This is about to become an SDCC blog for a bit, sorry.
We're a month out from San Diego Comic Con, and right about now is where it's very easy to get obsessive about it. Checking Twitter (when you follow the right accounts, shout outs to @SD_Comic_Con, @sdccgotgirl, @Crazy4ComicCon, @ParksAndCons, @HallHLine and @Ballroom20Line) means seeing more and more tweets about what's coming, who's coming, what people want to do, what we know of the schedule... It gets hard to escape if you're online. And that makes it exciting.
Badges have shipped. Usually at the sale you can buy tickets for yourself and a couple other people, and then you'd pick the badges up onsite on Wednesday before the con. This year they shipped all the badges to the person who bought them, which might work out okay? I had a friend from one group buy for a friend from another group so there was some coordination in getting it sent to where it needs to be, and it'll take more coordination to make sure people can meet up on Wednesday to get their correct badges, but it can be managed. We'll see how well it works out.
The schedule is starting to come together. The full schedule comes out two weeks before, but things get announced early, and information trickles in. I already have some idea of what I will be doing on what day. There are some things they don't change from year to year. Certain panels always get the same time and same room, so I know that even though I gave up on The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones I'll probably sit through the panels while waiting for one I really want to see. Star Wars Day is always Friday. Sunday is family day, so younger-aimed fare goes then. My one big thing so far is that I don't really want to spend all my time waiting for one panel. Getting into something like Marvel or Star Wars requires a lot of waiting. You have to be in line to wait, you have to be there for a certain amount of time to get your wristbands, you have to sit in a room all day waiting for one specific panel that probably comes on at 5 pm, leaving others who really want to see the stuff before that in the cold. I'd much rather get out on the floor or walk around taking pictures of cosplayers or check out some of the offsite stuff, and there are ways to do that if you have a group in line that will allow you shifts so that people can leave and do their own things for a while before returning to let you do the same. But waiting in Hall H all day, with little food and sitting in uncomfortable chairs for eight hours straight can be brutal. Moreso if you try to do it two days in a row, which I might do. And if by chance I can't get into the room, then there's already plenty of stuff I'm interested in seeing instead.
Otherwise my California schedule is coming together a little, and even though nothing is going on the weekend I am there I'm still trying to find stuff. I'm also trying to figure out when to go to San Diego, since I kind of want to go on Tuesday but Amtrak is not being helpful. I'm close enough to it to start packing (though first I need to empty out my suitcase from when I moved), and I'm training to spend a lot of time walking, and and and and and.
Starting to get excited. It's pretty neat.
27.6.16
12.6.16
South Haven: Year One
This morning a six-year-old girl came into the room I was sharing with my ex-roommate bff and saw me putting on foundation and asked why I was doing that, and I responded, "So I don't look like a lobster."
I spent the weekend in South Haven, MI with five of my best friends from high school, two friends we've made since who could come, one significant other, and eight children between the ages of one and twelve. This could have been a disaster, and I think at least a few of us were worried that it might turn out that way, but it was great. A couple months ago, some of those friends were talking and decided we should get everyone together, and found a house I think off of Home Away. I'm sure you've heard of AirBnB or seen this sort of thing on HGTV, and it's the same sort of thing: people rent out their vacation homes to people for income, so instead of having to get a bunch of people together in a hotel, you get one big place for everyone to gather, and if you get enough people together it's a lot more cost effective. There was a $1000 security deposit, with the rest being paid a month out. We paid about $150 per person for both the house and for food and supplies, sent roughly 435 texts going "Going to the store, need anything?" and then on Friday we packed it up and drove two and a half hours north.
I worked that day (and accidentally left my office in a bit of chaos due to email not syncing, sorry to any coworkers who might be lurking) and left at 3, getting to the house around 6 pm with a time change to Eastern. I was the last to arrive, and everyone had set up in the house already. And the house was legitimately great. There were five bedrooms, two on the lower level and three on the upper, but the master had enough room for an air mattress, there was a great room downstairs that had two sets of bunk beds plus a twin bed, there was a futon in the pool table room, there was a small bed off the sunroom and a large area there where another air mattress could go, and the too-comfortable couch could sleep four. There were four bathrooms, including one that you had to go through when you used the back door to go to the yard, which was awkward, but these things happen when you have house additions. They provided us with supplies and toys and kitchen gadgets that I was still discovering on the way out. There was a fire pit, picnic tables, a deck, a playground that had two playsets for the kids, basketball hoops, a volleyball net, a pool table, foosball table, air hockey table, and ping pong table. No one could ever say they were bored.
We got to have dinner around a big table with all of us, and then moved outside for the world's most disorganized volleyball game. The house is surrounded by woods, so we had to send someone in there quite a bit to go get the volleyball, until we started hearing a raccoon get very upset with us. As a bonus, we kept saying things like "Does anyone know what poison oak looks like?" only to find out today that there actually is poison ivy in there. Soooo we should probably watch for sign of that for a couple days. We let the kids hang out on the playground and made our way to the firepit, having drinks and watching the kids roll down the hill until they had to go to bed. Once everyone else retired, it was down to four of us, playing pool (very carefully; scratching the felt would cost us $400) and talking until we were tired, too.
When you have a house full of people, especially with kids, it doesn't matter how much room you have; you will most likely wake up early. I'd wake up to go to the bathroom and hear people in the kitchen and there was no going back to bed after that. It didn't matter if it was 6:30 am our time, it's time to put the contacts in and join everybody. The second day I was the second awake. My friend's boyfriend was up at like 5, and he was already dressed, putting things in the dishwasher and taking out the trash, and I was a tired lump on the bench around the dining room table, blearily playing with my phone until other people woke up. The first day we cooked way too much food for breakfast and put the rest in giant ziplock bags and then took our time getting ready because the baby was sleeping, and we had more time to talk before the beach.
