We're Back!

Hello all. We have returned from our vacation to Canada/Michigan. I thought I would give a recap of our lovely trip. It was our first trip home in 6 months!

Eric, Bob, Bella, and I first arrived at Eric's parents home in Brighton, MI with slurpees in hand. MMM... Slurpees. It was a cool and lovely 56 degrees. We arrived at about midnight so we went to bed.

The next day we picked up two of our friends Kien and Kelly from MI and headed out to Toronto, Canada. MMM... Canada. I love Canada. I really miss being only an hour away from it. It took us 5 hours to drive to Toronto, an hour just to get through Detroit rush hour and customs. It actually frightened us that it was harder for us to get into Canada than to come back to the U.S. On our way into Canada, they asked for all of our ID's and only passports or birth certificates would do and asked us plenty of questions like we were used too. Then they didn't like that we had Alabama plates (not MI), so we had to pull to the side area and they searched our car. It was only a 5 minute search but it delayed us and we were a little worried that we would not get through. I am also guessing that they did not like Eric and my new punk hairdos so they probably thought we were transporting drugs. Silly Canadians, eh. We were lucky not to get a cavity search.

So we arrived at our hotel in downtown Toronto at 10:00 pm where our great friends Paul and Sue were waiting for us. At a little after midnight we walked to the club System sound bar What a kick ass club. It was huge. When we arrived they had a DJ competition and they were playing some great trance music. There were even half naked club dancers that were painted on the chest. There were boys and girl dancers for everyone to enjoy :) The club had plenty of areas to sit and chat with friends including a curvy velvet couch. This place put the Atlanta clubs to shame. We danced and chatted until about 5 am and then we made our way back to the hotel where we stayed up and talked until about 9 am. We had to have three to a bed, but we were all pretty comfy. We slept until about 3 pm and then some people went to get lunch. We then walked around the city of Toronto and took in the sites. The CN tour is pretty cool to see in the middle of the city. That was my third trip to Toronto and Eric and I had been there before so we did not do the tour of it. At about 5 pm the four of us said goodbye to the wonderful Paul and Sue and we headed back to MI. On our way back in to the U.S. the customs guy asked if we were from the U.S. and if we had any fruit from Canada. That was it. He didn't even ask for our ID's or talk to all of us. Crazy!

The following day we went to visit our two college friends, Alan and Tracy, that just had a new baby. He was so cute! We were able to talk to them and catch up on things. Then, after fighting MI construction, we met up with the rest of our college friends for dinner. We enjoyed seeing all of them again. After dinner we went and played some pool. We didn't get to spend enough time with them since we saw them on a Sunday night and everyone but us had work the next day. Guys, we miss you, please come visit us if you can!!!!!!

Monday morning we packed up the car and our dogs and headed up north to Houghton Lake, MI. We went to Eric's grandparents home on the lake where his parents, brother, sister in law and their two kids were. We visited while Eric's grandma made too much food for lunch and then we went out and rode the jet ski's for a while. MMM... jet ski's. We love going out on the water and doing donuts. Later we went for a ride on the pontoon boat with the dogs and his family. It was only 70 degrees, but with the sun out it was tons of fun.

The next day it was only 55 degrees and rainy so we did not get to enjoy the lake so we stayed indoors and played with the baby until Eric's brother left to go home.

The next day was another cool, rainy day so we went to Mackinaw City with Eric's parents and grandparents. Eric's grandparents wanted to take us all to a musical that was in the Mackinaw theater, so we bought tickets. We had three hours to burn so Eric, his dad, and grandparents drove over the Mackinaw bridge to St. Ignace to gamble at the casino. MMM... gambling. Everyone won something. Eric's mom and I stayed in the city and went shopping at the little stores. I bought Eric some Mackinaw fudge, the best fudge ever. We met up with everyone else and went to this musical, which ended up being horrible. It was about three guys ice fishing in Wisconsin. It did have a lot of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and yuper (upper MI pennisula) jokes, but it was ridiculous. Eric's grandma was mortified by it and it was funny to listen to her. We did enjoy a great dinner and then headed back to the lake house.

Thursday, the weather was still cool and windy and we even had to turn the fireplace on. We curled up and talked and played games all day with Eric's two young cousins that arrived that day with their mom. It was great to feel cool weather again.

Friday, my mom, stepdad, and two little sisters came to the lake house for the day. It was 68 and mostly cloudy, a little cool. We went out anyway. We are from MI dammit and cold doesn't hurt us. We spent the whole day jet skiing and boating. What fun. We went out to dinner and enjoyed some custard from the custard shack. Eric's favorite place. MMM... Custard ice cream.

Saturday, after a home cooked breakfast we started out on our trip back to Alabama. We were glad to be back at our house but sad to be coming back to the heat and this far south. Everytime we go back home, we miss the family and MI. Eric's mom was crying bacause we had to leave and that made us a little sad to leave too. You don't realize how much you will miss family and close friends until you move 600 miles away.

Thoughts on our trip:

1.) Canada rocks and I am sad that I live so far away from it. I wish I could got to that club in Toronto once a month!! With the currency exchange rate it is a cheap trip to visit Canada.

2.) Why doesn't Alabama have freakin 7-11's? What the hell is the matter with this place. It is hotter than hell and no slurpees? We are still confounded by this. We had a slurpee everyday but two when we were in MI even when it was only 50 degrees:)

3.) I don't like the southern heat. I miss the cool non humid Michigan days. It was great to be able to wear a sweatshirt one day and a t-shirt the next. It was nice to have 50 degree nights so you could sleep with the window open and curled up with cozy blankets.

4.) I agree with Uncle R's post about going to a liberal area and being able to talk with people that share your liberal views. Coming back to super Conservative, super religious Alabama makes me feel misplaced. Being able to play the lottery, gamble in casinos, and drink in every county is a wonderful thing! Yeah Michigan! Also being in a battleground state again made you think that your vote meant something. MI is divided and so there are commercials every 5 minutes for Bush/Kerry and they were both visiting many towns there. In Alabama, it doesn't matter who you vote for since stupid Bush will win.

5.) We have to move closer to Paul and Sue and the MSU crew! Every time we go back everyone asks us to move back. This time we were able to say that yes we definitely plan to move back north to the NY, MI, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana , Penn. area when possible. We will miss all the great people we have met here, but the pull from home is stronger. We have missed so many things in our families lives that we are saddened by it.


Well, we are back and we have tons of work to do outside with our yard. I have two weeks of freedom before classes start to I will enjoy them the best we can. Drinking the next two weekends is a must!!! Then I will drive through this next year of nursing school and I will be done! Yeah. Later.