Karina Style Travels 09/26/16

South Haven Family Vacation Scoop + Quick Guide!

It was my in-laws 60th anniversary and we’re the ones who got a big present! An entire week in this artsy home in the cozy little town of South Haven in the Great Lakes of Michigan. Prior to going all I had were the pictures of the house sent by my mother-in-law. According to the description it was a “100′ of private beach, artist’s house on lake with sunset views” and that does not do justice to the sunset views!! With this post I hope to bring to you a little bit of our exciting summer trip and perhaps entice you to pay a visit to this family friendly and inviting part of the Great Lakes – so close to Indy!

This is the home of Wendy Anderson Halperin who’s an acclaimed South Haven illustrator and author of children’s books. The house is filled with her art work and illustrations.

I’m just so bummed I didn’t take more pics of the other rooms, but this is just about how decorative they all were – powder room action!

This was our living room view for a week, sorry not sorry!

The outdoor area was the perfect setting for the kids entertainment. A private beach, bonfire area, playground action right outside our window!

To get to town we rode a few of the many bikes provided by the home owners, it was the perfect combination of exercise and fun. South Haven has miles of great bike routes and trails that are super family friendly.

Our private beach was rather rocky,

So we did lots of public beach…and LOVED it!

South Haven is extremely family friendly, the weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there except for the day we left. Locals told us it hardly ever rains in SH, so it’s safe to say if you plan a vacay there it won’t be rained out!

Things to do:

We went to Black River Tavern a lot to grab fries and beer. It’s a reasonable priced little bar with outside seating! If you are looking for a nicer place with yummy food and drinks with outside seating as well (and a great bloody mary) you might like Taste. A traditional ice cream place we went daily is the Kilwins and kiddos found a candy shop right by Kilwins and had lollipops with real bees, ants and crickets inside! YUCK Hahaha, kids loved it ????

Bike rides are also a must along with just plain beach action. They do have kayaks and paddle boards for rental and the beach is pretty family friendly. We tried Julia’s café for a midmorning snack which is super famous in town. Too bad we didn’t get to do brunch there.

For my in-laws celebratory dinner we went out of town to a lovely place called Salt of the Earth in Fenville, MI. “This town is located in the heart of West Michigan’s agricultural belt and they utilize all of these resources in their seasonal menus and dishes, partnering with local farmers to obtain the freshest local produce, dairy and meats”. This dinner was by far my favorite. Totally worth the drive! More about it on video.

If you are a sunset fan, this is definitely the place to be!

On our last day, my sister-in-law Jenny kindly organized a pizza night (and everything else!!), and that was THE perfect ending to our family vacay!! Zac was our pizza man and he brought tons of gourmet ingredients, lots of dough and even the kids got to play pizza makers.

If you are curious to see all of this live, make sure you watch this family video! Now, this wasn’t made for youtube and just for our own family sharing and viewing but I couldn’t resist and play this along. It’s much more fun!! Hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful if you’re planning a South Haven or Michigan vacation sometime next summer.