In California I spent most of my years living in Long Beach, which is named because it's a long beach. That's what I'm used to. My first beach after moving back to the Midwest was in Lake Geneva, which was a designated area that had been blocked off that you could see the end of from anywhere you stood. It was disappointing. I was actually happy with South Beach here. There are seven, and we picked this one because there was a lighthouse that we didn't have to climb anywhere to see. The websites also told us we didn't have to pay to go there, but the parking closer to the beach is paid and metered parking, so that was a surprise expense. The beach itself though was a pleasant surprise. It's on Lake Michigan, so it doesn't have the salt smell I love, but it was a huge beach, not too busy even though after all the worry about the weather it turned out to be a beautiful day. The lake water was cold, though. I think it was 59 degrees? So people wading in would quickly chicken out and walk back, and the kids would start shivering when they were out too long. It was also good that the water didn't get too deep. I swam out with one of the kids pretty far (there was a lot of "You're obviously cold, let's go back," and then she'd say "Nope, I'm fine," and swim out further) and the water was still up to my hips. There were some good waves, but I didn't get too nervous to see some of the older kids hanging out in the lake by themselves. You could see the lighthouse from the beach, and if you look at maps of South Haven, the Black River has very definite markers that run into the lake, and I was curious about that and will show you by hyperlinking a picture. Turns out that the boats from the marina use that to go into the lake, so you could watch as a line of sailboats and speedboats and small cruise boats made their way into Lake Michigan in a single file line. We did run into one problem, though. We made sure all the kids were slathered with sunscreen, but all the adults forgot our backs, so we're all red now. Oops.
Most of us went back to the house, though one car went to find a Meijer, and one person took her son to go explore the downtown area that I didn't get to see except while driving through it. It's small, but there was a little market happening, and they had ice cream shops and restaurants and shopping. The rest of us wanted to shower off the sand, and we thought that we'd overestimated the water heater and that was why four of us were taking freezing cold showers at once, but no, the water heater had just gone out. We didn't realize that's what it was till late, though, and left a message then that they didn't get until 6:30 am, at which point they sent someone over to fix it and we had hot water in time for showers before we left. I also think all of the adults were pretty well exhausted, but we had dinner and let the kids play and went back out to the firepit to make s'mores. Which, by the way, I'd only ever had on a campfire on retreats in high school when all we had to use were sticks to put marshmallows on. All this time I thought I didn't like s'mores when in fact I just didn't like bark in my food. They're way better with metal utensils that were handily provided by the owners.
And then this morning we had to go. After having coffee and talking on the deck, when people started getting up we had to start getting things ready. We had to pack ourselves up, empty out the fridge and distribute the extra ziplock bags full of food and give away alcohol that went amazingly unused and eat up whatever we could so no one had to take it home. Our carbon footprint this weekend was massive. Sorry, environment. There were also instructions from the owner on how to leave the house, so furniture had to be returned to its rightful place. Dishes had to be done and the dishwasher had to be run. We had to strip the beds to get them ready for laundry, even though we didn't have to get it all done. We still made sure that and towels were at least started before we left. We found all the things that had been misplaced over the weekend, cleaned up messes, and made sure everything was the way it was when we got there. It seems like a lot, but when you have a house full of people helping and you can tell the little kids to watch TV till you're done, it's easier than it sounds.
As vacations go, this has to be in my top five. I had a great time with friends and did a lot of laughing. I'm bruised all to hell from volleyball and am burnt and don't necessarily like the way I look in the photos, but none of that matters. What matters is finding a weekend to do this again next year.
I spent the weekend in South Haven, MI with five of my best friends from high school, two friends we've made since who could come, one significant other, and eight children between the ages of one and twelve. This could have been a disaster, and I think at least a few of us were worried that it might turn out that way, but it was great. A couple months ago, some of those friends were talking and decided we should get everyone together, and found a house I think off of Home Away. I'm sure you've heard of AirBnB or seen this sort of thing on HGTV, and it's the same sort of thing: people rent out their vacation homes to people for income, so instead of having to get a bunch of people together in a hotel, you get one big place for everyone to gather, and if you get enough people together it's a lot more cost effective. There was a $1000 security deposit, with the rest being paid a month out. We paid about $150 per person for both the house and for food and supplies, sent roughly 435 texts going "Going to the store, need anything?" and then on Friday we packed it up and drove two and a half hours north.
I worked that day (and accidentally left my office in a bit of chaos due to email not syncing, sorry to any coworkers who might be lurking) and left at 3, getting to the house around 6 pm with a time change to Eastern. I was the last to arrive, and everyone had set up in the house already. And the house was legitimately great. There were five bedrooms, two on the lower level and three on the upper, but the master had enough room for an air mattress, there was a great room downstairs that had two sets of bunk beds plus a twin bed, there was a futon in the pool table room, there was a small bed off the sunroom and a large area there where another air mattress could go, and the too-comfortable couch could sleep four. There were four bathrooms, including one that you had to go through when you used the back door to go to the yard, which was awkward, but these things happen when you have house additions. They provided us with supplies and toys and kitchen gadgets that I was still discovering on the way out. There was a fire pit, picnic tables, a deck, a playground that had two playsets for the kids, basketball hoops, a volleyball net, a pool table, foosball table, air hockey table, and ping pong table. No one could ever say they were bored.
We got to have dinner around a big table with all of us, and then moved outside for the world's most disorganized volleyball game. The house is surrounded by woods, so we had to send someone in there quite a bit to go get the volleyball, until we started hearing a raccoon get very upset with us. As a bonus, we kept saying things like "Does anyone know what poison oak looks like?" only to find out today that there actually is poison ivy in there. Soooo we should probably watch for sign of that for a couple days. We let the kids hang out on the playground and made our way to the firepit, having drinks and watching the kids roll down the hill until they had to go to bed. Once everyone else retired, it was down to four of us, playing pool (very carefully; scratching the felt would cost us $400) and talking until we were tired, too.
When you have a house full of people, especially with kids, it doesn't matter how much room you have; you will most likely wake up early. I'd wake up to go to the bathroom and hear people in the kitchen and there was no going back to bed after that. It didn't matter if it was 6:30 am our time, it's time to put the contacts in and join everybody. The second day I was the second awake. My friend's boyfriend was up at like 5, and he was already dressed, putting things in the dishwasher and taking out the trash, and I was a tired lump on the bench around the dining room table, blearily playing with my phone until other people woke up. The first day we cooked way too much food for breakfast and put the rest in giant ziplock bags and then took our time getting ready because the baby was sleeping, and we had more time to talk before the beach.
