Up north in spring

Last Thursday, as I chatted with the bakery ladies about the beautiful weather we were looking forward to having over the weekend, I realized that spring is not really the ideal time to head north. In the summer it's a cool break from hot weather, in the fall the vast spanses of trees provide a beautiful display of color, and in the winter the thick snow covering nothern pines brings a festive feel to any trip, but in the spring the thaw is generally behind ours here in "the south", the blooms come later, and brisk temperatures linger long after we have packed away our winter jackets at home. But spring is spring no matter where you are, and time well spent with family is always a boon to overworked spirits, so north we went for a long weekend in Harbor Springs.

Jon's dad once said that he felt a weight lift from his shoulders as soon as he was north of the Zilwaukee Bridge. My "weight lifting" latitude is a little farther north in Westbranch (that's where the traffic lightens and the distance between towns lengthens), but I fully agree with the sentiment. And when we got north we were met with a rather welcome surprise—an upgrade in the weekend's weather report from cold and rainy to chilly and sunny. We hadn't counted on spending time outside, but with such improved weather we found ourselves taking nature walks, going for outdoor runs, and even doing a little shopping in town. Jon got quite a bit of work done, since the long weekend was gained by promising some work "from home", and I completed a lot of sewing, and sewing lessons. We stayed up late watching home shows and movies, we napped and enjoyed snacks after mornings spent out and about, we ate good food, and we accomplished much. It may have been chillier than it was at home, but it was at least as beautiful, and the company was twice as good.

New Years up north

And now, a final installment of our holiday times. Like we have in previous years, we packed up the car and headed north to celebrate the new year in snowy and frigid style. As it turns out, they definitely had more snow up there, something we'd been missing down here, but the three degree weather wasn't actually any colder, not that we'd have noticed anyhow; once it gets down that far we tend to stay inside.

Our trip was as delightful and relaxing as always. We did some snacking, some napping, some eating, some shopping, some napping, a lot of reading, some snacking, some movie watching, some eating, and some walking. Yes, outside. Hey, if the deer can do it, why can't we? (to be fair, we walked when it was 20 degrees, not 3).

New Year's Eve was quiet and fun. Well, sort of quiet; my mother and godmother thought fit to open a package of party horns before Calvin went to bed. Thankfully not too long before.

We did our usual goofy gift exchange while sipping champagne. If you think the pooping santa claus candy dispenser ever gets old, you must be wrong; I think it has circulated now for upwards of four years. The cork coasters, on the other hand, have only just started their lifetime of riducule.

I'm sure you've caught on that we do a lot of eating when we on this trip. Most of that is a combination of snacking (mmm smoked fish), and traditional meals (mmm bot bie), but whenever we've made it that far north we always have to trek those last 45 minutes north to Mackinaw City to eat at the Key Hole Bar where the fried perch is to die for (and I don't just mean because of the grease content).

While in Mackinaw we usuallly shop, too, between the few clothing stores that remain open, the Hush Puppy place, and the fudge shops, you really can't go wrong. We didn't find much to bring home this year, though it took some convincing to get Calvin to leave the monkey behind. The Indiana Jones getup (yes, that's a cow backpack), was slightly less of a problem.

We didn't find anything to buy in Mackinaw, although on New Year's Eve, while shopping in Petoskey, we came away from the used book store there with a 1904 numbered edition of Flaubert's Sentimental Education, so we weren't too heartbroken.

By the way, does this remind anyone else of Chevy Chase? I'm thinking Christmas Vacation...

This, on the other hand, reminds me of Norman Rockwell. Or at least it would, if it weren't for all the SUVs, minivans, and crossovers. Still, it's pretty and quaint. That's one of the reasons we love Harbor Springs.

And this concludes the holiday series. We will now return to regular life.

