Welcome to Paradise

We woke up early on Friday the 30th of July and took a shower for the first time in a couple days! After we packed up our campsite, we proceeded to get sweaty all over again by embarking on our 9 mile round trip hike from Lower Tahquamenon Falls to Upper Tahquamenon Falls and back. The morning hike was beautiful and very leisurely. For the majority of the hike we were completely alone with nature and only passed on fellow hiker. The 4 mile hike to the Upper Falls is ranked as a medium difficuly, rugged trail, and Katie and I both agreed with these rankings. The first and last miles of the trail hike up and down small mountains away from the river valley and seem to bring you that way only to make the trail a medium difficulty trail. The middle 2 miles were relatively flat and basically ran right beside the river. We took our time on the way there and enjoyed the

scenery and wildlife. When we got to the Upper falls we hiked down to 2 different viewing platforms, one 116 steps down and the other 94 steps down. Both offered an amazing view of the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi, but after a 4 mile hike, they were a little tiring. Once we had our fill of the waterfall we went in search of restrooms before making our way back to the Lower Falls. What we found was more than we

could ask for: another brewery!!! This was Brewery 33, located at the site of an old logging lodge (lodge 33) at Upper Tahquamenon Falls. We sat down for a beer and shared a meal for lunch. Unfortunately, I did not bring my wallet on the hike, so we could only try one beer a piece, but it was a pleasant break all the same. Our return hike was full of older couples and little kids at every turn. This took away from the rustic feel of the morning hike and left us trying to get back to our car as quick as possible. When we got to the Lower Falls, there were about 10 people swimming in them and jumping into the falls! I wanted to run and grab our suits to join in, but Katie had her heart set on seeing Oswalds Bear Ranch, which would be closed in an hour, so we hit the road instead. When

we got there, the bears, all of which are black bears, were just done getting fed. This was a bonus for us! Because we only had a half our until the ranch closed, them all being in the same place and close to the entrance, made it easy for us to get the most out of our time there. We even got to feed and pet a cub while the rancher took our picture! From there we headed to Munising, to take the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruise sunset tour. The cruise was amazing and got us a great, all encompassing view, of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It

reminded me a lot of my trip to the Isle of Capri. I took nonstop photos the same way I did when I was there. It seemed like everything was picture worthy. When we got back from the 3 hour boat ride it was 10 p.m. We originally had planned to eat at a

brewery in Marquette, but we found out they only served food until 10 p.m., so we were forced to eat at McDonald's for dinner at 11 p.m. We drove through the rain for a few hours until we got to Menomonee MI, where we pulled the van over and spent our second night on the luxurious air mattress :) This morning we used the Burger King across the street as our washroom, then headed south to Wisconsin's Door County to meet up with Josh, Paul, Jay, and Dante for the night. They rented an RV and took a weekend trip which worked out perfectly in our plans. Katie and I are excited to see some friendly faces from Chicago! It's been too long!

Blueberry Fields Forever

In the morning, we woke up well rested and headed north to Mackinac Island for the day! We crossed the bridge easily, hardly any wind at all, and bought ferry tickets to the island in St. Ignace for the 10:30 a.m. departure. We got to Mackinac around 11 a.m. and headed straight for the newly built butterfly house, Wings of Mackinac, which is about a mile off main street and usually frequented by bikers and carriage riders. The butterfly house was huge for a butterfly house and reportedly

had about 1000 butterflies in it! There were so many there that you had to watch your step so you wouldn't crush them as you walked. I even had a butterfly land on my shirt as I was walking! Katie almost had one land on her hand, but she freaked out as if it were a bee attacking, and it flew away instead. We walked around the house 3 times until Katie was satisfied enough to leave, though she said she could have spent the whole day there. From there we walked past the Grand Hotel, where we learned proper attire was a suit and tie after 6 p.m., and back toward Main Street in search of a place to eat lunch and grab a drink. We ended up at the Pink Pony, in honor of Jimbo, on the

lower deck patio facing the water. We shared an appetizer and a couple drinks as we waited for our ferry to arrive to take us back to the UP. Before we left the island we did some fudge shopping! Katie and I ended up getting 2 kinds of fudge each, which ended up being a half pound each, making one whole pound of fudge which we would eat between the two of us over the next couple days! When we got back to the car, we made reservations at the Lower Tahquamenon Falls state park for the night. As we arrived, our neighbor came over to greet us, rather

there dog did, and the neighbors came to claim her. We talked a little bit and she told us that the blueberries were in season and there was tons of berries just steps from our camp! Immediately Katie and I grabbed a bag and went picking blueberries and collecting fire wood. About 5 minutes into our excursion, we realized we made a horrible mistake! In our haste to berries, we completely forgot bug spray and we paid dearly for it. However, just like the bear who gets stung while picking honey, we too came away with our prize and were awarded a nice snack before we set out on our evening hike. After we set up camp, we decided to go to the lower falls to look at them and possibly find a hike for tomorrow. We got there around 8 p.m. and the place was pretty much empty. We walked and saw the

falls at our leisure, but didn't venture too far off the board walk. We decided we would come back the next day and make the 4 mile hike to the Upper Falls. We got back to our camp around dusk, made a fire and cooked pizza puffs for dinner. We enjoyed the rest of the night along the river, by the fire until we went to bed.