In California I spent most of my years living in Long Beach, which is named because it's a long beach. That's what I'm used to. My first beach after moving back to the Midwest was in Lake Geneva, which was a designated area that had been blocked off that you could see the end of from anywhere you stood. It was disappointing. I was actually happy with South Beach here. There are seven, and we picked this one because there was a lighthouse that we didn't have to climb anywhere to see. The websites also told us we didn't have to pay to go there, but the parking closer to the beach is paid and metered parking, so that was a surprise expense. The beach itself though was a pleasant surprise. It's on Lake Michigan, so it doesn't have the salt smell I love, but it was a huge beach, not too busy even though after all the worry about the weather it turned out to be a beautiful day. The lake water was cold, though. I think it was 59 degrees? So people wading in would quickly chicken out and walk back, and the kids would start shivering when they were out too long. It was also good that the water didn't get too deep. I swam out with one of the kids pretty far (there was a lot of "You're obviously cold, let's go back," and then she'd say "Nope, I'm fine," and swim out further) and the water was still up to my hips. There were some good waves, but I didn't get too nervous to see some of the older kids hanging out in the lake by themselves. You could see the lighthouse from the beach, and if you look at maps of South Haven, the Black River has very definite markers that run into the lake, and I was curious about that and will show you by hyperlinking a picture. Turns out that the boats from the marina use that to go into the lake, so you could watch as a line of sailboats and speedboats and small cruise boats made their way into Lake Michigan in a single file line. We did run into one problem, though. We made sure all the kids were slathered with sunscreen, but all the adults forgot our backs, so we're all red now. Oops.
Most of us went back to the house, though one car went to find a Meijer, and one person took her son to go explore the downtown area that I didn't get to see except while driving through it. It's small, but there was a little market happening, and they had ice cream shops and restaurants and shopping. The rest of us wanted to shower off the sand, and we thought that we'd overestimated the water heater and that was why four of us were taking freezing cold showers at once, but no, the water heater had just gone out. We didn't realize that's what it was till late, though, and left a message then that they didn't get until 6:30 am, at which point they sent someone over to fix it and we had hot water in time for showers before we left. I also think all of the adults were pretty well exhausted, but we had dinner and let the kids play and went back out to the firepit to make s'mores. Which, by the way, I'd only ever had on a campfire on retreats in high school when all we had to use were sticks to put marshmallows on. All this time I thought I didn't like s'mores when in fact I just didn't like bark in my food. They're way better with metal utensils that were handily provided by the owners.
And then this morning we had to go. After having coffee and talking on the deck, when people started getting up we had to start getting things ready. We had to pack ourselves up, empty out the fridge and distribute the extra ziplock bags full of food and give away alcohol that went amazingly unused and eat up whatever we could so no one had to take it home. Our carbon footprint this weekend was massive. Sorry, environment. There were also instructions from the owner on how to leave the house, so furniture had to be returned to its rightful place. Dishes had to be done and the dishwasher had to be run. We had to strip the beds to get them ready for laundry, even though we didn't have to get it all done. We still made sure that and towels were at least started before we left. We found all the things that had been misplaced over the weekend, cleaned up messes, and made sure everything was the way it was when we got there. It seems like a lot, but when you have a house full of people helping and you can tell the little kids to watch TV till you're done, it's easier than it sounds.
As vacations go, this has to be in my top five. I had a great time with friends and did a lot of laughing. I'm bruised all to hell from volleyball and am burnt and don't necessarily like the way I look in the photos, but none of that matters. What matters is finding a weekend to do this again next year.
9.6.16
Planning post: MI and CA
Tomorrow I leave work early to head up to Michigan, after daily group texts of "I'm heading to Costco/Target/Wal-Mart/Sam's, does anyone need anything?" and buying more alcohol and already hoping that we can do this again next year. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend with so many of my best friends, and we're also hoping it doesn't storm the whole weekend, mainly because we're going to have I think nine kids in the house between the ages of 1 and 12. But it's okay. I read a lot of Babysitters Club growing up. I'm sure we can do this. We're plucky.
And since I'm the last one to arrive tomorrow, they're also not allowed to put me in the crappy room because they claimed the good ones first. I watched ten seasons of the Real World, I know how this goes.
The other big thing is that yesterday I told people in LA when I'm coming back and started arranging plans. The issue is that I have like six different groups of friends out there, there's no overlap, and so I might have to juggle some things because I really only have about four and a half days and there's a lot to do. But I think I have a schedule in mind, and I have a place to stay, and that's the important part. Also with one set of friends there's talk of going back to one of my favorite places I've ever gone, and I'm not gonna lie, I've been really not-so secretly hoping that's what they want to do ever since it came up. I sort of don't want to jinx it by saying what, but it'll get a post regardless soon because it's awesome and I love it.
And for now, it's last minute packing for tomorrow, and then I'll put my brain to work more on California.
And since I'm the last one to arrive tomorrow, they're also not allowed to put me in the crappy room because they claimed the good ones first. I watched ten seasons of the Real World, I know how this goes.
The other big thing is that yesterday I told people in LA when I'm coming back and started arranging plans. The issue is that I have like six different groups of friends out there, there's no overlap, and so I might have to juggle some things because I really only have about four and a half days and there's a lot to do. But I think I have a schedule in mind, and I have a place to stay, and that's the important part. Also with one set of friends there's talk of going back to one of my favorite places I've ever gone, and I'm not gonna lie, I've been really not-so secretly hoping that's what they want to do ever since it came up. I sort of don't want to jinx it by saying what, but it'll get a post regardless soon because it's awesome and I love it.
And for now, it's last minute packing for tomorrow, and then I'll put my brain to work more on California.
6.6.16
Flashback post: Holland, MI
Since I'm in Michigan in a few days, let me tell you about the last time I went there, to a different city.
When I first moved home, I was pretty excited for fall. California really does have weather, but I hadn't been home in the fall for a very long time, and I had been dealing with FOMO over people Instagramming pictures of pumpkin carvings and leaves changing colors. And since at the time of planning Michigan was the only Midwest state I'd never been to (I cheated by going on an overnight trip to Detroit, oops), my friends and I decided to take a day trip up to Holland, MI.
Holland is about three, three and a half hours up north around the lake from Chicago. We packed up snacks and drove up, stopping on the way at Crane's Orchards, where we got to go apple-picking. It's the most Midwestern thing I've ever done. It was pretty crowded when we got there, and we had to stop and get a demonstration first. A woman there sold us bags to carry apples in- you can bring your own- and made sure we knew what was off limits and what wasn't. A lot of the apples were out of season and weren't being sold, so we had to avoid those areas. We also got to try a lot of different types of apples to find out what we liked and wanted to get, which was cool, because I knew about Macintosh and Granny Smith and that's about it. We got to wander around as much as we wanted within certain areas, and pick whatever we wanted. They charge by the pound, so if you feel like paying for five pounds of apples, get five pounds of apples. And there were people there who had brought wagons and carts, so hey.