Trains in Chicago

We packed the car and hit the road in the morning, although not nearly as early as we had originally planned, and by the time we'd stopped for gas and then again to pick up bagels and cream cheese to take with us, it wasn't morning any longer. The road to Chicago never really feels like a long one to me. On the way to any vacation I find myself full of excitement and energy. Calvin usually takes a nap, Jon, too, and by the time I'm getting bored, with only the hum of the road to keep me company, we're already catching whiffs of Gary through the car's air intake. From Gary it's no time at all, and everywhere we are surrounded by novel scenery in the form of running down industrial centers, and oftentimes construction work, too. This trip enveloped us in low, gray clouds and a cozy, drizzly rain that seemed to lift just as we were hitting the parking lot that is I94 and 290 going through the big city.

Part of the impetus for this trip was a desire to see my brother's new digs—a turn-of-the-last-century loft on the edge of the West Loop. I loved it already when I realized that safe street parking was incredibly easy to find, and its tree lined street, beautiful brick walls, wood floors, tall windows, and wide-reaching view just added to that sentiment. On our first day we spent some time walking through the surrounding area, finding enjoyable oddities in architecture, and then picked up the ingredients for a fajita dinner that we made back home on Curtis's brand new incredible stove, Calvin in the background jumping up on nearby furniture to look out the window every time he heard the sound of an approaching L on the tracks about four blocks away, to which he nearly always added the exclamation "train" with undying enthusiasm. It's not that the train is that loud or that close, but that the child is that incredibly taken with trains.

Curtis is a great sport. He's been in the big city for nearly two years now, and has absorbed city living in a way that makes him nearly a local in his own right. It's a big city, especially compared to the small big town we were raised in, but he knows the streets, he knows the places to eat, he knows the suburbs. I don't think he's ever lost. But he's a great sport because he had absolutely no qualms about playing tourist with us for a weekend. He did not even flinch when, waiting for the L on Saturday morning, we took out our camera and started snapping away. It was, after all, Calvin's first train ride! He loved being near the track, and if he was a little hesitant about the rush and noise of the actual trains themselves, we'd talked a lot about what to expect before we got to the platform and he took the new situation in perfect Calvin stride (meaning, he was quiet and contemplative for the first half of the journey out, but non-stop questions the for its remainder).

The trains were really the highlight of this trip, at least as far as Calvin is concerned. On Saturday we took the green line, transferred to the brown line, then again took the brown line, transferred to the green line, and ultimately arrived back where we started, with only a stop in Lincoln Park, a trip to the zoo, and a late lunch to interrupt the fantastic journey. On Sunday we drove to watch Curtis play soccer, but the soccer field lies right at the foot of multiple tracks, and the soccer game was actually more of a side entertainment to the recurrent passing of all manner of trains (the L, the Metra, and even several freights). The view from Curtis's place includes a panorama of the big city, but that was really just a backdrop to the frequent train sightings on the both L and Metra tracks. And, no matter where we were, Calvin heralded the arrival of each and every train with that same exclamation of "train" with the same undying enthusiasm.

There was more to the trip. The Licoln Park Zoo was wonderful, and I hope to visit it again when it is both warmer and not actually nap time. Chicago food, like the deep dish pizza we had Saturday night and the true Chicago Dogs we inhaled for lunch on Sunday, punctuate a trip like this with fattening pleasure. On our walk home from the L station on Saturday we stopped at a little local wine shop to quick pick up a bottle for dinner, only to find friendly staff, a free wine tasting, and a 10% discount for locals like Curtis. On Sunday, in a last ditch effort to find one more cool thing to do, we ended up at Garfield Park Conservatory, an enjoyably green oasis in the middle of a run down city neighborhood. I guess you could call this the trip of trains, good food, and surprisingly enjoyable finds. When we hit the road to come home at about five on Sunday we knew we'd be driving after dark and after bedtime, but the road back from Chicago never feels very long to me, and always ends in a warm homecoming, padded with the memories of a great trip.

