Dave and I were in need of a late summer long weekend of peace and quiet. Unfortunately this need kicked in right as Riot Fest, a 3-day music festival we always attend, featuring bands like Iggy Pop & Motorhead was right around the corner. We go every year, so of course we bought tickets ages ago. But, we thought to hell with it – this year we wanted pine trees, hot tubbing and a smidge less Motorhead. We threw our tickets up on craigslist and booked a great cabin in Saugatuck, Michigan – just about a two hour drive from Chicago, everything was coming up Annie & Dave!

The cabin was freaking adorable. Picture perfect.

We arrived on Friday, and it happened to be raining. But no problemo – into the hot tub with a cold beer we went. And yes, Dave had a bathing suit on…or does he?

Luckily the rain stopped, so it was grilling time. I was craving a super simple burger. Like American cheese, tomato, lettuce, simple. Dave cooked the burgers on a charcoal grill (which we don’t use much at home) and they were amazing. So amazing, I ate two of them. YOLO.

Next up, it was s’more time over our roaring fire. It’s amazing how the first bite of a s’more takes you right back to being a kid. If you need me this winter, I’ll be holding a stick over my gas stove roasting marshmallows.

After completely stuffing ourselves we just sat in front of the fire, listened to some tunes and looked at the stars. The fresh air was doing us good.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to The Southerner which is SO up our alley. Fried Chicken y’all! It was fabulous.

The biscuits with honey butter were out of this world.

After lunch we strolled around downtown Saugatuck, which is super quaint with lots of fun boutiques, ice cream shops, and art galleries. It’s also right on the Kalamazoo river, so of course Dave made me look at the boats. He looks super sad because we don’t have a boat…sorry boo.

My co-worker Katrina (a fellow-Michigander) told me I had to try the Superman ice cream, and I do what I’m told (when it comes to food), so I gave it a go. It was delicious. Tasted kind of like the orange push pops I used to get from the ice cream man.

We headed back to the cabin with more grilling in mind. The theme of this weekend was SIMPLE, as in I want to work very little and rest a lot. So I saw a super easy recipe for a little grill packet that looked perfect. Just kielbasa sausage, sauerkraut, 1 chopped apple, red onion, caraway seeds, and a little beer tossed in for good measure. You just pop that into 4 foil packets and grill for about 15 minutes. We had it with a side of grilled corn on the cob and delicious marble rye with spicy mustard. It was a great combo of late summer and early fall foods.

After dinner we went for a walk down to the little lake right by the cabin and it was a beautiful sunset.

On our last day, we woke up and had coffee outside on the porch. It was perfectly sunny and the air was crisp and cool, just how I love it.

The last thing we did on the way out of town was stop at the dunes. It’s a beautiful park, with a trek through the woods that opens to Lake Michigan.

This might sound crazy, but I think 3-day vacations might be my favorite. It’s the perfect amount of time to recharge, eat a ton, and relax (or go crazy in NOLA like we did in only 3 days last January). We had the absolute best time in Saugatuck and I’d love to make it a yearly adventure. Go get to the woods y’all, a cabin-stay will do you good!