Since we had a long weekend for Labor Day, Mer and I decided to go to Mom and Marc’s place in Michigan. It is only about five hours away, but gives a real get-away feel. We had wanted to invite our friends Zach and Londa to Mom’s for some time now, so I checked with Mom. It turned out that she and Marc were going to be out of town, but she said we were very welcome to use the house. So, we invited the Churchills and Ellen as well. Ellen asked if she could invite a friend for Saturday night and Sunday; since we had room, I said that was fine, so that was how Katie ended up as part of the group. Six was a very good number.
Friday evening was the annual CVCA staff picnic, and so we stayed for the free food and for the company. We were only going as far as Ellen’s that night, so the late start did not matter much. I ate too much dessert, and Mer and I got to visit with several people not in the tech department or in the English department. We had a good time. We hooked up with Zach and Londa, and got on the road at about 7:00. Zach and Londa offered the use of their car, so we grabbed our iPass gadget for the tolls, and after a brief stop at Starbucks for Zach to grab some caffeine, we were underway.
The trip to Ellen’s was uneventful, but very pleasant. The Churchills are both fun people, and we chatted the entire way. Ellen greeted us when we got to her place at about 10:30. I was very quickly in bed, but I think the girls stayed up and chatted for a short time.
The next morning, Mer and I walked a couple of blocks to a nearby farmers’ market and picked up some raspberries as part of breakfast. We made them available to everyone, but I think Ellen and I ate most of them. Ellen is always a gracious host, so she made crepes, which I filled with jelly or nutella and served to Mer, Zach, and Londa, who were chatting in Ellen’s sitting room. The crepes were excellent. After breakfast, we packed up and headed over to Ellen’s school, Hillsdale Academy, to give Zach and Londa the tour. After the slight detour, we headed off to Mom and Marc’s house. I went with Zach in his car, and Mer and Londa and Ellen went in her car. We took different routes (we followed my GPS, while Ellen took a road with which she was familiar), and we got to Mom’s within five minutes of each other.
We all got settled in the house, when Ellen announced she would turn into Cranky Ellen if lunch were not forthcoming by 3:00. Since Ellen’s friend Katie was not scheduled to arrive until late, we headed north to the cute town of St. Joseph. We found a cafe there called the Broad Street Cafe, and we were sitting down to eat just before 3:00, so that was all good. The food was most welcome.
After lunch, we wandered the three-block main shopping street of the town, but only poked around in one or two stores. The main attraction was the beach – it was a fairly hot day, so we headed down to the very well-groomed beach, where we waded in the water. The water was very warm, and the air was quite a bit cooler down by the water. The beach was crowded, but not unnavigable, so we walked in the shallow water over toward the pier that leads out to the pair of lighthouses that mark the entrance of the St. Joseph River. Getting out by the pier meant that I had to walk out on the pier, so we all strolled out along it. We relaxed at the end of the pier and looked around, and with some very excellent timing, a large construction barge with a huge crane was just coming in off the lake. So, I had to watch that come in. We were able to walk back behind the barge since it was only going about two or three miles per hour.
Once we got back to land, we headed back to the car. Somewhere along the way, Londa saw a poster for fireworks on Sunday night, so we made plans to come back to see them. We got back to the house and puttered around until Katie showed up. She had already eaten, and felt comfortable enough to stay behind while we went out to eat at Culver’s, a local burger place that specializes in custard (ice cream). We ate a very good supper, and headed back home. As is the rule at Mom’s, everyone does what he or she wants to, so some people stayed up and chatted while others went to bed. I was in the bedward group myself. Sunday was looking to be a great day.