You know those days that you know are going to be terrible from the moment you get out of bed? Well, think about the polar opposite of that, and you could pretty much sum up the day I had on October 5, 2021. My husband and I had rented a “mini cabin” at Tawas Point State Park, which looked like this after I’d decorated it for Halloween:

The minute I got out of bed the morning of October 5 and stepped outside, I knew it was going to be a good day. For starters, the weather was perfect – blue skies, fluffy white clouds, light breeze, no humidity, not too hot – not too cold.

Though my husband Mike likes getting his “beauty sleep,” I convinced him to get up and not waste a second of the day!

But first, let me tell you a bit about Tawas Point State Park. Take your left hand and look at the base of your index finger joint – yup, that is roughly where you’d find it on a map! It’s definitely a “Pure Michigan” thing to show people where you are in Michigan by using your hand!

It’s located on a little spit of land that sort of resembles Cape Cod, which is probably why its unofficial nickname is “Cape Cod of the Midwest.” Due to changing weather conditions, erosion and other forces of Mother Nature, the landscape of this park has changed drastically over the years – so much so that the lighthouse itself has had to be moved from one location to another. More recently because of high water levels in 2020, the beach area changed dramatically – turning what used to be a fishing pond into part of the main beach. Which means deceptively deep, deep water in what swimmers might think is the shallow part of the swimming area. An 8-year-old Saginaw girl drowned at the beach last summer, which helped prompt the park to put up warning signs in the swimming area itself. And also offer a lifejacket station for young swimmers.

The park itself boasts a modern campground for RV and tent camping with four rental cabins – two mini cabins and two “camper cabins,” which are larger with two bedrooms. You can also rent a yurt, which is kind of like a cabin/tent hybrid (mostly tent).

Day use attractions include a Victorian style lighthouse, sandy beach and hiking trails.

But this is all stuff you could read in any brochure! Let’s talk more about that perfect Tuesday afternoon, shall we? It might be helpful to be listening to the 1968 single “Tuesday Afternoon” by The Moody Blues – or “Perfect Day” By Lou Reed to help set the mood.

We started off by walking to the beach. I decided I’d make a statement in the sand with a long pointed stick:

Next, we trekked the Sandy Hook Trail, which goes right to the end of the point – Tawas Point, as it were. While on our walk, we got to see a Flock of Seagulls!

I wasn’t the only one in a good mood on this Tuesday afternoon! We managed to find a ball of garter snakes in a sandy area with grass cover. Sure, they “could” have been cuddling for warmth, but we’d like to think they were well, you know (wink wink)!

Sadly, my attempts to get photos of this were unsuccessful. However, I did find a picture of a mating ball of garter snakes from about 11 years ago just so you guys know what it looks like:

Here are some other shots from our hike to the point:

Of course, a trip to Tawas Point isn’t complete without the obligatory lighthouse photo:

When we got back to the cabin, we’d talked about having lunch and going to Lumberman’s Monument. However, we opted instead to just relax and enjoy the sunny skies and lovely weather. I found a Bad Axe radio station (WLEW 102.1 FM) that played some nice classic rock tunes. Including (you guessed it), Tuesday Afternoon, which was a request by a listener. I’d like to thank that listener for turning me on to that song! I used an old school electric radio plugged in exterior outlet on the cabin with an extension cord and just chilled on the cabin porch to the tunes:

A resident chipmunk preparing for hibernation graced us with its presence. Behold one of the surviving members of Alvin and the Chipmunks:

Later in the evening and night, we saw some other resident critters, including a Sly Fox, who wouldn’t let my husband go all the way with getting a photo (yes this is another ’80s music reference, though it might be too deep cut for some of you):

Other critters we saw on this day included a frog sitting in a puddle, and later at night, some Stray Cats, who were doing the Stray Cat Strut through the park. Were they looking for clueless delicious varmints? Discarded human food? We asked, but they didn’t answer. Though we couldn’t exactly rock the town by getting photos of them. And that is the last music reference I’ll use in this blog (I promise)!

And just to add icing on the cake for this perfect day, we were hanging out by the camp fire that night and saw a SHOOTING STAR! No photos, but man – it was one of the coolest things I ever saw! It broke up into what looked like a dozen pieces, though I didn’t count. I honestly don’t recall ever seeing anything like that in my lifetime.

After some of the camping trips we’ve taken over the past several years (and months) that didn’t exactly go as we wanted, well, this perfect day made up for a lot of that!