C is for Charlevoix, Michigan...

I am dedicating my A-Z post of the letter "C" to  Charlevoix, Michigan...which is about 300 miles north of where I live!

A visual...

Some quick "fun" facts about Charlevoix...

Charlevoix is named after Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a French explorer who traveled the Great Lakes.
---"How little did this modest priest dream as he sailed past these shores that his name would one day be written upon this city, "Charlevoix the Beautiful."

During Prohibition, Charlevoix became a popular place for gang members from the Chicago area. The Colonial Club, a restaurant and gambling joint on the city's north side became known as a popular place for the Midwest's most powerful and influential. John Koch, the club's owner, kept automobile license number "2", only second to the governor – a telling sign of his influence.

Charlevoix used to be a "one stoplight town" until it received a second stoplight in the 1980s at the intersection of M-66 and US 31.

(each section of text is linked to the original site...

take a look to learn more interesting facts about my favorite place 

to visit in Michigan!)

Why is this area so significant to me???  Well, I'll tell ya...real quick ;)

My family and I have been camping in a State Park that borders a portion of Lake Charlevoix for the last 20 years.  There were five of us kids when we first started the whole camping bit and the summer my mother was pregnant with the sixth...(1993)...Charlevoix still couldn't keep us away!  I remember all five of us being lined up and walking down to the beach while our mom followed behind...and oh boy!  The looks on the faces of those watching us!  "And she's having another one!" I heard from a gawker as I tried to skip real fast through the hot, hot sand.

When you go to Charlevoix and shop around it's downtown area you will find souvenir stores galore filled with postcards of pictures taken from the very spot I was standing to take mine above.

This beach is known for it's gorgeous sunsets year round.

Even on a cloudy day the sun plays effortlessly through the sky.

Now...please don't laugh...this below was my camping set up in 2011.

(I HAD A BLAST ;)

The best part of my day during a camping trip?

When I walk down to the beach during the evening while the cool front of night

 begins to calm the water.

 I settle into the sand still warm from a day full of sunshine...

like a blanket, 

and listen to the water gently lap at the shore.

  Below, the drawbridge in Charlevoix.

Another perk of this gorgeous location?  

Fudge. 

 If you are a chocolate lover and you find yourself  in Charlevoix 

a fudge shop is always close by!

(They adore their fudge "up north")

((as do I ;))

That's me below in 2011

Shopping downtown with my sisters. 

I will end it here with one last photo...

This photo conveys another beautiful memory of Charlevoix
that I will hold dear for the rest of my life...

While camping on July 27th, 2012
Ryan purposed to me
on my favorite beach
my favorite place to be

He did good...
;)

Thanks for the read, take care.

-Michelle