Christmas Vacatian Recap - Day 1 & 2
Well, I'm at my Dad's house in Michigan at the moment. Just woke up about 15 minutes ago (11:20 a.m.) and am now eating a gigantic slice of caramel apple pie for breakast. If I had a camera on me, I'd take a pic and show you guys how huge this piece is. Have I mentioned I love going home for Christmas???
I've decided to spend the time to actually recap my trip so far, as I was rather motivated by seeing some of my "loyal readers" (read: my relatives and Max's relatives) and felt like a famous author rather than some girl who writes about her dog's bowel movements and lack of gym-going. I also have nothing better to do as I've lost my last dollar in my online poker account, and my sister is STILL sleeping on the couch out in the living room, where the TV is...
Anyway, I left for Michigan last Weds night, the 21st, on a red eye flight. Getting to the airport and on the plane was a nightmare - it took me forever to pack, I had to pull things out at the last minute and stick them in a smaller bag since I went over the weight limit, and I didn't have an actual seat number until I got to the gate. Luckily though, I got bumped up to Economy Plus on United, which was seriously awesome. The only bad thing was that I didn't figure out how to use the leg rest thing until the flight was over. And I didn't really sleep so I was really tired.
Anyway, I had an hour layover in Chicago O'Hare, where I became one of those people who squashily lay themselves down over two bucket seats and try to sleep. It was as uncomfortable as it looked.
My mom and my sister picked me up from the airport. We headed to the Original House of Pancakes (not to be confused with the International House of Pancakes - OHOP is far superior) and then to the mall, where I still had several gifts to buy. By that point, I was exhausted and practically delirous and let's just say a lot of people should be glad my mom found me wandering in a daze at Marshall Field's because I had just about decided it would be really funny to get people things they couldn't use - like getting Max a women's turquoise ruffled scarf. Luckily she helped me pick up the last few things I was looking for and the only gift I was missing was a turtleneck for my Dad.
Let me just pause and note that for a city where it's practically freezing for months at a time, there is a serious lack of interest in stocking turtlenecks.
The next day, I woke up and got ready to go meet up with Lala (Max's sister). The plan was that we'd go to the airport to pick up Max and then head up to Grayling. As my mom and I pulled up towards their house, we were greeted with a rather strange sight - a man, on a red scooter thing, had stopped in the middle of the road. As we got closer I realized it was Marco (Lala's hubby) on his new red Vespa, trying to figure out how to attach a camera around his head so that he could record life on a Vespa. That would have looked funny enough, but on top of it all, he was wearing a leather fur lined Russian hat. I took it as a sign for a fun weekend to come.
Anyway Lala and I picked up Max and we were on our way. Usually it takes about 3 hours or so to get up to Grayling, but that day it took us 7 hours. I didn't mind it at all though - we made several stops to finish all our Xmas shopping (I finally found the turtleneck for my dad at a gigantic outlet mall on the way), and made an additional stop to have lunch at Bob Evans. It's been years since I've gone to a Bob Evans and I have to say, it was pretty damn good.
We finally got up to Grayling close to dinner time. Lynn (Max's mom) had made a nice hot meal of broccoli & chicken rice, and we drank wine out of some very Christmas-y glasses. We also cracked open the bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne I brought up last year (which Max and his brother Forrest insisted on calling it "Da Vuuuuuuuuve") and it was every bit as good as I thought it'd be. Far better than the Andre and J Roget I'm used to drinking.
Anyway, Max and I stayed in the "apartment" which is really a guest house attached to the garage near the main house. Lynn had spent four hours cleaning up the apartment which has hosted many a party over the years. She also got a new twin mattress (pushed up next to existing twin, they made a gignatic king size mattress), new sheets, laid out towels, and even included little hotel soaps and shampoo. Everything was great and Max and I went to sleep quickly, but only after playing a game of AIR HOCKEY! I guess Max's parents bought an air hockey table for them this year so we stayed up and played a bit first. It was awesome.
Anyway, that was Day 1 & 2.
