How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Since it's my first summer vacation in 9 years, I'll fill you in on what I've been up to so far. My summer vacation officially started on the 4th of July, since my 5 week Calculus class had just ended. My friend Debbie was getting married July 4th in Petoskey, MI., so I flew up to be there. One of the big reasons I quit my job to move on to something else was my lack of time for family and friends, and I felt I was missing out on some important things in life. So I wasn't going to miss Debbie's wedding.

It took me long enough to book my hotels that the only thing left in this resort town on a holiday weekend was the king jacuzzi suite. Bummer.

Yep, that's a jetted jacuzzi tub, just for little ol' me. There was a kitchen with a full size refrigerator, a stove, sink, dishwasher, fireplace, living room, patio. It was larger than my apartment. Seriously. Not exaggerating.

The view from my fourth floor balcony:

Yep, my summer vacation was off to a rough start.

Debbie's wedding was held at a beautiful location on the water in downtown Petoskey.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, there was an over-abundance of food, and of course, there were fireworks.

The next day I roamed around Petoskey and did a little shopping. I had ice cream twice that day because apparently that's what summer vacation is for. It was a slow day as I was desperately jet lagged and apparently pulling from the wrong carafe of coffee in the breakfast room. I have no idea how many cups of decaf I had before I figured that one out.

The morning after that I had coffee on my balcony to this gorgeous view:

I went for a run and sat in my personal jacuzzi. Then I traveled further  south to Traverse City to spend a few days. I posted about Sleeping Bear Dunes and the insane asylum, but here's a couple more photos from the dunes.

There was a scenic drive through the park as well (it's a National Park).

Here would be Lake Michigan.

This sign here......

With all these brilliant people below..... I was tempted, but I was already hungry. Going down there on an empty stomach could've spelled disaster for me.

But here I am, up above all that nonsense. And close enough to the car to make a beeline for some food.

The next day I went out exploring lighthouses. This one is out on the Old Mission Peninsula.

Of course I had to stop by Bowers Harbor. You'd have to ask my grandmother if there's any relation, but I'm thinking I would've known by now.

Yeah, I'm famous. No autographs please.

Here it is, good ol' Bowers Harbor.

And then these photos are taken on the west side of the Peninsula, south of Bowers Harbor. 

After seeking out (and eventually finding) lunch, I headed over to the next peninsula (Leelanau) to see the other lighthouse.

Then I went to the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane for dinner.... but you'll have to scroll down for the story on that one.

The next day was rainy so I went downtown to do more shopping. I managed to stay mostly dry.

Then the next day I had to drive back down to Grand Rapids, turn in my rental car and fly home. I'm not sure I ever adjusted to Michigan time, but I've been napping all day in between running errands and accomplishing tasks on my list. Tomorrow I have to head to the lab and get all ready to be called out onto fires to do research work. My house still isn't clean but I did manage to file away the big stack of papers that has been taking over my breakfast table since the beginning of the semester. We'll see what sort of accomplishments I can muster up tomorrow.