If Holland makes you think of... well, Holland, it should. There are tulip and windmill gardens, which was actually a plus for me because everyone's really made me want to go to the Netherlands and this is all I've got right now. So we stopped in at Veldheer Tulip Gardens/De Klomp, because we were hoping to see the windmills and one of us needed to get souvenirs for her family. Unfortunately because the tulips weren't in season (end of April to middle of May) the gardens were closed, which meant we couldn't get out to see the windmills like I wanted. We did get to go inside and buy tulip bulbs, though, and then went over to De Klomp, where they have wooden shoes that you can get things carved/burned into. There was a surprising selection considering it's wooden shoes, by the way. They also had knick knacks and things, if you're into that sort of thing. I bought a shot glass.
We walked around downtown Holland for a while and grabbed lunch, and unfortunately not a lot was open on Sundays. Not just that they closed early, they just weren't open. So that didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would, which was just as well since the highlight of our tour (IMO) was Windmill Island Gardens. Apparently not open in the winter, admission is $9 to walk around gardens, and to yes, see some damn windmills. They have the only Dutch windmill in the US, and you can actually go up into it. We accidentally ended up on a tour, because I personally just wanted to see how high we could go up and thought we could kind of bypass the tour. Nope! We were kind of stranded on it because it was a small enough group that it was rude to leave, and the space gets smaller the higher you go so you couldn't really sneak anywhere. Though at one part they showed us the blades, and we got to step outside from the deck and have our friend who stayed below get pictures of us veeeery high up. It was all I really wanted.
I think it's a cute stop. It doesn't take a ton of time, but the windmill was neat, and they had something where... there are giant skis, with wooden shoes for you to put your feet in, and up to four people can try to walk across the lawn in it. We tried it, and it's harder than it looks, but it's something I'm pretty confident in saying I will never do again so it was worth it. There are shops, too, where you can buy Dutch foods, though let's be real, all you want is Stroopwaffles and you know it.
Our last stop was the Big Red Lighthouse, which is something one certain friend will not live down for a very long time. I'm a fan of lighthouses, so I was all on board with this, but when we got there and parked, we started heading away from the water. She insisted she knew where we were going, and so we walked through the woods? Such as you do to get to a lighthouse? Traditionally? At the end of the trail were stairs. Stairs that went very far up. I was not feeling it; in my early 20's I rolled my ankle while going down the steps to leave a movie theater and I fell downwards onto the next step on both knees, and now I have the knees of a 70-year-old. Stairs are my mortal enemy, especially if I didn't know I'd be facing them and wore the wrong shoes. I got about halfway up and decided that I was done, and let everyone go ahead. But I got bored in a few minutes and got lousy cell reception, so I kept going because eh, whatever. Aaaand for the second time in less than a year I climbed myself into a mild asthma attack. I have decided to stay away from mountains for a bit.
It turns out we had climbed Mt. Pisgah... which overlooks the Big Red Lighthouse.
I want you to look at that picture. I even made it extra large. Look right in the center. There's a black blob right there, coming from what looks like it might be a pier in the distance on the right, and it's just above the treeline on the left.
That's the Big Red Lighthouse. It was so not worth that climb that now meant going back down on knees that are- to put it kindly- old souls.
That was my last experience in Michigan. Good times with good friends, and when I head to a different part this weekend, you best be aware that any lighthouses I see will be from the damn ground.
When I first moved home, I was pretty excited for fall. California really does have weather, but I hadn't been home in the fall for a very long time, and I had been dealing with FOMO over people Instagramming pictures of pumpkin carvings and leaves changing colors. And since at the time of planning Michigan was the only Midwest state I'd never been to (I cheated by going on an overnight trip to Detroit, oops), my friends and I decided to take a day trip up to Holland, MI.
Holland is about three, three and a half hours up north around the lake from Chicago. We packed up snacks and drove up, stopping on the way at Crane's Orchards, where we got to go apple-picking. It's the most Midwestern thing I've ever done. It was pretty crowded when we got there, and we had to stop and get a demonstration first. A woman there sold us bags to carry apples in- you can bring your own- and made sure we knew what was off limits and what wasn't. A lot of the apples were out of season and weren't being sold, so we had to avoid those areas. We also got to try a lot of different types of apples to find out what we liked and wanted to get, which was cool, because I knew about Macintosh and Granny Smith and that's about it. We got to wander around as much as we wanted within certain areas, and pick whatever we wanted. They charge by the pound, so if you feel like paying for five pounds of apples, get five pounds of apples. And there were people there who had brought wagons and carts, so hey.
If Holland makes you think of... well, Holland, it should. There are tulip and windmill gardens, which was actually a plus for me because everyone's really made me want to go to the Netherlands and this is all I've got right now. So we stopped in at Veldheer Tulip Gardens/De Klomp, because we were hoping to see the windmills and one of us needed to get souvenirs for her family. Unfortunately because the tulips weren't in season (end of April to middle of May) the gardens were closed, which meant we couldn't get out to see the windmills like I wanted. We did get to go inside and buy tulip bulbs, though, and then went over to De Klomp, where they have wooden shoes that you can get things carved/burned into. There was a surprising selection considering it's wooden shoes, by the way. They also had knick knacks and things, if you're into that sort of thing. I bought a shot glass.
We walked around downtown Holland for a while and grabbed lunch, and unfortunately not a lot was open on Sundays. Not just that they closed early, they just weren't open. So that didn't take nearly as long as we thought it would, which was just as well since the highlight of our tour (IMO) was Windmill Island Gardens. Apparently not open in the winter, admission is $9 to walk around gardens, and to yes, see some damn windmills. They have the only Dutch windmill in the US, and you can actually go up into it. We accidentally ended up on a tour, because I personally just wanted to see how high we could go up and thought we could kind of bypass the tour. Nope! We were kind of stranded on it because it was a small enough group that it was rude to leave, and the space gets smaller the higher you go so you couldn't really sneak anywhere. Though at one part they showed us the blades, and we got to step outside from the deck and have our friend who stayed below get pictures of us veeeery high up. It was all I really wanted.
I think it's a cute stop. It doesn't take a ton of time, but the windmill was neat, and they had something where... there are giant skis, with wooden shoes for you to put your feet in, and up to four people can try to walk across the lawn in it. We tried it, and it's harder than it looks, but it's something I'm pretty confident in saying I will never do again so it was worth it. There are shops, too, where you can buy Dutch foods, though let's be real, all you want is Stroopwaffles and you know it.
