So tired…

This will be a marathon blog post people, so grab a glass of wine and settle in.

We are home.  It was a wonderful vacation.  I wanted to blog more along the way but there wasn’t time and there wasn’t great internet.  And frankly, I was exhausted.

You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of our 2013 Road Trip Adventure through the Great Lakes.  Granted, we only physically hit two of the five great lakes, but it felt like more.

We left Chicago and I was sad to leave.  This entire trip has been me and my husband talking about wanting to move back to the mid-west.  Are we serious? Kind-of.  At least in summer.  But then we start thinking about winter again and Florida seems pretty great to us.  It’s just weird when we are back up there because it really feels like home and we just have so many friends there.  I really just wish someone would figure out how to teleport already or perhaps figure out how to travel by tubes to make it easier.  Yes, I said tubes…check it out.

Anyway, I  talked about the Indiana Dunes already, but let me just share again, because I have more thoughts.It’s really a beautiful place, so much so that I want to go back and camp and explore because it was fascinating and fun.  However, it’s jut way to close to Gary, Indiana.  I know the city gets a bad rap, but come on.

This is what you see when you look to the right.  So beautiful that I’m going to blow-up this picture as large as I can and frame it in my house.  It’s perfect.

But then you look to the left.

It’s hard to relax at the beach and swim in the water with all those factory’s down the way.  Look at all those people on the beach without a care in the world.  I couldn’t jump in the water, even though I really wanted to.  Just way too much of the unknown.

So we went from the Dunes to Ohio for the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park.  Now, this was an ok place.  The kids had fun and that’s really all that counts.  The rooms were fine, the water park was fine.  It was no Disney water park, and that is what I am used to.  I was wildly disappointed in the workout room which smelled like cigarette smoke and stale towels.  They only had one ancient elliptical machine and two treadmills, one of which was broken.  There was a sad, old weight machine that barely worked.  So that wasn’t great.  But again, kids had a great time.  The internet was beyond horrible.  To the point that I would prefer either to pay or have no internet options at all because it was just a joke.  Not only was it painfully slow (try 15 minutes to load the Cedar Point website?!) but it also was erratic where it would work for a solid 3 minutes and then freeze for another 10.  PAINFUL.  Would I stay there again?  Maybe – if the kids wanted to.  But for the money, I think we would have been fine anywhere else with just a regular pool.

Cedar Point was great- can’t wait to go back!

And then it was off to the great state of Michigan to see family, friends and Michigan State!

First, it was a quick drive through Detroit just to see some important sights – like the fist!

The ‘Fist’ is a monument to famous Detroit boxer Joe Lewis.  It’s random and I love seeing it.

Then, it was off to visit the Michigan side of the family.  Scott’s grandmother, aunts/uncles and cousins still live in Michigan and we don’t get to see them nearly enough.  There are also two new babies in the family that we’ve never met!!!

I mean really, how cute are these two little guys?!  It was great catching up and watch all the kids play together.  My boys are obsessed with the “soft Michigan grass.”  They don’t understand why it’s so soft and cool and not hard like it is here in Florida.  They just wanted to play outside all the time.  Which was fine because the weather was great.  Also nice to catch up with Gigi – that’s what we call Scott’s grandmother.  She loves seeing the boys and hates that we are so far away.

After a great visit, it was time for the main event.  The real reason for this whole trip was a big college reunion.  If you’ve been living under a rock, my husband and I both went to Michigan State.  While at college, we were both part of a television group called Telecasters.  We also worked together at WKAR – which is the PBS station.

So we gave the kids a tour of the old station and our old classrooms.  It was so quiet on campus – the calm before the students all return!!

After, we hit up the big spots on campus, the football stadium and even tried to sneak into football practice – with no real luck.

Then…it was time to meet up with all of our college friends….and that is where I will end for now…and pick up the rest in a final blog….