Summer Michigan Trip: Sleeping Bear Dunes and MacKinac Island

Last summer post! My friends and I went on a road trip to Michigan as a last hurrah before school started up again. 'Twas an amazing trip. Here's what we did:

Dinner on the first night: family combo at Al-Ameer in Dearborn, MI. Dearborn has the second largest Arab population in the US (second to NYC) and the food was incredible. Authentic hummus is on a whole 'nother level compared to what you get from the grocery store. Also, I adore the bread.

We stayed with a friends' parents for a night. This was in the bathroom for us. I was blown away.

Hike the next day at Sleeping Bear Dunes. It doesn't look that steep but trust me... it was. We hiked about 3 miles through hilly sand and it was one of the toughest hikes I've ever been on.

View on the hike back

Third day - on the ferry to MacKinac Island.

:)

This was the islands' motto (they had at least 10 fudge shops on their main street). Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the fudge but trust me it was heavenly. I got so fat.

We biked 8.3 miles around the perimeter of the island. Incredibly beautiful.

Spotted this cool dude...

White fish tacos for lunch at The Pink Pony at The Chippewa Hotel. I scarfed them down.

Taking the ferry back :( This is the MacKinaw bridge, connecting Michigan with the Upper Peninsula, and it's supposedly the longest bridge in North America (5 miles). Kinda impressive but kinda not lol.

We spent the last day driving back. I was too tired to cook, so some of us sent out to dinner back in Columbus at Jobu Ramen. The restaurant had poor reviews on Yelp so I'm a bit sad and confused because mine was confused. Hopefully they'll tie up loose ends and get better views with time.

My friends got this giraffe dude for me (I collect cartoon-y giraffe things for no reason...don't ask). His name is Tippy, he always gets back on his feet if you throw him, and he accompanied me on the trip. Sho cute ^^