Saugatuck Douglas Area Delights

We decided to take a few days before the girls head back to school and just relax. We went looking for a house to rent, which was harder than it should have been since we have a strange requirement. We need carpeting.
Why you ask? Well, when we take Holly with us, we need at least area rugs so the dog can go from place to place. Holly has a hard time walking across hardwood and tile floors. She slips and slides like she's on ice.
Our initial search provided many options. A couple of weeks later when we were ready to reserve a house, we were down to a few options. We found a lovely house in Douglas MI, which we reserved immediately.
When we arrived, the house was just as charming as the photos. One thing we didn't realize when booking was how close it was to downtown Douglas. To put it into perspective, downtown Douglas is about a mile long. It's an adorable commercial strip that has a grocery store on one end and a beach on the other.
We spent four days in the area, spending some time near or in the water every day. We visited the world-famous Oval Beach twice, hiked the Saugatuck Sand Dune to Lake Michigan twice and the girls paddle boarded twice. In between we visited restaurants and shopped downtown Saugatuck merchants. We drove to the Wild West Ranch to horseback ride and watch beautiful sunsets over a cloudy Lake Michigan.
It was delightful, relaxing and charming. We left with a wish list of things we didn't have time to do this trip. The good news is it's now a "to do" list for our next visit.