Christmas in July!

After we said all our goodbyes and started off on the road, we didn't make it that far before we pulled off again to see some sights. Heading up 75 toward the UP, our first stop, of course,

had to be Frankenmuth! We were pulled off the highway by a giant santa popping out of a chimney asking us to come to Bronner's, the worlds largest Christmas store, for some holiday cheer. It was Katie's first time to Frankenmuth and Bronner's so we took our time seeing the sights. After we walked around Bronner's for about 30 minutes, we drove through downtown to see what we could see. The first thing that we passed as we drove through the city proper was a beer garden! It was in front of the Bavarian Inn and came fully equipped with German beer, music, and dancing!

We agreed to make that a stop but we wanted to see what the rest of the town was about. Much to my happiness, about a half mile down the road we came across the Frankenmuth Brewery! From then on, our Frankenmuth visit was set in stone. We would visit the beer garden first then enjoy dinner and craft brews overlooking the river on the patio at the Frankenmuth Brewery, and so we did! After dinner, we took a ride across the covered

bridge then headed back to the highway. We ended up sleeping in the van the first night at a rest area somewhere between Higgin's Lake and Gaylord.

Our First Stop!

This past weekend Katie and I spent our first days apart in about a month and our last days apart for about 5! She went to Adrian MI to spend time with Kayla while I went out with my friends around Livonia. On Sunday the 25th we had a lot of people who stopped by to wish us "farewell" on our trip. PS ~ A special shout out and thank you to all of the family and friends who have donated money in an effort to make our trip just a little more special! It was such an unexpected gesture and I am truly blessed to know you all :) On Monday morning we got everything ready to go for our trip and packed it in the family room so that we could easily pick everything up on Wednesday when we came back from our first stop on our road trip. We officially started our trip on Monday July 26th at approximately 1pm. The van kicked off at 124704 miles and is running

strong after its recent makeover. Our first stop on our road trip was a familiar one. We hopped, not across the pond, but across the river to Amherstburg, Ontario to visit the cottage and hang out with everyone before we left. As soon as we arrived at the cottage we headed out to the lake and walked out on the sand bar where we set up camp for a couple hours. Carol brought out some beer in the cooler and we played games in the water with the kids until we were tired and ready to come in. That night we played a lot of Mario Party 8. This is one of my old WII games that I brought home for Buddy to use now that I will be gone. At dusk, Carol led us all outside to show us her new favorite plant: moon flowers. This plant only blooms at night. The flowers emerge at

dusk and bloom quickly - it was fun to see them go from buds to blooming in less than a minute! They bloom all night and wither in the morning when the sun hits them. Tuesday morning we woke up and started playing some more party. We ended up not being able to finish the game because we had to head out to the water park. Katie and I scooted out early and went to the library to use the internet. Once we got back to the cottage, we jumped on the trampoline, then swam in the pool, jumped on the trampoline again, then swam in the pool again... by the end of the day we were more than a little tired. We woke up this morning and went to the park and threw some boomerangs around with the kids. We all ended up throwing them into the woods behind us and had to go on an adventure to find them. After we cleaned off all the cobwebs, we said goodbye and headed back to the states. We finished packing up the van here and now were ready to hit the road, heading north to Alaska!

Exploring Detroit!!!

The morning of Thursday 22nd Katie and I returned cans in the morning for some fast cash. Katie was really excited about the process since she had never done it before. The dream was shattered as soon as we reached into the trash bags and had to sift through aluminum, glass, and plastic, all of which are covered in the sticky, smelly, remnants of the inside. After that we took an expedition, courtesy of roadside america, to supposedly the worlds largest shoe tree,

which is located at the very end of 6 mile. However, when we got to the location, there was only 2 pairs of shoes in the tree! Apparently, the residents cut the limbs off once too many trees get thrown up there because they can't stand the traffic. Even though it was a disappointment, Katie added our contribution to the tree just the same. The afternoon found us heading to Hitsville USA and the Motown Museum on Grand blvd in downtown Detroit. After parking the car and shifting through a few homeless peddlers, we made it to the museum just in time to start the tour.

The tour was awesome, especially since it was just 10 bucks. We got to tour Berry Gordy's old apartment and go into studio A where every motown record, save 2, was recorded. The other two were recorded in the bathroom. From there we went on a search to find the Heidelberg project. We got vague directions from a few different people who all sounded like they had no clue where it really was. After driving around for a bit we figured out that we were in Mom's old neighborhood! We drove to Mitchel street and saw Mom's old house, the only one left on the block. The first time Mom took me down there, there was a squatter looking out the window at us... needless to say not much has changed in that neighborhood. As we were turning off Mitchel onto Gratiot, just about to give up and turn home, Russ spotted Heidelberg street! We had to drive down the street about 3 blocks from Gratiot to get to the actual spot of the project. Its a real bad area of Detroit and I was nervous to even drive down the block, let alone get out and walk around. But once we got to the site of the actual Heidelberg project, the atmosphere was completely different. There were some people walking around, others just sitting on porches or playing basketball in the street, and even some city workers cutting the grass. The Heidelberg project itself was a real sight to see and definitely worth the uncomfortable setting. I was shocked by the shear size of the project as well as all the garbage that was collected. This is truly and example of one man's trash being another's treasure, and this has turn that trash into a treasure for us all. There's not much that I can say about it that the pictures can't say better, so enjoy.

After we left the site, we headed over to Mexican town and Russ treated us to an excellent dinner at Armando's! A perfect end to our busy day.

Getting settled and beginning to explore

The first few days after my mom's passing were mostly a blur. Thursday night we went over to Uncle Nick's place to have dinner with the family and just be together after our loss. The next day on Friday the 16th, Katie and I went discing with Uncle Gerry and Sam at Cass Benton. Afterwards, we picked up Russ and headed downtown to eat lunch at Lafayette's Coney Island and Katie got her first taste of a real Detroit Coney Dog! That night we went to see Toy Story 3. After that it was down to business. We were busy gathering pictures for the boards, setting up the arrangements for the mass, and other things of that sort which took up most of our time. We had around 700 people come through the funeral in total. It was amazing to have everyone around for support and I am eternally grateful for everything. After the funeral mass on Monday the 19th, we started out on our exploration of the Detroit area! The first spot we went to was Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. This place is stuffed in the back of 2 mini malls in Farmington Hills and was an awesome find! Russ had always wanted to go there and we made the most of it for his debut. He changed in $20 for quarters and we spent the next 2 1/2 hours doing everything from fortune tellers to the Simpsons arcade game. Marvin himself was even there looking on as we played all the old mechanical machines. There was also a tic-tac-toe playing chicken that I battled for the coveted prize of 100 tickets. Each game we played ended in a cat's games, but in my defense, the chicken didn't play by the rules. After we left the arcade we went out to Walled Lake and had dinner on the water at Bayside bar and grill. On Wednesday the 21st we spent most of the morning cleaning up the house and getting it in order again. Katie cleaned out the fridges as well as the rest of the kitchen, Russ did the vacuuming throughout the house and I cleaned the bathrooms. The house was virtually spotless by the time we were done... Mom would have been proud. That night we had the family and a few close friends over to help out with the thank you cards for everyone. I thought for sure we would be working well after midnight, but we went to work right away and had them finished before 10pm. We had tons of food left over from the funeral and even after everybody ate we still had plenty to fill the fridge right back up. It was a huge project to get done and I am thankful for everyones help who made it an easy and enjoyable night!

Living at home again

On Monday (28th) we headed home to Michigan and officially made it our new residence for the next month. We brought Mom home from the hospital on the first of July and canned our first jar of icebox, bread and butter pickles. This was the first of many jars made from the many cucumbers picked from the garden. On the 3rd we headed to Canada for a day fulfilling our promise to Julie and Buddy. It was the Saturday of 4th of July weekend so we got to go and participate in the races at the cottage. We had a great time with the kids, watching them race, and racing ourselves. I got crushed in the 13 and up sprint and cross country. Katie and I were in second place in the wheelbarrow race until we got half way and had to switch places... After the races, everyone headed back to the Baker's cottage and we went swimming for a couple hours. Then the day was full of games. We played frisbee keep away in the water and on land, Scott and I ran the horseshoe pit until Johnny B showed up, then we took a beating while adjusting to baggo

and the wind. The next day we came back and made meatballs, spaghetti sauce, and garlic bread, all from scratch. Grandma helped a little but Mom oversaw it all. Katie took notes like crazy to keep up with all the extra ingredients that weren't written down. We had 4 guests for dinner that night to showcase our creation. Needless to say it was a success. But in all modesty, it

was a good first attempt, definitely not up to Mom's standards, but a great start. From then on we were cooking up a storm! We have canned 5 plus jars of pickles every other day, made blueberry muffins, 8 batches of pepperoni rolls,

4 lbs. of Italian chicken, and a giant Oreo cake for Kim's birthday! We stayed with Mom everyday. Katie and I took the day shift and Russ took the night, giving her medicine every 2 hrs. None of us slept much, and other than sit by her side, the only way we passed the time was by cooking and entertaining all of the guests that came to visit Mom. This was a full time job in itself and by the end of each day we were just as tired as the day before. In the end, Mom passed with her favorite people by her side. As she passed, the world stood still, no one spoke and even the birds outside were silent. Moments after, the birds were chirping again and the church bells at St. Aidan's were ringing in the distance. It was a sad day and an unexplainable loss, but it was a beautiful passing all the same.