A Traverse City Weekend: Day 1

We went away with our friends, Megan and Mike, for a three day weekend in Traverse City. They were running the Lighthouse Half Marathon and we were along for the ride! I don't even remember when we booked this trip, but we have talked about going away for a while now so it was fun to actually plan it. Megan and I have known each other since we were babies. Our dads are great friends that grew up together and were the best man in each others' wedding so we have been family friends for a long time. Megan and I have always been those friends that reconnect after not seeing each other and pick up where we left off. Two years ago they started coming to church with us and joined our small group so we have become really close and it has been so awesome. Our husbands get along so well which is just the cherry on top. I love friends like that. 

We woke up early Friday morning, dropped Manny off and stopped for breakfast on the way. 

We ate at The Red Olive and it was pretty darn good. 

I had the spinach and feta omelette and it was delicious. 

After breakfast we road tripped it the three hours it takes to get to Traverse City.

We were chatting the whole time so the car ride went really fast. We checked into our condo at the Peninsula Bay Resort booked through VRBO and could not have been happier with our choice of accommodations. 

The kitchen was stunning.

The bedrooms were nicely decorated and so clean.

The furniture was so comfortable.

Especially this chair. I'm pretty sure Garth wanted to take it home. Bonus? It turns!

The best part of the condo was the view.

We were blessed with some pretty amazing weather and spent every morning out here drinking coffee and most evenings playing cards.

After we unpacked we were off to wine taste on Old Mission.

We started at Black Star Farms and enjoyed our first few tastes and got to keep the adorable glass pictured above.

Next up was Hawthorne Winery. The views were spectacular and so was the wine. I purchased their Chardonnay I liked it so much.

After this one we were ready for some food so we stopped at Brys for a cheese plate.

This was my favorite. We sat outside (because it was 75 degrees in October!) and sipped a glass of wine and enjoyed the best cheese plate I ever had. I was also introduced to prosciutto which is my new obsession. YUM.

This was also my favorite winery because the wine maker was from South Africa and he came out to meet Garth. They were both speaking in Afrikaans to each other which was really cool. He gave Garth his card and told him to email him so we could get together when he is in our town. I'm excited to have a wine maker friend, ha! 

We went to Two Lads Winery next and had a very informative lesson on the different wines and how the different grapes are grown. 

Our last stop was Chateau Chantal.

Garth loves their champagne here so we purchased a bottle of it.

After all that wine we were HUNGRY.We stopped at Blue Tractor for dinner and then went back to the condo and played some cards before crashing. It was a really fun day! This is getting long so I'll share the next two days tomorrow.