A Week in Michigan

I've been absent from the blogging scene, because I've been hanging out on the lakes of Michigan for the past week on a family vacation!! It was much fun!

Here's a recap of my week:
Day 1, Fri, July1 - One day trip to Knoxville, TN (we left at 4:30 am CST and arrived at 8 pm ET) to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law (we drove from Texas and they drove from Florida), and spend the evening with some family friends from my parents college days. I got to see their (sister and bro-in-law) new (sortof, he's 10 months old now) golden retriever, Dalton (so named because they got him in Dalton, GA)!

Day 2, Sat, July2 - One day trip to Michigan (left at 7:30, yay for sleeping in!, and arrived at 10 pm). I got to stop at White Castle! If you don't know what that is, you need to visit the north and check it out, you can't eat less than 5 of these little burgers if you want to satisfy any kind of hunger! We got settled into our lakeside cabin and finally ready for bed around 1 am!

Day 3 - I found the hammock!! Oh what a wonderful, peaceful, and beautiful morning! Reading and napping on a hammock has got to be one of my Top 5 Favorite Ways to Spend My Time! Especially with the view I had! Then we had lunch at a restaurant called Apache Trout Grill, and I had fresh Walleye (type of fish) for the first time, yumm yumm!! Also got to experience part of the annual Cherry Festival in Traverse City - I love cherries!!

Day 4 - Happy Fourth of July!! We woke up to the sounds of an intense rainstorm at like 5 am, and going downstairs to go to the bathroom I fell down the stairs and sliced the bottom of my foot open among some other bruises! I love being accident prone, really! (It's still pretty tender even now.) We had a late afternoon cookout to celebrate the holiday. Fun stuff! Then we went and watched the firework show over Lake Michigan late that night! Very beautiful!!

Day 5 - Went on a Petoskey stone hunt at Torch Lake. It was a wonderful time with my bro-in-law's uncle and aunt! While at the beach I had an incredible time of worship. As I was kneeling in the sand looking for Petoskeys I was overwhelmed by God and just had to sit and meet with him while staring at the waves crashing on the shore! Except for the lack of salty air, one would think she was staring at an ocean, not a lake!! After lunch we headed back and had a quiet evening at the cabin, and went out on the boat fishing for a little while! No catch though. :o(

Day 6 - My last day to hang out. Thought I would go fishing but ended up spending the day shopping in Downtown (in the midst of the Cherry Festival) with my parents and my bro-in-law's mom, a wonderfully sweet woman! Even though it wasn't fishing or canoeing, it was still fun, especially to spend the day with her! We had another cookout by the lake, but much more intimate since most of the extended family had left or dispersed back to their own family time. And then we ended the night with a bonfire, complete with s'mores and toasted marshmallows! It was a wonderful day and a beautiful evening!

Day 7 - Got up and finished packing. Had to leave for the airport by 11:30, to be ready for a 1:50 flight back to Dallas. Unfortunately there were storms here at the time, so my flight got delayed 2 hours, so I got to spend a little bit more time in Michigan, shopping! I finally arrived at 5:50 that night and went to Backstage, our college students' Bible study and fellowship on Thursday nights.

So, what a week! It was a fun time of getting to know an extension of our family, who are now very dear to me! :o) We had a wonderful time! The weather was wonderfully cool and mostly sunny, being on a lake up there is awesome, and the experiences and memories I will treasure for a lifetime! I miss those friends and that place already!