery store yet.  I packed my own lunch because what I brought up to Michigan with me was more appealing to me.

It was pretty cool in the shade, but at least the girls had a place to sit and eat.

Oh, we ate at the picnic area, near the entrance to Castle Farms.  There were a lot of geese and ducks there as well.

When everybody couldn't stand the cooler breeze in the shade, they headed for the sunshine.

When no one was looking, Abishai grabbed bread out of the bread bag by himself and started eating his "sandwhich."  Bwahaha!  Then he wanted banana to go with it, so Jared cut up a slice to put in his plain bread sandwhich.

Lots and lots of white paper birch trees just like the ones we had in our yard growing up!

Traverse City/Bay, I believe, and check out that sailing boat!

We are almost there to the sand dunes!  And thank goodness, because I needed the restroom.  Worst 30 minutes of my life!

Precious faces.

Virgin forests in the Sleeping Bear State Park.  "Virgin" means that these trees are original trees and were never cut down and new ones planted to take their place.

Beautiful road through the park!

Oh my word!  And I thought PEI's sand dunes in Greenwhich were big.  These sand dunes are as tall as 400 ft!

You can't see the bottom!

And these family members decided to try it!  Jared, Benaiah, and Justin made it to the bottom!  I guess Aaron had tried to do it years ago and got so tired and dehydrated climbing back up, he puked.  Kind of like Justin and his dehydration headaches.  Therefore Aaron skipped going down.

Shauna took the girls with her, and they went about 1/3 of the way down.  The girls wants to go down further, but as soon as they turned around, they started complaining about how hard it was coming back up, so Shauna made the right call.  I, of course, knew I wouldn't be able to get back up, so I just enjoyed the view.

I went out to the observation deck instead.  And even there I was anxious, especially with Abishai in tow.  It's a sharp descent.  And actually, there's a smaller, easier dune you can climb just up the road that we saw on the way to the beach.

It's hard to tell, but right in the middle is Jared, Benaiah, and Justin.  Yes, you have to be on all fours to climb up.

Meanwhile, I carried Abishai up the last bit of the sand dune so we could see the opposite side, i.e., the forest we had driven through.  It wasn't very steep, but the sand made it hard to climb holding a 25 lb toddler on your hip.  I was extremely sore the next day.  But take in those gorgeous views!

Wow, wow, wow!  Seeing the dunes again was one of the big things on Gary's bucket list.  I'm glad we made it despite our little detour to the Castle Farms.

"No hurt tree!"  Yesterday, (Monday), when we had driven down to the state park, Jared had reached out his hand to touch the trees on the road that the cottage was on.  Abishai wasn't thrilled about it and started talking about not hurting the trees.  So here, he is basically petting the tree.

I had to pull Abishai down several times off of the ledge.  Thankfully, the earth below wasn't too far, but still, I didn't want to have to rescue him.

Bare baby feet.  When Abishai was standing there on the bench he said, "Lunchtime!"  I think he's associating wooden benches and rest stops as times for snacks and lunches.  It was cute!  I had to tell him that no, we didn't bring any food with us.  In fact, I just had my camera, phone, and him, and him without his shoes!

I had left his shoes with our bags at the top of the dunes.  Gary, Leah, and Aaron were there looking out for them and watching Jared and the boys and Shauna and the girls as they climbed.  That's why I had to carry Abishai up the little bit of dune that I did.  But I made sure he put his feet in the sand for a minute.  He found the sand too hot and hard to walk in.  My poor Island more isn't used to the beach :(

I think we were at Sleeping Bear for maybe an hr, but our day wasn't done yet.  We still hadn't been on the beach and in Lake Michigan yet!

The water was chilly, just like PEI's is, so Abishai didn't stay long in it.  The others got used to it though.  Abishai was also intimated by the waves, which were really pretty gentle that day.  I didn't bother change to go in because I don't like the cold water.  But Jared prefers lake water to ocean water.  No salt! No sharks! (and no something else) which is what some touristy shirts say, "Unsalted."

Brave souls.

Abishai enjoyed some one on one time with Mommy instead.  He needed that though.  With all the busyness of everyone else, and keeping up with them, he hasn't really seen Mommy much.

Benaiah hates the beach too.  We were there less than an hr though.

Wow!  They were all wet from head to toe!  Great for them!

Meanwhile, Benaiah with his feet that get torn up in the heated pool or racquetball or something, laid down with his socks still on protecting his feet.  Ok, then.

Keturah told the girls to roll around in the sand to get warm and then go into the lake.  She said she learned to do that on PEI.  Ok, then.

That's about all the lazy teen does.  Lays down, digs a hole, and takes a nap.

He's so big that he doesn't even fit on the towel!  The beach was just up the road from the dunes and was through a teeny town that tries to recreate what it would like 100 years ago.  There was also boat museum.

And now some extra ones from my iPhone camera.  I actually had to keep telling myself to put down the phone and carry around the big camera because it's so much easier to download the pictures to my laptop and then load them here and other places.  But the phone is so much easier to carry!  Plus, the DSLR camera has much better quality, even when compared to a brand new iPhone.  Here's Jared's big breakfast before heading out.  It was so nice not to have to make breakfast for everyone each morning. Yum!

5 out of 6 grandchildren enjoying a swing on the cottage's front porch.

The last stop at the Castle Farms was this "Haunted Woods"  Justin, Everly, Keturah and Nora went through it while the grownups were trying to figure what would happen next.

Cool sculpture of a moose!  Which reminds me of Canada.  Thus the selfie!

Right before we left the Castle Farms, we made a pit stop.  I thought this was cool that they reused something from the original farm.

Beautiful sink.

Impressive cross stitch!

Benaiah had to do a lot of his homework during the week when we had downtime in order to stay up to date with his peers.  Since his English teacher is a friend of mine, she sent me Benaiah's homework/vocabulary to work on.

Everyone is passed out sleeping!  Loads of fun was had.

Kind of bummed that this lady who take our picture accidentally put her finger over the lens.  Otherwise, it's a great photo!

Culver's for dinner!  Abishai was very excited abut the fries and dip!

Mint ice cream?  Or just plain food coloring because they can?

When you are so exhausted from lack of naptime and it's already bedtime, the toddler gets stir crazy.    At least he stayed in the area where we were eating.

Phew, that took 3 days to narrate!  I'll get working on the next day's blog starting tommorow.  Thanks for your patience!