Our last stop was the Big Red Lighthouse, which is something one certain friend will not live down for a very long time. I'm a fan of lighthouses, so I was all on board with this, but when we got there and parked, we started heading away from the water. She insisted she knew where we were going, and so we walked through the woods? Such as you do to get to a lighthouse? Traditionally? At the end of the trail were stairs. Stairs that went very far up. I was not feeling it; in my early 20's I rolled my ankle while going down the steps to leave a movie theater and I fell downwards onto the next step on both knees, and now I have the knees of a 70-year-old. Stairs are my mortal enemy, especially if I didn't know I'd be facing them and wore the wrong shoes. I got about halfway up and decided that I was done, and let everyone go ahead. But I got bored in a few minutes and got lousy cell reception, so I kept going because eh, whatever. Aaaand for the second time in less than a year I climbed myself into a mild asthma attack. I have decided to stay away from mountains for a bit.
It turns out we had climbed Mt. Pisgah... which overlooks the Big Red Lighthouse.
I want you to look at that picture. I even made it extra large. Look right in the center. There's a black blob right there, coming from what looks like it might be a pier in the distance on the right, and it's just above the treeline on the left.
That's the Big Red Lighthouse. It was so not worth that climb that now meant going back down on knees that are- to put it kindly- old souls.
That was my last experience in Michigan. Good times with good friends, and when I head to a different part this weekend, you best be aware that any lighthouses I see will be from the damn ground.
3.6.16
Planning post: Michigan
Next weekend a group of friends and I are renting a house in South Haven, Michigan for the weekend. Unfortunately because my schedule is that of a crazy travel-obsessed person, I was out of town both times they all got together to discuss the trip. However, I was tasked with figuring out what to do in a town I've never been to with not as much information to go on than I'd like.
Which, let's be real, is right in my wheelhouse.
I meant to do research at lunch yesterday and then my workday blew up. I meant to do it this evening and then got busy doing things around the apartment. Then before I shut down my computer for the night I remembered that I still had to do this, and an hour later I'm still online, researching.
Recently I was asked how I find things to do, and that's going to be a much bigger post, but here's what I'm doing now. I don't have the address to the house yet, but I have the link to its rental site, and therefore found the cross streets. I enter that in Google Maps and start checking around to see if there's anything I can see nearby, since it's a small town and I expect things to be close. Which they are. We're not far at all from the beaches, and all the big stuff to do tends to be around the coast of Lake Michigan. I'm not sure how many people will be around, but I know there'll be kids and know the ages of all of them even if some of them don't come, so I can check for things for them. I also know we'll have at least two guys there, so I can try to look for something they might be into that isn't "watch the kids while the girls go to the winery," even though as I'm looking it might come down to "watch the kids while the girls go to the winery." I also asked in group text if there was anything specific people wanted me to check into, so I have a starting point.
So I Google, which is the absolute best tool for this kind of stuff. It'll always bring me to Trip Advisor, but also to other sites that might be helpful, like the official town site, which lists things like weekend events and gives some pertinent information in a little box so I don't have to go searching through a whole site trying to find any parking fees or whatever. I was asked to look into the beaches, where they are and if there's a cost. So I looked up the two beaches, got their addresses and plugged them into Google Maps to see what the drive is like, and as I start doing this for more stuff I get a relative idea of where things are located in relation to each other. Sometimes sites (Trip Advisor is usually good for this but I found it on the official site this time) will give you lists of things you can do in town if you only have a certain amount of time. If something sounds good to you, look it up.
After an hour I have a pretty good idea of the layout of the area, am pretty sure I can give directions to certain places, and have a pretty decent list of directions, addresses, and prices on my phone so I can list it off or screengrab something if anyone needs the info. And to be completely honest, there doesn't seem to be a ton to do. But there are cheap vineyards and a park for kids and if we didn't all enjoy each other's company we wouldn't be going.
But seriously, bed now.
Which, let's be real, is right in my wheelhouse.
I meant to do research at lunch yesterday and then my workday blew up. I meant to do it this evening and then got busy doing things around the apartment. Then before I shut down my computer for the night I remembered that I still had to do this, and an hour later I'm still online, researching.
Recently I was asked how I find things to do, and that's going to be a much bigger post, but here's what I'm doing now. I don't have the address to the house yet, but I have the link to its rental site, and therefore found the cross streets. I enter that in Google Maps and start checking around to see if there's anything I can see nearby, since it's a small town and I expect things to be close. Which they are. We're not far at all from the beaches, and all the big stuff to do tends to be around the coast of Lake Michigan. I'm not sure how many people will be around, but I know there'll be kids and know the ages of all of them even if some of them don't come, so I can check for things for them. I also know we'll have at least two guys there, so I can try to look for something they might be into that isn't "watch the kids while the girls go to the winery," even though as I'm looking it might come down to "watch the kids while the girls go to the winery." I also asked in group text if there was anything specific people wanted me to check into, so I have a starting point.
So I Google, which is the absolute best tool for this kind of stuff. It'll always bring me to Trip Advisor, but also to other sites that might be helpful, like the official town site, which lists things like weekend events and gives some pertinent information in a little box so I don't have to go searching through a whole site trying to find any parking fees or whatever. I was asked to look into the beaches, where they are and if there's a cost. So I looked up the two beaches, got their addresses and plugged them into Google Maps to see what the drive is like, and as I start doing this for more stuff I get a relative idea of where things are located in relation to each other. Sometimes sites (Trip Advisor is usually good for this but I found it on the official site this time) will give you lists of things you can do in town if you only have a certain amount of time. If something sounds good to you, look it up.
After an hour I have a pretty good idea of the layout of the area, am pretty sure I can give directions to certain places, and have a pretty decent list of directions, addresses, and prices on my phone so I can list it off or screengrab something if anyone needs the info. And to be completely honest, there doesn't seem to be a ton to do. But there are cheap vineyards and a park for kids and if we didn't all enjoy each other's company we wouldn't be going.
But seriously, bed now.
1.6.16
Philly or Burst
I am once again fully conscious, and more importantly, alert. Let me tell you about my weekend.
