Gorsch Moment in Time: 9th Annviersary

July 14-15: While my parents had the kids for the week, Marc and I were able to get away for an overnight to celebrate our 9th anniversary. We picked a little town in Wisconsin called Port Washington. It is located on the coast of Lake Michigan, including three beaches and a couple light houses. It was around a 2.5 hour drive for us. We started our trip with breakfast at a little cafe in Shorewood that we had been wanting to try--it was fabulous! We purchased a groupon for an overnight stay at the Port Washington Hotel. Our groupon package included a winery tour and wine tasting in a little town close to where we were staying. We stopped on our way to do the tour. We had a bit of time to kill before our tour so we stopped a Starbucks and enjoyed sipping our drinks outside (Starbucks on a Monday in the middle of the day!) Our tour was fun and interesting and we bought a bottle of our favorite wine.

When we got into town we checked into our hotel. It was a very charming place that had more of a bed & breakfast feel to it. The owner walked us to our room and showed us around to make sure we were situated. We took our bikes with us (and I was so glad because we rode them EVERYWHERE!) We rode down to the beach to hang out for the afternoon. It was actually super chilly for July, but we had a relaxing time walking, reading, and playing some catch. The beach was very narrow but the lake views were gorgeous! When we left the beach we rode around town for awhile to do some exploring.

We went back to our hotel and changed for dinner. We decided to try a local seafood place. We ate outside on the patio--it was a great night & yummy food. When we were done eating, we decided to walk out to one of the light houses. We had watched people walk back and forth and dedied we were up for the adventure. We followed a path that was about 6 feet wide and 8 feet above the water (I definitely would not have let my kids make the journey!) We had to walk about 3/4 a mile out to where the light house was located. I was slightly nervous, but it was also fun (we may have passed a few signs that said not to walk out, but we figured other people were doing it!) Afterwards we went to a little chocolate shop to buy treats for the kids. Next, we picked up a redbox and a HUGE bag of popcorn. We enjoyed our relaxing evening.

Our room included breakfast in bed--it was a perfect way to start our day. After that we biked down to the beach and played cards for awhile then biked over to a local coffee shop for coffee. We also did a little shopping. We wanted to check out the in-land lighthouse/museum. It is one of the few functioning Lake Michigan lighthouses left from the 1800's. I was disappointed to find out that they were not open for tours on week days but we thought it would still be fun to go check it out. As we were walking around the yard, the front door opened and the keeper asked us if we would like to come in for a tour. It was very interesting and fun to climb to the top. I was surprised at how small of an area it was. After our lighthouse tour, we went out for a late lunch before heading home. It was a fast trip (I wished that it could have been a few days longer) but it was so perfect. I loved that we did so much exploring on our bikes and I loved that after 9+ years and 4 kids we can still have so much fun together.