Summer Land | Mid West | Natalia Rosa

Hi guys! I'm Natalia from Natalia Rosa. I was excited when Abbey asked me to be a part of this project, because I love Abbey and she's awesome. Then later I was thinking "Why would I say yes to this project? I don't even like living here."

I told my brother and mom about it and they started laughing "You? Write a post about where you live?" Buuut, it's not Winter, and Summer is in this town is one of my favorite things ever. Even though I don't want to stay here for longer then I have to, it's honestly a great place to be from. (I say 'from' loosely, because I've lived in 7 different places in my life already.)

So here's my chance to focus and rediscover the best parts about my town.

Even with a population of 31,730, it still feels like a small town. It's one of the things I have a love/hate relationship with. The people are friendly, there are a ton of families here, and it just makes sense to play country music with the windows down during the summer. When you go to town, it's practically guaranteed you'll see someone you know, but sometimes it feels like there is nothing to do here.

But that's me thinking negatively. I don't have a ton of pictures of the different places, but I'll tell you about them. First off there are the Dunes. We live about fifteen minutes from Lake Michigan. I haven't gone there too much, but as soon as I can drive myself and my friends I want to explore the Dunes more. It's the place to go when school is out according to instagram. It's a nice change of pace to the scenery, and I can't wait to visit it more often.

Downtown, is undoubtedly my favorite part about the town. It's full of character with the distinctive turn-of-the-19th-century architecture, but it has stayed active and alive with little coffee shops, cafe's and restaurants with outdoor eating. During the summer there are concerts at the amphitheater, and once a week they have outdoor movies there.

While we don't have a lot of attractions or places people come to see, we still manage to have fun. There are places you can hang out at that aren't wow, or amazing, but with the right people with you, you can make amazing memories.

There's a putt-putt place that has an arcade, go carts, batting cages and laser tagging (my favorite!). We have a drive in theatre that I've never been to, but plan on going in two weeks. We have a regular movie theater, local ice cream shoppes, biking trails, parks, gardens, and little hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

I may be bias, but I think we have the best county fair around. I wouldn't consider myself a 'country girl', but there's something about that week that makes me listen to only country music. I like the animals, the rides, the greasy food and the atmosphere. It's happy, and bright and feels like home.

This summer, I have a list of all the things I want to do, and all the places I want to go see here. We have more stuff to do then I think, and I won't die of boredom. While we aren't a town that makes it on the Top Ten Places To Visit list, it's my home and someday I'll take my kids to visit and all the memories will come back, and I'm glad I get to make my memories here.

***(abbey now!) thank you so much natalia for being a part of this project! i think you captured the beauty of the mid west so perfectly and believe it or not, i want to visit it now! i can almost feel the breeze and the laziness of a drive. it sounds perfect for summer. what do you guys think!?