I started off by getting stuck at work way later than I wanted, so by the time I met up with my mom and Nick, it was about 4:30. Getting out of Chicago on Memorial Day of course meant traffic, but it wasn't actually as bad as it could have been. Somewhere in Indiana we stopped at a Culver's for dinner and sat down to plot our night. Originally we were going to try and get to Columbus, but the timing wasn't working. Since we aim for bigger cities and their suburbs for stops rather than stopping at a random town we don't know anything about in the middle of the night, the next big city we'd hit was Cincinnati.
So, in my early 20s, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends from online by picking essentially picking a city and then all going there for a weekend (or Wednesday to Wednesday, shut up I had no responsibilities then). The best years were the ones we had in Cincy, and those were some of the greatest weeks of my life, so of course we had to head back to the Cincinnati Marriott North. It's definitely changed since I was last there, mostly some of the furniture and the fact that there's a Starbucks counter now. I still remembered the way around, though, and would point out which floor I stayed on what year, and I think I even pointed out the vending area where I guzzled an entire margarita after an argument and then went back to a room party. (I'd say it was a memorable night but I do not remember most of it!) It's also just a great hotel, where the woman at the front desk even stepped out from behind it to point out where things were, and everyone was super friendly. The area's also grown out since I was there. At the time they were just building it up, and aside from a gas station and a couple restaurants, you had to drive elsewhere to get to anything. Now there are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops, a movie theater, and apparently a wine store which would have been a major attraction/problem back in the day (see also the margarita story). I actually really hope to get back here again soon, maybe with a lot of old friends.
We got out later than intended again, partly because there were pictures I needed to get of the hotel lobby, and we had 2:30 tickets in western Pennsylvania, sooooo Nick got pulled over for speeding. He wasn't going that fast, though, and it was the weirdest way I've ever seen someone get pulled over: the cop was sitting in his car on the side of the highway when he got out of his car and STEPPED INTO THE HIGHWAY to flag us down, even though cars all around us were speeding past. It always sucks getting pulled over, especially when you were definitely on par with the rest of traffic, but Nick had a good way of looking at it. After all, if he hadn't been speeding, there was no way we would have made our 2:30, so it was worth it.
After doing no more than three miles over the speed limit at any time and not stopping at all, and also driving through West Virginia for all of twenty minutes, we made it to our destination at 2:15. The confirmation email warned that we might be waiting for up to half an hour until our group actually went on the tour, but they took us right at 2:30 to see Fallingwater. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright house, built in the woods, on top of a waterfall. Wright was very much into bringing the elements of the outdoors inside- it's habit to look for the ways he implements them in each house I go to now- so this is pretty much the ultimate in doing that. It's also the ultimate in being super hot, because it was in the 80s and very humid, and the house is open and doesn't have air conditioning. They did have fans going in the rooms and gave us little handheld fans to take with us, because they were definitely needed by the time we got to the third floor. It's absolutely gorgeous, though. It became my favorite of his houses so far, and I'm sorry that we weren't able to get tickets for the more in-depth tours that would allow us to take pictures inside the house.
Outdoors, though, I definitely got pictures.
I'll put some on the Instagram if you want to see more.
We stopped for snacks and water, because after a lot of stair-climbing and a little hike in hot weather, Nick understandably hit the wall. Which happens. When you're stressed and busy and haven't had enough to eat or drink and it's hot, you can very easily hit a point where if you don't get a carb in you, you're either going to pass out or kill someone. Personally, I do this most years at SDCC and if you're going to be doing a lot when you're traveling, keep in mind that you very well might do this too. After leaving their cafe, we drove back through the terrifying sharp-cornered hills of rural Pennsylvania (that is definitely on the Insta) and then found our way to the highway to try and drive another five hours.
At one point, I caught a sign and said, "Did that just say we're in Maryland?"
"What?" Nick said.
"I could have sworn that sign just welcomed us to Maryland."
Sure enough, we were in Maryland. We had not planned on it. We thought the route would just take us straight through Pennsylvania, but since our hotel was in New Jersey, and we were using Waze, which took us through southern Maryland. I can't even make Google Maps do it, so annoyingly this map is not entirely accurate.
That said, it was a great detour. We found a surprisingly great pizza place just off the highway for dinner, and we looked over our options, realizing that Waze was probably going to take us through Baltimore. Here's the thing. I love Baltimore. I know it gets a really bad rap, but I really enjoyed my time there when I went before, and immediately I asked, "Do we have time to stop at The Waterfront?" Because apparently I travel enough that I have go-to places for certain cities. Unfortunately it was already going to be very late by the time we got in, and even if we just stopped in for a quick drink, it was Saturday night, and that wasn't going to be quick. We had to bypass it this time, but I've got it in my head to get back to DC sometime soon, so I'll get back then.
Our route also took us through Delaware! We'd been through Delaware before, on our way to Philadelphia from Arlington. We even stopped at the same rest stop just to say we were there, and also because we all desperately needed caffeine and to wake up. But this also meant that with Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey in one day, it tied my personal record and straight up blew up Mom's. (Previous record: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire.)
You could tell when we finally got to Jersey because people immediately began trying to kill us with their cars. Immediately. People assured me that it was only the northern drivers that sucked, and then I was told that the southern drivers were scary, and there is not a lot of state! It's okay, I live in a state full of shitty drivers, too. That said... New Jersey didn't suck this time. We stayed at a Super 8 in Mount Laurel, about half an hour from Philadelphia. It was a smoking room and had some burn marks on the bathroom counter, and the pillow smelled of smoke when I woke up, but it really wasn't bad at all. The people were friendly, the room was clean, and I didn't fear staying there. Good on you, New Jersey! Work on your drivers!
We got to Philadelphia pretty early, and it was already hot. We paid too much for parking, showed Mom the Liberty Bell, and then got water ice from a street vendor. See, last time I was there, there were carts for those and cheesesteaks everywhere. I'm a vegetarian so the latter did nothing for me, but I finally snapped and decided I'd get a water ice at the next one we saw... and we never saw another one. So I made sure to do it this time, and then we walked around. Philadelphia is not a city I'd consider a top five favorite, but I'm more than happy to set out and explore it, and I've never really seen the same stuff. We stopped into the Old Carpenters' House and the Old Bank Building which is now a portrait gallery, and tried to get into a few more things but found that a lot of it was closed because we forgot it was Sunday. Still, it's great to be able to see amazing buildings like the post office and printer's office, and they are amazing. They're old but well-maintained, and they're surrounded by newer buildings, which makes for a really great look.
We made it to Christ Church before it was Mom's turn to hit the wall, and while sadly we couldn't go inside, I think because there were services starting soon, around back they had dispensers for water and lemonade for free, and we stopped to regroup and ultimately decided to reel it in. We walked back through the neighborhoods to find the car, and then headed over to Reading Terminal.
Reading Terminal is not far away, and it's a great big market. It's very crowded and you're probably going to stand in a line, but I like it. There are plenty of local quick service places, and you can find cooking supplies or candy or jewelry in the shops. Last time I bought a pair of earrings from Africa that I still get compliments on. We got coffee and snacks, then took a trip to a bakery because once I knew they had vegan cookies, I needed vegan cookies. And Mom wanted to find some old style candy, so we found that and got a bunch for the car, and then decided that we could start off to our last overnight city: Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is about four and a half hours west, and required driving through several mountains. It was our earliest night, where we got to our oddly-placed but very nice hotel around 8 pm, early enough to get dinner and not have to get back on the road. However, the fact that the hotel was in a weird spot seemed to require us to drive around neighborhoods with super scary hills. Around Fallingwater had been a tame roller coaster. This was insane. It was sharp curves around houses and other cars that were going too fast, steep declines that sometimes led into the guardrail disappearing to allow access into even steeper hidden driveways like the worst surprise ever, and bumps because the road was not the best. Thank god the way back took us a more normal route, and we were able to get to bed at a more or less decent time.
Pittsburgh was not done screwing with us, though. After eating breakfast at the hotel and checking out, we tried to find the highway and hopefully a gas station, and instead we seemingly drove around the suburbs for at least half an hour. I have no idea what the GPS was trying to do, but we got gas, and we got on the road. And I wish we'd gone back through Maryland again. Pennsylvania and Ohio are pretty, but there weren't any real places to stop. Where Maryland had cool rest stops and restaurants where you could stop off for a meal, these states had service plazas. They have Sunoco gas stations, maybe a couple fast food places like McDonald's or Roy Rogers, occasionally a Starbucks, and one big place to get snacks or souvenirs. There's not much to them, and everyone is nearly the same, and it makes for very boring driving. Especially when you're on the road for ten hours. It was also hard to find anywhere to stop to eat because the fast food options weren't really appetizing, and that was all there was. The drive was largely quiet, because after four days with the same people you've said just about everything you need to say for now, and you just want to get home. Conversation tends to be like:
"Do you need to stop?"
"Yes/no."
That's it. It felt like an accomplishment to get to Indiana, where after a while at least the service centers ended and you could choose your own adventure. When we got to Michigan City we finally stopped off and made a snap decision to stop at a Steak and Shake, where they were super busy, ignored us when we got there, finally told us that there just weren't seats before she decided to clean off an empty table, and then left us without menus. I think we were there for almost fifteen minutes from start to finish without ever getting menus, and we had a deadline to get Mom back home for work, so we left and went to a Chili's instead. I think I might be done with Steak and Shake.
We finally got Mom home half an hour later than we'd planned, but that still wasn't bad, all things considered. We know how we all work together before we start planning next year's big trip. We got in a good adventure. And most importantly, I learned that maybe New Jersey isn't all bad.
I started off by getting stuck at work way later than I wanted, so by the time I met up with my mom and Nick, it was about 4:30. Getting out of Chicago on Memorial Day of course meant traffic, but it wasn't actually as bad as it could have been. Somewhere in Indiana we stopped at a Culver's for dinner and sat down to plot our night. Originally we were going to try and get to Columbus, but the timing wasn't working. Since we aim for bigger cities and their suburbs for stops rather than stopping at a random town we don't know anything about in the middle of the night, the next big city we'd hit was Cincinnati.
So, in my early 20s, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends from online by picking essentially picking a city and then all going there for a weekend (or Wednesday to Wednesday, shut up I had no responsibilities then). The best years were the ones we had in Cincy, and those were some of the greatest weeks of my life, so of course we had to head back to the Cincinnati Marriott North. It's definitely changed since I was last there, mostly some of the furniture and the fact that there's a Starbucks counter now. I still remembered the way around, though, and would point out which floor I stayed on what year, and I think I even pointed out the vending area where I guzzled an entire margarita after an argument and then went back to a room party. (I'd say it was a memorable night but I do not remember most of it!) It's also just a great hotel, where the woman at the front desk even stepped out from behind it to point out where things were, and everyone was super friendly. The area's also grown out since I was there. At the time they were just building it up, and aside from a gas station and a couple restaurants, you had to drive elsewhere to get to anything. Now there are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops, a movie theater, and apparently a wine store which would have been a major attraction/problem back in the day (see also the margarita story). I actually really hope to get back here again soon, maybe with a lot of old friends.
We got out later than intended again, partly because there were pictures I needed to get of the hotel lobby, and we had 2:30 tickets in western Pennsylvania, sooooo Nick got pulled over for speeding. He wasn't going that fast, though, and it was the weirdest way I've ever seen someone get pulled over: the cop was sitting in his car on the side of the highway when he got out of his car and STEPPED INTO THE HIGHWAY to flag us down, even though cars all around us were speeding past. It always sucks getting pulled over, especially when you were definitely on par with the rest of traffic, but Nick had a good way of looking at it. After all, if he hadn't been speeding, there was no way we would have made our 2:30, so it was worth it.
After doing no more than three miles over the speed limit at any time and not stopping at all, and also driving through West Virginia for all of twenty minutes, we made it to our destination at 2:15. The confirmation email warned that we might be waiting for up to half an hour until our group actually went on the tour, but they took us right at 2:30 to see Fallingwater. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright house, built in the woods, on top of a waterfall. Wright was very much into bringing the elements of the outdoors inside- it's habit to look for the ways he implements them in each house I go to now- so this is pretty much the ultimate in doing that. It's also the ultimate in being super hot, because it was in the 80s and very humid, and the house is open and doesn't have air conditioning. They did have fans going in the rooms and gave us little handheld fans to take with us, because they were definitely needed by the time we got to the third floor. It's absolutely gorgeous, though. It became my favorite of his houses so far, and I'm sorry that we weren't able to get tickets for the more in-depth tours that would allow us to take pictures inside the house.
Outdoors, though, I definitely got pictures.
I'll put some on the Instagram if you want to see more.
