Well we made it, the long journey to the point that we are now husband and wife is over, and we made it. Today is the first day in a whole new chapter in our lives. This morning we will wake up as husband and wife for the first time.
OK, can't really say that it felt any different as for the last 4 years I have considered Cindy my wife and treated her as such. Often times I have even referred to her as my wife. But yet it was different. We were now legally a couple, I had a ring on my hand and Cindy had one on hers. Yet something did not change which I am glad of. I still woke up with Cindy in my arms. When Cindy finally did open her eyes she still smiled like she always does, then cuddled back into me closing her eyes and drifting off back to sleep like she so loves to do. I am glad those things did not change.
Once we finally drug ourselves out of bed and made our way down to breakfast we met up with everyone and discussed what everyone was going to do. Only Cindy's son and daughter in law had to head back south so everyone else was going to take in the area.
Cindy's daughter and son in law decided to go hike to the bluffs and Sleeping Bear Dunes with us after breakfast. The bluffs are originally where we were going to get married but after hiking there we all agreed there would have been no way for Cindy's sister Dottie or her other sister Peggy to have been able to make the trek there so it was all good that we could not have it there. When we arrived at the parking lot we could not believe how many cars were there. It was full and people were parking on the road. We hiked the trail and saw several others but not nearly as many as there were cars. Not sure where everyone was. Of course we had to get a pic once we reached the bluffs
It was cloudy and some light drizzle but the temps were very comfortable. Much better than they had been the days prior as it had been quite hot. Even with the cloud cover it is a very pretty view over the lake. We were able to see several boats out in the distance.
Once done with our hike it was time to eat, again, LOL. We headed down to the Empire Village Inn where I had the best BLT I have ever had!!!! It was on home made wheat bread that had been liberally coated with butter. Can we say delicious!!!!
After lunch and several beverages we headed up to the Sleeping Bear Dunes dune climb area. What better way to work off a 2000 calorie lunch than hiking through 3 miles of soft sand to the lake. At least it was still pretty cool but even at that it did not take long for our body temps to start climbing and we all started sheading layers. We did not go quite all the way to the water but we did get pretty close.
Manitou island in the background looks pretty close but it is several miles off the coast of the lower peninsula. I was ready for another beverage by the time we got back to the parking area.
We gave the kids our wine trail map and they went off in search of a winery and we went back to set up the beach chairs by the fire pit so we could have a fire on the beach at sunset with everyone. Back at the inn we picked up Cindy's sister Peggy and took her to the beach with us in the big white "semi". Luckily I missed Peggy's climb up into the truck but I got to take it in a bit later and oh how I wished I would have go pro-ed it! It was a hoot to say the least!
We all met up for dinner at the Empire Village Inn where I could not wait to get another BLT. I told everyone about it but was disappointed to hear that all the wheat bread was gone so I had to get sour dough instead. It was good but the wheat bread was so much better.
After dinner we all headed down to the beach to take up positions around the fire ring in preparation for the light show at sunset. People come and line up their chairs at sunset so they have front row seats. This is one of the reasons we come back to Empire time and time again.
As the sun drifted down closer and closer to the horizon I had to go steal my wife away from the conversation she was having so we could sit down and take in our first real sunset together as husband and wife.
I was so glad Libby snapped this pic of us and we were able to capture this moment in time. It was the first of what hope is millions more!
By the time the sun had finally slipped below the horizon the fire I had started earlier was going good and we all took up positions around the fire ring.
Thank you Amy for taking this pic. I wish I had one of her sitting in her beach chair next to Jerry as I would have photo shopped her into the pic! It was the perfect night for a fire, just a bit cool with wind coming off the water, no bugs, and the clouds all went away so we got to see the almost full moon!
It was almost midnight before we finally all headed back to the inn. Cindy and I had a big day the next day as our Honeymoon was officially starting. The plan was to get up early and head north for the boarder at Sault St Marie then onto Spanish Ontario to launch our sail boat into the north channel of Lake Huron for a week of sailing from island to island. This has been a trip a year in the making and we are both really looking forward to finally seeing all the beautiful sights we have heard so much about.
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