Our Favorite Summer Hangout Spot

The very first night we were in Michigan, we drove through Ann Arbor to pick up some indian food to bring back to our hotel and we happened to drive along the river. It was gorgeous! Everything was so green and it just looked so perfect. So not too long later we ended up finding a great little spot to hang out at along the river at Barton Nature Area.

It started as a great place to have a nice picnic then became a great place to wade then a place to swim then a place to hang out in tubes and then we bought a blowup raft and canoed up and down it. It was the perfect place to spend our summer afternoons. It's always quiet and the water is never too cold and there's lots of both shade and sun.

Though wear sandals if you decide to walk around in the river. Josh may or may not have got a giant gash on his toe from a rock which bled a lot and later got covered in bugs while we ate our picnic on the grass. TMI? Yeah, me too. It was gross. But anyways...

Note: This was not Bruce's favorite summer hangout spot. We took him out to go swimming for his very first time and he was absolutely miserable. Just look at his face as he sits on Josh's lap out in the water. You can just see him thinking "Mom! Save me!" as I laugh and take pictures... We're great parents. That was the first and last time Bruce hung out at the river with us.

Long story short? We like the river. And if you're in the Ann Arbor area in the summertime, head over here. It's pretty sweet.