Mer and I made a quick trip out to the Michigan home of Mom to see Mom and Marc and Sis-der and the World’s Cutest Niece (Prof. Pop was busy gradin’ papers, so we did not get to see him in Michigan). We left Friday after school, and we came back today (Sunday), so it was very much a whirlwind tour. But, it was Mom’s Day, and Sis-der, Prof. Pop, and WCN are moving on Friday to go to Alabama, so we wanted to take this as a last chance to see them before they became much farther away.

Mer and I got to the house about 10:00 on Friday (it would have been about 9:30 if I had not remembered exit 13 as exit 31 – ooopps). We stayed up and chatted with Mom and Marc, and then went to bed. It is very quiet and peaceful there, so Mer and I slept well, getting up about 8:00. Mom and Marc were gracious enough to take us out to breakfast, so after we had showered, we all walked the 1/2 mile or so to Sammie’s restaurant. We all ordered skillets. I got scrambled eggs on TOP of a mound of home fries covered in cheese. Wow, was that good! AND Sammie’s had free refills on hot chocolate! What a great breakfast. We tromped back to the house, and Sis-der and WCN were there waiting, although WCN was napping. Aunt Linda showed up a few minutes later, and we sat around and talked until I had to take a nap myself. Mer, of course, was grading the whole time. When I got up from my nap, Mer was still grading, but all the other ladies had gone for a walk (Marc was puttering in the yard). Everyone came back, and we talked and ate (Mom always has a ton of junk food on hand). Aunt Linda left, and Sis-der and I went for a walk to the beach while Mom put WCN to bed for nap number two of the day. When we got back, we had an early supper of Marc’s excellent grilled burgers. WCN woke up, and so she became the rightful center of attention for an hour or so. During this time, WCN demonstrated her promising intellect by picking up some light reading (while munching on a cracker).

After Sis-der and WCN left, Mer graded while Marc, Mom and I watched the History Channel (the history of welding, which  is appealing to Mom since she is in construction. It was quite interesting, in a nerdy sort of way.). We did make time to get down to the beach to see the sunset – it was beautiful. Lake Michigan is a fantastic lake, and the wind was up last night. So, in a clear sky with a pretty sunset, there was a strong wind and two-foot waves. It was great!

This morning, we took Mom to Sis-der’s house to drop her off for a few hours so she could babysit the WCN while Sis-der packed. We got to see Prof. Pop, and in a nice bonus, my brother Jeremy had spent the night on his cross-country trek from Utah back to Maine for the summer. We were not able to visit long – only about 30 minutes or so, but it was nice to see everyone. The trip back was uneventful, although Mer and I did get through six 30-minute lectures on Faulkner (three lectures on The Sound and the Fury and three on Absalom, Absalom!) which were fascinating – I had known almost nothing about Faulkner. He sounds really interesting, but it sounds like his novels are difficult to read.

Anyway, a quick, but very rewarding and fun, getaway.

If you don’t mind the resolution, here is a short video of the lake from last night: