Vacation time had finally arrived! Those of you who follow our blog are probably thinking why would two people who have so much fun everyday need a vacation? Well, I can kinda understand that line of thinking see how I see my life today with Cindy as a constant vacation! We look forward to getting out and exploring, seeing and trying new things, tasting wine from different areas, and just having fun so vacationing we shall go!
This year we planned to return to the Empire MI area that we visited last summer. We fell in love with that area and the sensation that we were stepping back in time. Empire seems far removed from the hustle and bustle that you will find n most vacation towns today. It is a small town with just a few streets, one flashing lights, only a few choices for dining and lodging, but a it has an irresistible atmosphere to us. The beach is beautiful and watching the sunset from the bluffs south of town are breath taking. It is one of the few beaches we can think of that not only allows you to have a fire at night but almost encourages it! We still have not figured out if the town starts the fires in the fire rings or other visitors do but most times we can just walk up to a fire and sit down. With such few options for lodging most people day visit so once the sun goes down the town rolls up the rugs and shuts down leaving it to the few visitors lucky enough to find a place to stay and the locals. Basically it just shuts downs and you have the place to yourself! Leaving there on our way home last year both of us could not wait to get back! So this year we are returning and bringing two other couples with us to share in the fun.
Vacationing for me tends be quite stressful as with my work schedule determined by the weather I am always struggling to get everything flown so I can take off. This year I really lucked out and was able to get everything shot a few days before we were scheduled to leave. That never happens! I hesitantly suggested to Cindy that if nothing called in that maybe we could leave early on Thursday and drive up to South Haven and play all day before meeting the gang at the hotel in Paw Paw MI that evening. We all had different schedules for getting out of town so we decided to all drive separately. I feared I might jinx our chances if I mentioned it but I took the chances and suggested it anyway. Cindy was really excited at the idea and each day she would ask me as soon as I got home if anything had called in yet. Wednesday came and while we did have a job call in it would not be ready in time for me to fly so I told the office I was bailing out of town a day early!
Thursday came and we could not wait to get Pearl all loaded up and hit the road. We said good by to the boys and left them each with a new bone to chew on. They new something was up. I needed to make a quick stop by Walmart in town and purchase a inflatable boat for Bill and I to fish out of, (more about that later) a quick stop by the drive through at Mc Donald's for breakfast and a coke for the road. Then it was northbound with the hammer down!
We had a good chuckle as the very first thing we saw pulling onto I65 was a Ford explorer from Kentucky with a bike strapped to the back glass of the rear hatch. A picture can do a much better job of describing it than I can
Now I know it does not look that funny but what you can't see in the pic is that they tied the ropes around the tailpipe!!! Plus it would take a giant to reach the them as they had used a rack that was designed to go on a hatch back car, not the back hatch of a SUV! We just found it quite funny.
It was beautiful day for driving as it was fairly cool since we are having anything but a typical July. The sky went from clear to cloudy as we headed north but it was still a pleasant weather day. On the north side of Indy we made a quick stop by a very nice fly fishing shop called Fly Masters. We were greeted by the shop dog, Seth, a beautiful golden retriever who was more interested in the treat inside his Kong than he was us, but he did at least acknowledge our arrival before returning to getting his treats out of the kong. I needed to pick up some more snaps for my fly rod and I knew they would have them. Cindy headed for the clothing section and found a really nice long sleeve shirt she just had to get for me. Who was I to say no to a new fly fishing shirt??? While shopping we overheard a lady who was buying a starter outfit as she wanted to learn how to fly fish. We both thought that was really cool. Guess that means that Dottie is not the only fly fishing lady out there.
We were soon back on the road to the land up north. One nice thing I like about going to Empire is that we spend a lot of time on non interstate type roads. I don't mind driving on interstates but there is nothing more aggravating to me than getting stuck in traffic on one. Once we got of 465 at Indy and hit 31 north the rest of trip would be almost entirely state roads the rest of the way. Not only do I find that more enjoyable it also allows us to stop and look at things along the way. Point proven when passing through the small town of Lapaz, IN when we spied a wooden canoe outside a antique store. U turn time!!! We looked around the small shop and talked with the lady about the canoe before returning to our travels. As we continued north we discussed our options on the canoe and how much cash we might have left on our return trip. Luckily we did not set any plans in stone as our cash on hand was probably a bit less on our return trip than we had forecasted LOL.
It was a around noon that we crossed the state line into Michigan and almost as if by magic the skies cleared
and we heard angles singing. OK, the angels were a stretch, but I know I heard something! We had all been watching the forecast for the past few weeks as we tried to get an idea on what to expect weather wise. According to the forecast we should have good weather for Thursday and Friday with rain moving in for the rest of the trip. So far they are batting a 1000 as today is picture perfect in Michigan! It was funny as we could see the clouds just to our east as we headed north up 31 towards South Haven. They were sitting about 10-15 miles inland from the shoreline. Must be the cold water over the lake. After one missed turn, thank you GPS, we finally arrived at South Haven!!! If you have never been there you really should stop by if you are ever in the area. It is just such a neat lil town right on the lake with a river that runs through it that they have built a harbor around.
It is full of neat little shops, antique stores, restaurants, and bars! We made our way to Weiner Winery, say that 3 times fast, to partake of our first Michigan wines of the trip. It was there that we discovered that we are "non traditional" wine drinkers. I guess since we prefer to actually "drink" our wine, instead of sipping it as we act like we love the taste of vinegar(i.e. dry wine), it makes us "non traditional". Call us what you want, we like to drink, and sometimes guzzle, our wine! Their wines were really pretty good according to our palate and the young man working the counter was very nice. He gave us some dining suggestions for good food in town. We left the tasting room headed to the restaurant he suggested but we were soon side tracked by a sign just a few doors down for 5 dollar Long Island iced teas! Did I mention we are suckers for cheap Long Islands? Plus they had outside dining. Seriously, how can you go wrong with outside dining and 5 dollar Long Islands???
