the dan & carrie show

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October 23, 2007

vacation

how sweet it is... how long has it been since we've taken a break away from all our obligations? a break from everything, no matter how much enjoyment we get from it?

I cannot remember the last time we took a vacation. But Friday evening we put away the tools, turned off the heat, packed the car and headed south. South? But we're in the UP. How does that work?

We spent the night Friday in Kenosha, WI after driving an hour and a half through torrential rains getting out of Michigan, then construction and Chicago traffic. Let me tell you this: even at midnight in Chicago the roads are not clear. Saturday morning we headed north through Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Green Bay. We stopped to stretch our legs in Port Washington and were talking about getting a cup of coffee, but thought we'd have a better story if we sat in a cafe in Belgium, which was just up the road! But naught a cafe to be found in Belgium. Sad day. Sorry Melinda, my sweet, but your homeland has let us down... ok, not really...

Saturday was a day of waterfalls and peak colors. After such a dry summer we didn't expect many waterfalls to be flowing heavily, but we weren't disappointed by what we saw. Perhaps ignorance is bliss... We thought the colors would be past by this time, too, but in middle Wisconsin and then even yesterday in Copper Harpor, there were stunning displays of reds, oranges, and yellows. The sky was blue, the sun was warm, and it was a great day for a drive. We arrived late Saturday in South Range, Michigan.

Sunday we spent a couple hours looking for a hiking trail to a reservoir in the national forest. We didn't find the reservoir and we didn't find a trail, but we did find loads of mud and moisture and we did find the map again after we lost it once. Then we turned around and went back to the car and drove over to a trailhead down to O-Kun-De-Kun Falls. This trail also had loads of mud and moisture, but a much clearer trail and a known distance to go... so even in spite of me wearing just sneakers the trail was much easier for me to handle. When we reached the parking lot again after exploring down around the falls and avoiding most of the mud, there was a family just setting out. Mom and one of the daughters were wearing bright white sneakers and the son was wearing crocs. We cautioned them but they went on anyway - guess they didn't believe us! After the falls we came home and changed into dry shoes and went into town for pizza at the Ambassador. Martha, was that place around when you were here? Love the booths in there, And the paintings on the cieling!

Monday we went up in to Houghton to Down Wind Sports to buy me some boots so I could better enjoy the muddy trails. Then we went for a drive on up to Calumet and Copper Harbor, and checked out a few more sights along the way, including muddy trails and waterfalls. We drove down a little-traveled forest service road and then hiked a mile or so to Horseshoe Bay and climbed the rocks and took some pictures. I don't feel like putting those up just yet, so you'll just have to read the musings for now.

Today we spent a couple hours helping Matt and Vic at the mine, closing it up for the year and doing some inventory. Then we came home and made our legendary Pasta Coma, by special request.

Henry is a blast, even though he does have hip displaysia and gets tired out faster than even me!

We are alive, we are well, and we are enoying being "out of reach". We are thankful that there's only occassional, spotty coverage on the cell phones...

your host for this episode : carrie; October 23, 2007 09:53 PM

Comments

from the peanut gallery of : Daddy Dave ; October 24, 2007 09:46 PM

from the peanut gallery of : Nancy May ; December 5, 2007 11:07 AM

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