On Willow Pond

The baby has more luggage than the rest of us combined.

It's good to be back home after our six-hour drive (which becomes 8 1/2 hours between filling the tank and emptying tiny bladders) from Bangor, MI.  Michigan isn't really a place people have on their "Must See" list of vacation hotspots, but when you have three kids and are sliding from "Middle Class" to "Aggressive Coupon-er", you take vacations wherever you can.  I also use the term "vacation" very loosely.  We have family in MI, so we basically just added three days to the weekend we were going to spend with them and called it a vacation.

The place we stayed at was, for lack of a better phrase, pretty awesome.  We booked a small 3 bedroom cottage which  saved us money over renting a couple of hotel rooms and offered so much more than any Holiday Inn or HoJo could have.   I didn't get to talk to owner/operator Tom very much (with a 100-acre farm, I'm sure he has little time for small talk), but the few times we did chat he was totally laid back; our cottage for the week was just as cool.

One of our main goals of this trip was to get the kids outside.  At home they're usually down in the basement watching movies, torturing the cat, or trying to kill each other.  Lucky for us, there was plenty to do outside.  We enjoyed one evening around the fire-pit, we almost enjoyed frog legs as one of the captured amphibians nearly jumped into the fire trying to escape from an overzealous animal-catching Aunt.

The dock included a paddle-boat that the kids must have ridden at least five times a day.  With the amount of beer and bacon I consumed that week, the exercise was appreciated.  The screened-in gazebo and patio were excellent places to enjoy the food we cooked using the cottage's gas grill.  Don't worry about bringing any fuel, the grill has a dedicated gas line; why I haven't put one in at my house is beyond me.  The biggest lure of the outdoors had to be the animals at Willow Pond.

Indoors

The inside of the cottage was just as beautiful as the outside.  A large gathering area just off the kitchen was plenty of room for our family which at the most included 7 adults and 4 children.  It never felt crowded, only noisy.  Two bedrooms (one with bunk beds, which was a big hit with our older kids), a full bath with laundry, and a decent size kitchen finished off the bottom floor.  Upstairs was the master suite with a bathroom/shower and a reading loft with one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever had the pleasure of leaving my butt print on.

My wife was amazed at the attention to detail that the place offered.  The cottage included life-jackets for the kids, magazines scattered throughout the seating areas, bug spray, supplies for starting a fire (including wood), fly swatters, dog leashes, and even some basic cooking ingredients.  It was nice to know that if you forgot something, the place most likely had it in stock.  And, if you didn't have what you needed, chances are, Tom could hook you up.

My only complaints about the place are that the stairs leading up to the master bedroom were steep and the shower water smelled like the pond.  I'm still not sure if it was the water that smelled or just me.  Regardless, this place was an excellent vacation home that I look forward to visiting again.  It sure beats staying at the In-Laws' house.

You can book your own Bangor, Michigan vacation at www.onwillowpond.com