There are a lot of fun pictures, from four different photographers, in the Chicago trip, October 2009 album.

Thirty out of forty-eight as two

Don't spend too much time doing the math, I'll just tell you.  This weekend we spent thirty hours out of the weekend as just the two of us.  Nine of those hours were spent sleeping, about eight of them driving, and maybe two eating; another three or so were spent loafing, then five spent at a wedding reception and three spent at a zoo.  Don't bother with that math either, it adds up to thirty (but wouldn't it be funny if it didn't and I was just testing you? After all, not enough people leave us comments). Was it fun to be just two?  Yes.  Saturday morning we headed down into Ohio territory (not Columbus, thankfully, but west and north of Akron) to attend the wedding reception of a dear high school friend of mine.  Even the drive down was fun, being able to talk at random about whatever we wished without having to either censor (don't ask) or explain.  The party was fun, too, and small enough that we got to spend some time with the bride and groom themselves, as well as dance and enjoy some wine, since we partied and slept in the same hotel.  Back in our room, just for the fun of it, we tried to stay up late, but found ourselves nodding off in front of junk TV that, since we gave it up in our home over a year ago, should have felt like a guiltier pleasure than the chocolates and sodas we were sharing between us, but only ended up being a big disappoinment.  Sleeping in, however, was everything we knew it could be, and when we finally rolled out of bed at almost 8:30, we actually felt refreshed and ready for the day (what sarcasm?).  But after an enjoyable breakfast with the bride and groom and their families, we hit the road and high-tailed it to the Cleveland Zoo.  If you've been reading this blog since it's inception over four years ago (that math you might want to check), you'll already know that we have always been zoo goers.  For the rest of you I'll just say that long before we even thought of children we were seeking out zoos to enjoy.  We zooed in New Orleans, in San Diego, in LA, in Orlando, in DC, in, well, everywhere we've been.  What was great about Cleveland is that our Toledo membership got us in free.  Well, that and the fact that the Mexican wolves were amazingly active, one of the rhinos was singing (seriously), the beaver was building something, and we got to feed a sea lion.  This is why we loves zoos–they are always different–and getting another chance to enjoy one again without that short three-year-old attention span was fantastic.  Don't get me wrong–I love going on zoo trips with Calvin, and the teaching and sharing opportunities that such an event presents, but being just two for a while really was refreshing.  I'm sure it would be awful of me to admit that we were so busy trying to get as much enjoyment out of our thirty hours as possible that we didn't really miss our son, but even if that is true, we were happy to see him when we got home.  Though he was so relatively spoiled while we were gone that I'm not sure opposite was true.

And you'll notice that I got way behind on posting and have caught up by shamelessly pre-dating my posts to the days on which I drafted their content.  There are three total new posts, so scroll down to see the other two, and over 50 new photos in the August 2009 photo album.  I'll try to do better in the future.

Highlights

In the absence of enough time to sufficiently and artfully update the blog, I'll let you in a few highlights from the past couple of weeks.  First, on July 25, we attended Jon's 10 year reunion, to which we might have ascribed the adjective pedestrian, had it not been for a really fun life preserver of a conversation that carried us through.  Then, on July 26, we celebrated 6 wonderful years of marriage; would it be considered a sign of comfort and bliss that we almost forgot our own anniversary?  Thanks to our parents we were showered with love at an impromptu dinner party.  Did I forget to mention that over that same weekend we scored some pretty fun diversions for the pint sized member of our family at our neighborhood wide garage sale, including an outdoor fort and a pretty awesome dollhouse style tree house?  Because we did.  And the final highlight of the past few weeks was a long weekend trip to visit family and attempt some moments of relaxation, a trip that included miniature golf, deer feeding, bird watching, and a few hours of beach enjoyment.  Those are the highlights of our past two weeks, and my excuses for not having brought them to your attention earlier.  Did you know that tree houses, even of the miniature variety, are very, very fun?