Traveler's Return

i am in fact actually back from the longest drive of all... i mean from our vacation.

let me just say that it was a fabulous trip. papa got home early from work, so we left at about 3 a.m. saturday morning. all told it took 22.5 hours to drive straight through and achieve destination "aunt nancy's house." you might say we took the scenic route for one small section of that trip. we arrived at 2:30 a.m. michigan time. you can do the math and make sure that's actually 22.5 hours, if you're so inclined.

after a nice (but regrettably short) rest we were awakened by screaming cousins bouncing off the walls. and us. for most of the morning we took it easy... eating popsicles... lifting weights... catching up on family news... etc. then uncle dave kicked us into fun mode and we were off to see the sights (sites? both?) of detroit, which wasn't too far away. detroit is a rather interesting city. obviously it's the hub of the auto industry, but it seems like a crumbling empire. all the auto makers are still there (i happen to have some nice pictures of the GM tower), but the city itself is in disrepair. in the midst of a thriving metropolis, complete with fancy cars (i have a semi decent shot of a bentley rumbling by) upscale neighborhoods, and their own personal baseball team, there were burned houses, abandoned office buildings (we're talking boarded up sky scrapers with all the windows open!), and rubble and construction (or destruction) equipment everywhere. anyway, we saw what there was too see, took a ride in the people mover, played in a giant fountain, gave the crazy squirrel lady a wide birth and saw a ginormous barge. among other things. then dave took us out to eat and we dined on italian plenty (nothing like the pizza hut my aim away message usually refers to). we had about 3 or 4 courses. chief among these was the deep dish pizza, which was in fact about 1.5 or 2 inches thick. more like the ultimate pizza pie. oops... let me just wipe this drool off the keyboard. how embarrassing. later there was ice cream and heavenliness and i guess i just passed out and don't remember anything else.

next...(i wonder if i should have made this a multiple entry story...) on monday we went swimming at the metroplex. they have a jumbo pool... oh my gosh. i just realized that i already wrote about this in my last post. shoot. and i thought drooling was embarrassing. i've written it, so i guess i won't waste all that completely by deleting it. i guess if you're this far it somehow held you in spite of its redundancy.

so. camping. i'm pretty sure i haven't gotten into that yet. on tuesday we all packed up and headed north for the border. we got accross to ontario with only a slight hitch due to the absence of owen's birth certificate. we went to a fabulous camp on the beach of lake huron. the were some storms the day before which riled up the water a bit and it actually felt like being at the beach. like, the ocean beach. there were some decent waves piling up and nice sand. i have to say that it was nicer than south padre. course it was cold enough that i didn't really swim while i was there, so i can't fully compare. but i know enough about being in ocean water to tell you that it was marvelous not to choke and gag on saline and have to shower out salty hair and tend to super dry skin. therefore, we spent the next three days enjoying the beach, eating hamburgers and hotdogs and... and i guess that's mainly it. i only ran one morning. it's kind of shameful, especially considering all the great trails and stuff that were available. speaking of trails, the family did go to a tiny museum inside the park (they had really lame animal displays with fake creatures behind the glass). and since you're probably wondering how that trail is related to a pathetic museum, it happened to be right at the head of a bunch of scenic paths which threaded through various parts of the whatever. is that ambiguous enough for you? i'm sorry! i don't even know the name of the park we were in. i figure it's good enough that i actually know we were in ontario beside lake huron! besides, it's in canada... so does it really matter? hehehehee..... hope i don't get in trouble for that.

we came back on thursday evening (back to michigan). i spent all that afternoon reading. then in the evening we had the laporte/yerkes talent show, featuring all the talented youngsters of our combined clans. kyle played the guitar, the harmonica and the flute (seems like there might have been something else), kelly played the violin, the piano, the violin again, the piano again... keegan played the piano (i found one performance very interesting because he proudly announced that he was going to "play [such-and-such] on the piano and sing at the same time!" then he played very quietly and not a peep escaped his vocal chords.), courtney played the piano, sang, accompanied and generally kept the show moving. then i proceeded to stay up very late reading. papa stayed up late with me, except he was watching 20,000 leagues under the sea.

next morning... time to pack up. we loaded up the freshly washed vehicle, stuffed last minute laundry into bags, took fairwell pictures with all sorts of combinations of our families, gave hugs and kisses and goodbyes and finally started the return journey.

once again i suppose i'll pretty much gloss over that portion. i shifted to traveler mode. after every one gets through rehashing the week's events and shouting and laughing, we all fall asleep. then the road buzzes and one person remembers that they have to wait their turn to slumber. we listened to all the cd's anyone was interested in (multiple times). then eat. drink. drive. sleep. repeat. and while that may not sound like the best combination, i assure you i do not condone drinking and driving... unless it's a caffeinated non-alcoholic beverage combining with a lack of sleep to function as an eye bulging attention enhancer to preclude dangerous road accidents. doesn't that sound great? *sigh* the things i condone...

so we're back. arrived on sunday morning, welcomed by rain. slept and unpacked all afternoon. went to church in the evening. started work back yesterday. back to the usual i guess.

today i got to have a real visit with a friend i haven't seen in a long time. it was really good. enjoyable and encouraging. man, what is it with people growing up and getting jobs and living like functional responsible adults? it blows my mind. right. where was i. nowhere. which reminds me of the first part of a netflicks commercial i heard today. "contestant number one! are you ready?? if bobby is 6 and sarah is 9, what did we have for supper last night?!?"

"uhhh... meatloaf!!!"

"correct!" *ding* "what... is the difference between an orangutan?"

"a rhino!!!"

"correct!" *ding* "why is the netflicks summer savings deal such a great offer?"

"well... hmmm... it's only $5.99 a month... there's no activation fee or hidden costs... you get unlimited weekly rentals... so, basically there's no logical answer..."

"correct!" *DING*

that bit of wisdom pretty much took the last of it out of me. i'm going to go mindlessly pound my legs until i'm exhausted.