The Much Awaited Vacation Post

This is gonna be long. But you guys asked for it...

As some of you know, John came home on the 14th and told me that he was taking the following week off work and that his parents were watching Brent for us on Mon, Tues and Wed. He told ME, indecisive ME, to decide where we were gonna go for our three gloriously free days. What a sweet surprise, no?

I chose Traverse City (for those non-Michiganders, it's about as NW as you can get in the Lower Peninsula of MI). We go there quite often, and we both love it up there. I was tempted to pick somewhere different, but with only three days to plan, I went with the familiar.

We got up Monday morning and drove the three hours to the in-laws. As soon as we walked in, Brent was asking Grandpa to turn on the air. They have no AC; only breeze from the lake, which was nonexistent that day. Brent's hair was soaked with sweat after being there for about 20 minutes. Time for us to get the hell out of there and for Grandma and Grandpa to throw him in the lake :-) He didn't want us to go, and when we got in the van, he started crying. We found out later that after we were gone, he threw himself on the ground and cried for a few minutes. He's just a teensy bit dramatic.

We got up to Traverse City around 7. We checked into THE most wonderful hotel room (aside from Cancun) at The Cherry Tree Inn and Suites( http://www.cherrytreeinn.com). We were on the first floor, and had French doors that opened up to a patio right on the water. About 5 steps out our door and down some stairs and we were on the beach. The breeze was heavenly.

So we got settled and freshened up for dinner at Boone's Long Lake Inn (http://www.booneslli.com). I wish they had pictures of the food on the site, cuz you just have no idea! We go there every time we're in Traverse; the food is SO GOOD and the portions are insane. It's very lodge-y inside, exposed wood beams and etc. If you're ever up in that area, you've GOT to experience the love that is Boone's :-)

After dinner, we ventured to a little... um... sex toy shop. While we've each been to them separately, we've never been in one together, so that was fun. We then went back to the hotel to use our purchases, which I will not go into further detail about (Deb, if you read this, please don't ever mention it to me, lest I throw up. Thank you).

We got up Tuesday morning and sat outside for a little bit. The weather was PERFECT-- not a cloud in the sky, low 70's, breezy... incredible. We went to a local place called Mabel's for breakfast. Again, excellent food. I got the most wonderful creation-- hashbrowns FILLED with tomatoes, onions, peppers, sour cream and cheese. Not like stirred up together, but like... a jelly donut or something. I don't know how they did it, but it was so good. John got "the best omelet he's ever had".

After breakfast, we went miniature golfing, then to a movie. We saw The Wedding Crashers. If you have not seen this movie, stop reading and go now. GO! It was the funniest movie I have seen in a really long time and I developed a huge crush on Vince Vaughn who is just a big hunk of sexiness. The movie was so good that I actually went to see it again with my sister last weekend. The movie theater is in the mall, so we walked the mall, looking for something to get Brent. I also ended up getting a few things for my soldier :-)

We took a long drive up the coast (is it still called a coast when it's a lake rather than ocean?), up into Leelanau. We did not go to the casino (or any other ones up there) cuz it just looked too small and... I don't know. We were spoiled by Vegas, I guess. Later that night, we had dinner at http://www.redmesagrill.com/redmesa.asp. The best Mexican food we've both ever had. Looks like they're only up in Northern Michigan, but again-- if you're ever up there, you must go to Red Mesa Grill! Since we'd never been there, we wanted to try a variety of things, so John ordered the Fredrico Platter and I the Maria Special. Obviously way more food than we could ever eat, but I'm glad we did that cuz we got to try so many different things. And lemme tell ya-- you've not had a tostada until you've had one from this place. The "shell" is made from Mayan Fry Bread. It was like a quarter-inch thick and so full of corn flavor... it was so good. All of the meat was really juicy and tender... and I can't forget to mention the Tart Cherry Margarita I downed in about 3 minutes. YUM! *Quick little history lesson for those unfamiliar with this area-- 3/4 of the tart cherries in the nation and over one tenth of the sweet cherries are grown in Michigan and Traverse City has an annual Cherry Festival, which we missed by a week. We did buy lots of sweet cherries, though, and like the rednecks that we are, used a Target bag to spit the pits into while driving. Yeah, baby!*

That's essentially it. Wednesday we mosied our way back down to reality and to the in-laws. It was very relaxing and it recharged our batteries. LOL. Figuratively and literally, I guess ;-) Came home Thursday afternoon, took Brent to the fair on Friday, I hung out with my sister on Sunday. End of vacation :-( LOL. I feel like all I talked about was food! Of course, I guess the alternative is sex, and I'm not going there with ya'll.

But today John got to go to the Buick Open in Grand Blanc and actually TALKED to Mark O'Meara. And unlike at the Ryder Cup, he was able to get really close to the players; he said he was standing about 10 ft from Tiger on his last hole and got to watch him crush his drive, which is so incredible in real life that it gave him chills. Tiger is beautiful. That's about the extent of MY interest in golf, so this will conclude my post. Finally.