We stopped for snacks and water, because after a lot of stair-climbing and a little hike in hot weather, Nick understandably hit the wall. Which happens. When you're stressed and busy and haven't had enough to eat or drink and it's hot, you can very easily hit a point where if you don't get a carb in you, you're either going to pass out or kill someone. Personally, I do this most years at SDCC and if you're going to be doing a lot when you're traveling, keep in mind that you very well might do this too. After leaving their cafe, we drove back through the terrifying sharp-cornered hills of rural Pennsylvania (that is definitely on the Insta) and then found our way to the highway to try and drive another five hours.
At one point, I caught a sign and said, "Did that just say we're in Maryland?"
"What?" Nick said.
"I could have sworn that sign just welcomed us to Maryland."
Sure enough, we were in Maryland. We had not planned on it. We thought the route would just take us straight through Pennsylvania, but since our hotel was in New Jersey, and we were using Waze, which took us through southern Maryland. I can't even make Google Maps do it, so annoyingly this map is not entirely accurate.
That said, it was a great detour. We found a surprisingly great pizza place just off the highway for dinner, and we looked over our options, realizing that Waze was probably going to take us through Baltimore. Here's the thing. I love Baltimore. I know it gets a really bad rap, but I really enjoyed my time there when I went before, and immediately I asked, "Do we have time to stop at The Waterfront?" Because apparently I travel enough that I have go-to places for certain cities. Unfortunately it was already going to be very late by the time we got in, and even if we just stopped in for a quick drink, it was Saturday night, and that wasn't going to be quick. We had to bypass it this time, but I've got it in my head to get back to DC sometime soon, so I'll get back then.
Our route also took us through Delaware! We'd been through Delaware before, on our way to Philadelphia from Arlington. We even stopped at the same rest stop just to say we were there, and also because we all desperately needed caffeine and to wake up. But this also meant that with Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey in one day, it tied my personal record and straight up blew up Mom's. (Previous record: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire.)
You could tell when we finally got to Jersey because people immediately began trying to kill us with their cars. Immediately. People assured me that it was only the northern drivers that sucked, and then I was told that the southern drivers were scary, and there is not a lot of state! It's okay, I live in a state full of shitty drivers, too. That said... New Jersey didn't suck this time. We stayed at a Super 8 in Mount Laurel, about half an hour from Philadelphia. It was a smoking room and had some burn marks on the bathroom counter, and the pillow smelled of smoke when I woke up, but it really wasn't bad at all. The people were friendly, the room was clean, and I didn't fear staying there. Good on you, New Jersey! Work on your drivers!
We got to Philadelphia pretty early, and it was already hot. We paid too much for parking, showed Mom the Liberty Bell, and then got water ice from a street vendor. See, last time I was there, there were carts for those and cheesesteaks everywhere. I'm a vegetarian so the latter did nothing for me, but I finally snapped and decided I'd get a water ice at the next one we saw... and we never saw another one. So I made sure to do it this time, and then we walked around. Philadelphia is not a city I'd consider a top five favorite, but I'm more than happy to set out and explore it, and I've never really seen the same stuff. We stopped into the Old Carpenters' House and the Old Bank Building which is now a portrait gallery, and tried to get into a few more things but found that a lot of it was closed because we forgot it was Sunday. Still, it's great to be able to see amazing buildings like the post office and printer's office, and they are amazing. They're old but well-maintained, and they're surrounded by newer buildings, which makes for a really great look.
We made it to Christ Church before it was Mom's turn to hit the wall, and while sadly we couldn't go inside, I think because there were services starting soon, around back they had dispensers for water and lemonade for free, and we stopped to regroup and ultimately decided to reel it in. We walked back through the neighborhoods to find the car, and then headed over to Reading Terminal.
Reading Terminal is not far away, and it's a great big market. It's very crowded and you're probably going to stand in a line, but I like it. There are plenty of local quick service places, and you can find cooking supplies or candy or jewelry in the shops. Last time I bought a pair of earrings from Africa that I still get compliments on. We got coffee and snacks, then took a trip to a bakery because once I knew they had vegan cookies, I needed vegan cookies. And Mom wanted to find some old style candy, so we found that and got a bunch for the car, and then decided that we could start off to our last overnight city: Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is about four and a half hours west, and required driving through several mountains. It was our earliest night, where we got to our oddly-placed but very nice hotel around 8 pm, early enough to get dinner and not have to get back on the road. However, the fact that the hotel was in a weird spot seemed to require us to drive around neighborhoods with super scary hills. Around Fallingwater had been a tame roller coaster. This was insane. It was sharp curves around houses and other cars that were going too fast, steep declines that sometimes led into the guardrail disappearing to allow access into even steeper hidden driveways like the worst surprise ever, and bumps because the road was not the best. Thank god the way back took us a more normal route, and we were able to get to bed at a more or less decent time.
Pittsburgh was not done screwing with us, though. After eating breakfast at the hotel and checking out, we tried to find the highway and hopefully a gas station, and instead we seemingly drove around the suburbs for at least half an hour. I have no idea what the GPS was trying to do, but we got gas, and we got on the road. And I wish we'd gone back through Maryland again. Pennsylvania and Ohio are pretty, but there weren't any real places to stop. Where Maryland had cool rest stops and restaurants where you could stop off for a meal, these states had service plazas. They have Sunoco gas stations, maybe a couple fast food places like McDonald's or Roy Rogers, occasionally a Starbucks, and one big place to get snacks or souvenirs. There's not much to them, and everyone is nearly the same, and it makes for very boring driving. Especially when you're on the road for ten hours. It was also hard to find anywhere to stop to eat because the fast food options weren't really appetizing, and that was all there was. The drive was largely quiet, because after four days with the same people you've said just about everything you need to say for now, and you just want to get home. Conversation tends to be like:
"Do you need to stop?"
"Yes/no."
That's it. It felt like an accomplishment to get to Indiana, where after a while at least the service centers ended and you could choose your own adventure. When we got to Michigan City we finally stopped off and made a snap decision to stop at a Steak and Shake, where they were super busy, ignored us when we got there, finally told us that there just weren't seats before she decided to clean off an empty table, and then left us without menus. I think we were there for almost fifteen minutes from start to finish without ever getting menus, and we had a deadline to get Mom back home for work, so we left and went to a Chili's instead. I think I might be done with Steak and Shake.
We finally got Mom home half an hour later than we'd planned, but that still wasn't bad, all things considered. We know how we all work together before we start planning next year's big trip. We got in a good adventure. And most importantly, I learned that maybe New Jersey isn't all bad.
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