I've decided to spend the time to actually recap my trip so far, as I was rather motivated by seeing some of my "loyal readers" (read: my relatives and Max's relatives) and felt like a famous author rather than some girl who writes about her dog's bowel movements and lack of gym-going. I also have nothing better to do as I've lost my last dollar in my online poker account, and my sister is STILL sleeping on the couch out in the living room, where the TV is...
Anyway, I left for Michigan last Weds night, the 21st, on a red eye flight. Getting to the airport and on the plane was a nightmare - it took me forever to pack, I had to pull things out at the last minute and stick them in a smaller bag since I went over the weight limit, and I didn't have an actual seat number until I got to the gate. Luckily though, I got bumped up to Economy Plus on United, which was seriously awesome. The only bad thing was that I didn't figure out how to use the leg rest thing until the flight was over. And I didn't really sleep so I was really tired.
Anyway, I had an hour layover in Chicago O'Hare, where I became one of those people who squashily lay themselves down over two bucket seats and try to sleep. It was as uncomfortable as it looked.
My mom and my sister picked me up from the airport. We headed to the Original House of Pancakes (not to be confused with the International House of Pancakes - OHOP is far superior) and then to the mall, where I still had several gifts to buy. By that point, I was exhausted and practically delirous and let's just say a lot of people should be glad my mom found me wandering in a daze at Marshall Field's because I had just about decided it would be really funny to get people things they couldn't use - like getting Max a women's turquoise ruffled scarf. Luckily she helped me pick up the last few things I was looking for and the only gift I was missing was a turtleneck for my Dad.
Let me just pause and note that for a city where it's practically freezing for months at a time, there is a serious lack of interest in stocking turtlenecks.
The next day, I woke up and got ready to go meet up with Lala (Max's sister). The plan was that we'd go to the airport to pick up Max and then head up to Grayling. As my mom and I pulled up towards their house, we were greeted with a rather strange sight - a man, on a red scooter thing, had stopped in the middle of the road. As we got closer I realized it was Marco (Lala's hubby) on his new red Vespa, trying to figure out how to attach a camera around his head so that he could record life on a Vespa. That would have looked funny enough, but on top of it all, he was wearing a leather fur lined Russian hat. I took it as a sign for a fun weekend to come.
Anyway Lala and I picked up Max and we were on our way. Usually it takes about 3 hours or so to get up to Grayling, but that day it took us 7 hours. I didn't mind it at all though - we made several stops to finish all our Xmas shopping (I finally found the turtleneck for my dad at a gigantic outlet mall on the way), and made an additional stop to have lunch at Bob Evans. It's been years since I've gone to a Bob Evans and I have to say, it was pretty damn good.
We finally got up to Grayling close to dinner time. Lynn (Max's mom) had made a nice hot meal of broccoli & chicken rice, and we drank wine out of some very Christmas-y glasses. We also cracked open the bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne I brought up last year (which Max and his brother Forrest insisted on calling it "Da Vuuuuuuuuve") and it was every bit as good as I thought it'd be. Far better than the Andre and J Roget I'm used to drinking.
Anyway, Max and I stayed in the "apartment" which is really a guest house attached to the garage near the main house. Lynn had spent four hours cleaning up the apartment which has hosted many a party over the years. She also got a new twin mattress (pushed up next to existing twin, they made a gignatic king size mattress), new sheets, laid out towels, and even included little hotel soaps and shampoo. Everything was great and Max and I went to sleep quickly, but only after playing a game of AIR HOCKEY! I guess Max's parents bought an air hockey table for them this year so we stayed up and played a bit first. It was awesome.
Anyway, that was Day 1 & 2.
posted by S at 8:40 AM
2 Comments:
OHOP RULES!!
I almost called you guys when we stopped on the way to Traverse City for lunch at the Grayling Restaurant! That place cracks me up - I love all the guns.
Sorry for the late night accidental pointless phone call. I wish I could claim to have been drunk, but alas, I was just really tired and out of it.
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