West Side Story

Happy 4th of July everyone! This weekend we took the kids over to the west side of the state to the town of Muskegon for some fun. Yesterday we spent the day at Michigan's Adventure, which is a family amusement park and water park. The kids had a great time riding the roller coasters and all the rides, and then getting wet in the water park. Ben and I even rode the biggest roller coaster in the park - Shivering Timbers. The park isn't on the level of Disney of course, and I'm not even sure it's up to par with Six Flags, but for the kids it's a fun getaway that's very affordable.
Then today we drove north to the coastal town of Ludington. The town is a quaint vacation town on the shores of Lake Michigan, and one of the attractions in the area is Ludington State Park. We had a fun afternoon playing on the beach and splashing around in the lake. We also took a nice hike and the kids got a kick out of watching all the rafters float down the river. We've seen a good number of state parks around the state now and Ludington is definitely one of the nicest ones we've seen. Beautiful sandy beaches, scenic rivers, biking trails, etc. We'll definitely be considering it for camping next summer.