things got pretty busy in ann arbor, and while wireless was available at our mackinac island hotel, i refused to pay to access it. now we are at dan's parents' house in milwaukee. we'll be departing shortly, camping one more night along the way, and arriving home tomorrow.
ann arbor was a lot of fun. we had some nice lake moments in the silky clean waters of pickerel lake and were treated with a visit to my friend laura's cabin on long lake. we drove by our old house on two acres in the woods, and i saw my herb garden continuing to thrive. we ate lots of good food, had a barbecue with friends, ran errands with my mom, visited the farmer's market and the microbrewery, watched a friend of dan's playing the conga's at a club. i miss a certain urban air that ann arbor has. i never spent much time in detroit, but the proximity is evident.
on friday we took a long drive up to mackinac island where my brother and his fiance were having a wedding. we took the scenic route along lake huron. i made a plan to photograph artifical animals, of which there were many. but if we would have stopped for every one, we may still be on the road today. i'm sorry to say i passed up the giant pink flamingo, the polar bear wearing the initial D, the spotted cow made out of metal tanks, the leaping dolphin, and the huge buck. the latter was lost when about 200+ photos disappeared when my camera battery died while uploading. a scrambled memory card resulted in the wedding reception, most of mackinac island, and the upper peninsula, erased. oh what an awful feeling.
we stayed at the stonecliff, a rather fancy hotel on mackinac. it was on the north west part of the island, away from the fudge eating tourist crowds, and was an oasis. i witnessed some of the most incredible flower gardens, shoreline views, winding wooded roadways, victorian homes, and crumbling stone walls. one reaches mackinac island by ferry and there are no cars permitted. so we enjoyed many lovely walks and rides on the horse drawn taxis.
the wedding was very sweet. it is my brother and his fiance's second marriage, and they held a lovely ceremony on the grounds of the hotel. both of them were "given away" by their children. there was a full moon that night, and fireworks were sent off from four different areas in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the mackinac bridge.
yesterday was spent driving through michigan's upper peninsula to wisconsin. we stopped at a beautiful beach on the north end of lake michigan. it could have been the bahamas. unfortunately the photos were lost with the 200+ mentioned earlier.
there will be some processing ahead. anytime i spend much time "at home" i come out feeling like i need therapy. i'm not sure how much vacation was really in this vacation. but it was wonderful to have a break from routine, see friends and family, and road trip. i very much love a road trip.
and now tashi will be staying with nanna and grandpa and aunts and uncles in milwuakee. there is a deep sadness in me at saying goodbye to her for two weeks. but she is eager for the fun ahead and i know that perhaps dan and i will have some fun too.
onward.
2 comments:
Oh, I SO feel for you losing your photos that way. I've lost some before under different circumstances and it's just heartbreaking. The photos you showed are great though and it sounds like a beautiful area. I hope you manage OK while Tashi is away, that's a toughie!!
hi i don't know you but your photo came up when i was google searching something...
i just wanted to tell you that i played on that giant whale when i was a child. i haven't seen it since i was little and this just brought back such an overwhelming memory! i just had to tell someone.
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