my happy place.

on sunday i drove up to southwest michigan and visited st. joseph's and new buffalo with my parents and the bf. when i was little my family would spend a week with family friends in stevensville, michigan at chalet on the lake (http://www.chaletonthelake.com/) and visit all these great spots in st. joe's and new buffalo. me and the bf drove up separately from my folks and grabbed some huge, delicious granola cluster cookies from tosi's cafe (http://www.caffetosi.com/) then some vanilla caramel fudge from kilwin's (http://www.kilwins.com/) before heading down to silver beach in st. joe's for a few hours before it got too chilly. it was great to get some sun, look at the water and all the boats. after the wind picked up we went back to the shopping area before heading to redamak's (http://www.redamaks.com/) in new buffalo for dinner. it is the holy grail of burger joints for me. the burgers are seriously the fattiest, to die for, melt in your mouth deliciousness that i crave each summer. i know that the burgers taste extra special to me because of all the memories i have there but i've gotten the bf pretty addicted too! they don't have plates there, the burgers come wrapped in wax paper. they also don't serve coffee and won't put lettuce or tomato on your burgers - just ketchup, mustard, pickles and a huge slice of onions. after dinner we ALWAYS play games in the game room. me and the bf have our fav - crusin' exotica. it's a hilarious racing game that we've have actually gotten pretty good at over the past few years. after the games we head to oink's dutch treat for ice cream down the street from redamak's. they get their ice cream from sherman's dairy (http://www.shermanicecream.com/) in new haven. it is thick, creamy and oh so yummie. i ALWAYS order blue moon like all of the 3-7 year olds. but it's tradition! then we drive home and i feel like i'm going to die from eating so much. also a tradition.


some of my happiest childhood memories involve these places and these areas. i love that practically nothing has changed and i can go back and feel like a kid again. i remember the kids burying each other in the sand, cruising on my multi-colored zebra float, my dad holding me and covering me with a towel when it was too windy, making smores and so much more. it's still totally my happy place filled with those memories and some more recent ones too.