Holiday Weekend

Unlike last year when I went up to Traverse City, this time Dem and I didn't do an too much stuff. It was much more of a relaxing weekend rather then an experience Traverse City weekend, which was really nice actually. However, it doesn't make for the best blog entry, but fortunately Dem and I are really fun and thus everything we do is actually exciting.

We took off from Ann Arbor Thursday evening and it took quite a bit of time to get up there...turns out a lot of people wanted to go north at that same time. Below is a picture Dem took of the Zilwaukee Bridge, which if you look close you notice that besides a ton of traffic we are all on the wrong side of the highway...weird.

Zilwaukee Bridge with cars on the wrong side of the highway.

We managed to get to the cottage that we were staying at for a night. Friends of Dem's parents lent the cottage to them for a night. It was on Long Lake with a nice view...see below.

Dem sitting on the deck overlooking Long Lake.

I also have to include the traditional Dem/Brian self picture...though this time Dem took the picture. Dem's brother was actually sitting right there when we took this, but why break the traditional of taking our own picture.

Dem and I

Friday evening we went back to Dem's parent's house and spent the majority of the weekend there. We filled most of the time with games (scrabble, crossword puzzles, wii, basketball, running, Super Mario Brothers 3, etc). We also got to see some fireworks on Long Lake Saturday and light some of our own off Friday. It was also nice to spent some time playing (or maybe watching him eat, try to eat something, or just lay there) with Dem's dog, Cal (pictured below).

Cal

We were also able to do a little bit of work on Saturday. I had to remake some figures for my JFM paper and Dem wanted to pick lavender, which she picked a ton.

A small sample of the lavender that is in Dem's parent's backyard.

Then Sunday we spent the morning/afternoon laying around, playing wii, and getting another run in. After that we started making the track back to Ann Arbor at about 5pm, which we didn't actual get home until some where around 11pm (if memory serves me correctly). Highlights from the trip home include stopping at Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, and Burger King (all before getting to I-75), the hood of my car some how coming loose (I noticed before anything bad happened), sitting in traffic, and chatting with Dem (plus both of our parents for a bit).

PS.

Dem and I saw Wall-E and recommend it to anyone, as is apparent from Dem's face going into the movie (and she wasn't disappointed).

Congrats Moomers

I have to give props to Moomers in Traverse City for winning the best scoop in America. Demoree took me there last year and I have to say that it truly is good ice cream. If you don't believe me I even included details of it in my post from that trip, click here to read.

Trip Up North

This past weekend I had my first Cedar Polka Festival and Traverse City Cherry Festival experiences. I would have to say that both were quite enjoyable, though I didn’t spend much time at the Cherry Festival. I hesitated to write a post about this because this type of post really needs pictures to accompany the wonderful stories that I share with everyone. Well in typical fashion I took my camera with me and took a grand total of ZERO pictures (this actually includes my time in Pigeon…well with the exception of pictures of the mini-foosball table). In spite of that I’ve decided to update this because it was fun to me and to keep at least one of my readers happy I’ve included details of each meal I had.

Thursday
I got up early and went out golfing with my dad, Uncle Joe, and G’pa. We did best ball with my dad and me versus my Uncle Joe and G’pa. Our team started off a little rough, finished strong, but failed to catch up with them. We ended up losing by 3 strokes on 9 holes. Besides that I didn’t do too much besides driving up to Lake Ann (Demoree’s home town near Traverse City).

Lunch: Buffulo chicken sandwich
Dinner: Pizza

Friday
In the afternoon I went to a small beach on Lake Michigan and did some reading, eating, talking, and swimming with Demoree. It was pretty fun and I got to have some of Demoree’s favorite beef jerky…not going to lie it is really good (though I won’t mind some extra spice, well I always want a little more kick).
After the beach Demoree, her parents and I had a nice dinner outside. Then we went over to some friends of the family to watch the fireworks over Long Lake. The fireworks were done by an individual that supposedly spent $100,000 on them…they were pretty good. While over there we also played some euchre and ate some awesome mexcican chip dip that was made by Demoree’s mom.

Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter
Lunch: Sub sandwich, chips, and beef jerky
Dinner: Grilled stake, potatoes, salad, and brownies
Late night Snack: Mexican dip and tortilla chips

Saturday
The morning and early afternoon was pretty lazy with us just watching Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs. Then Demoree and I went into Traverse City to get her grandma a birthday card. On the way back we stopped for some ice cream at Moomers, which is a local dairy farm/ice cream shop that has some pretty good ice cream. Later on I met Demoree’s friend Chelsea and we all went to the Cedar Polka Festival. Highlights of the Polka Festival include Polka dancing (with Demoree and her grandma), playing euchre, learning the difference between German and Polish Brats, and showing Demoree how fast I can chug a beer. I then finished off the evening at Demoree’s place playing some more euchre with her parents.

Breakfast: Pancakes, eggs, bacon
Lunch?: Moomers ice cream
Dinner: Polish Brat and chips
Late night snack: Nacho cheese and chips

Sunday
The morning was pretty relaxed with Demoree and I just hangout some. Then we went into Traverse City for lunch. While at lunch we decided to take a stroll through the Cherry Festival since I had never been there for it. I guess the two best things that I saw while there was part of the air show and Build-A-Bear (I was completely unaware that this was a common thing). After that I packed up my stuff and headed back to Ann Arbor to resume my regular life.

Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter
Lunch: White cheddar ale chowder and Pub Club sandwich
Dinner: Chips and salsa