Cindy and I sat in the sunshine and talked while we enjoyed a few of the Long Island specials. I guess now would be a good time to mention that if you have never had a Long Island or watched one being made they are pretty much all alcohol but if made properly you really don't taste it. Must be why we love them! Not only were these a deal at 5 bucks they were really really good! We still wanted to do some shopping and go see the beach so we decided we better skip the third round and head out. Good call as when I stood up I could tell they did not skimp on the alcohol when they made them. Time to walk it off LOL!
We headed off towards the surf shop we stopped in last year on our quick visit to South Haven. Not sure what we were looking for but I soon spied a super cute lil blue dress that was beggin to be huggin Cindy' curves! After a lil coaxing, the Long Island's helped, Cindy was headed to the dressing room to try it on. I offered to help her out in the changing room but my she declined my assistance( should have had another round). Cindy came out and did a little spin for me. Can we say "SOLD"? The dress was coming with us! Off to see more shops. It must have been the light breakfast we had but we were feeling no pain as we made our way in and out of the shops. It was a gorgeous day so we headed down the hill to the lighthouse that sits at the mouth of their harbor. It is quite deceptive as it looks like it is just a few blocks out to it but I bet it is close a mile out there. Cindy still can't get over the fact that there is no rail along the edge. You could just jump in the water if you wanted to, it is posted that it is illegal to do so, but there is no physical barrier stopping you from doing so. No trip to a lighthouse would be complete without a selfie!
Walking back to town we had the sun to our backs and realized we had company walking back with us
They were going the same direction we were and seemed to be mocking our every move(did I mention they were really good Long Islands!!!)!
Making our way back to own we stumbled across a really neat shop with a very large cat sitting in the door way looking out. We had to go in to check it out as the window display of neat clothes were like candy to Cindy. It was called Davana G and if you get to South Haven you have to stop by and say hello to Dan and Patricia, the shop owners, and their kitty cats and puppy. Cindy soon found a dress she liked and headed off to the changing room to try it on while Dan offered me a seat in a large "man chair". I thanked him for the offer and said I was good but jokingly said I would take a beer if he had one. To which he replied "what kind would you like?" Now this is my kind of store! While Dan and I talked over a couple of cold Bud Lights Cindy tried on several dresses. She looked awesome in all of them but finally got down to two choices. A ivory lace dress that I thought she looked stunning in and a pretty lil lavender number that she really liked. Being a woman she had a hard time choosing so I made the problem go away by saying we would take them both so long as I got a private fashion show when we got to the hotel room! Problem solved!
We continued to walk around South Have for a bit more just enjoying the sights. Such a pretty little town. What is about towns on the water that embrace their water front? There is just something laid back about them that I like. Granted it is probably a tourist trap but everyone seems very friendly and the views are awesome so all is good. Again, we highly recommend you stop in South Haven and check it out for yourself if you are ever in the area. We think you will probably agree with us that is a fun little town.
The time came for us to head down the road a few miles to Paw Paw MI where we had a room reserved for the night. Due to having to walk off our beverages we were not going to make there in time to check out the two wineries in town. Weiner winery that we visited in South Haven has a tasting room built on a "river" that runs through town and it sits right next to St Julian winery, the oldest winery in Michigan. Just a FYI about the term "river" in Michigan. They are very liberal in what they call a river. I am to the point that I think if you can't jump across it they call it a river. It got comical after a while to see a river sign and look to see how small it really was. I know we crossed a few "rivers" that we would struggle to call a ditch in Indiana!
Checked in and un packed at hotel room I held Cindy to the promise she made me back in South have of the private fashion show. Lets just say I can really get into private fashion shows!!! All three dresses I got her were like the perfect frame wrapped around a beautiful painting. Something tells me I would get kicked out of a real fashion show ;-) Exhausted from the fashion show we settled in for some tv time while we waited for the others to arrive. We are like two kids at Christmas when we stay some place that has cable or satellite as we do not have it at the lodge. We are so busy that we barely have time to watch the news on tv and I have a real issue with satellite tv installers and the way they run their wires. Just look up satellite tv installations on youtube if you want to see why I have issues. There are some real geniuses out there when it comes to running wires. Since they won't send me the equipment and let me install it we have gone without it. I digress. It was not long before Libby and Bill knocked on our door. They stopped to say hello on their way to their room but said they would be back in a bit. After settling in they returned to visit a bit and talk about our plans for the next day. I noticed something odd about Bill's smile and then realized he had a dark spot on his front tooth. It looked like Stiffler's tooth when he ate the dog turd truffle on American Pie's wedding movie! Not wanting to be rude I did not say anything thinking maybe he had a snack back in their room but then the laughter started. It finally hit me as what it really was. The goof ball had put a dark brown lipstick on his lips and when he laughed he looked like the Joker!!!! It was a hoot and we all had a good belly laugh over that one. Seems Libby stopped to get some make up on the way up and got the lipstick for free. She did not want it but Bill was like "give me that, I have an idea". It was a great one and we told him he would have to wear it for Jerry and Amy when they got there.
It was a hilarious end to our first day on vacation. We turned in after that and slept like a couple hibernating bears all night long. As we laid there nuddling before falling to sleep we talked about how nice it was to finally get away and just take a break. The first day had been so much fun we could not wait to see what they next few days had in store for us!!!
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