The Great Lakes State

After the wonderful wedding in San Diego, Adam and I were off again! We flew into Chicago late Sunday night and stayed in a (awful!!!) hotel. Monday morning we took a cab to Adam's parent's condo to see his mom quick and pick up the car. And we were off! It took up a good 5+ hours to get to Caseville but it was a fun drive. We were loving the lack of traffic but disliking the amount of trucks. For whatever reason, there are about 0 truck on the expressways here. My dad made grilled vegs and steaks for dinner!

We stayed two nights. Tuesday it rained on and off so we spent most of the day inside and downtown. It cleared up and we were able to have a nice beach fire.

Wednessday we were off again!

Again on our drive to Mac Island, Adam and I loved the open road. No traffic and beautiful sights! We took the Star Line ferry to the Island. It was the best deal (free overnight gaurded parking). We stayed at the Island House (do NOT recommend!). We ate fudge (but never bought any :) ). And then went to the most amazing resturant ever!! It was Woods on the Stonecliff property but owned by the Grand Hotel. It was so much fun to get dressed up (not too fancy) and take the horse taxi into the island to get to Woods. It seemed to be an old building but it was recently redone to look like (to me) a old hunting club of someone really wealthy. It was just plain cool. The service and the food were amazing! And in true Mac Island form, there were some fudgies there in their shorts and t-shirts and then some others in full out dresses with sequins.

Due to our not so nice hotel experience, Adam was up very early the next day and took some beautiful pictures just after sunrise.

After a crappy night's sleep we decided not to ride bikes around the Island and instead took a carriage tour. It was a lot of fun!

Thursday afternoon we left the Island and drove to Petoskey. As soon as we checked in to the Perry we went to the beach! Oh how I LOVE Petoskey State Park!

We ate at the hotel bar that night and were able to sit outside on the patio. We had Oberon! Beer that cannot be found in Cali.

Sunset from our room balconey.Friday we were off again! We made a short trip to Harbor Springs to look at the boats and get a cookie from Tom's Mom's. Then we drove through Bay Harbor (beautiful developement where the water is deep and the houses and boats are huge!) on our way south when we decided that this will be our boat as soon as the market goes back up :)

It started to pour not long after this picture and we ran back to the car and started out drive to Elk Rapids for the Ericksen family reunion. It was awesome to see everyone! We ate lots, swam, kayaked, and went boating. Saturday most cousins and my dad went on a long boat ride to "the sandbar" where we jumped off and swam. The water was amazing!

We left Elk Rapids on Saunday and drove back to Chicago. We got there for dinner with Adam's parents. We went to a great Italian place. Monday Adam, Michelle, and I shopped for a few hours before having to get back to the airport. At this point in the trip I guess I forgot about the camera and here is the only proof that we were in Chicago... Navy Pier.