I had not run in a full marathon since October of 2005, when I had a rather disappointing Chicago Marathon, coming in at a 4:21 time. I had high hopes for the 2009 Akron Marathon on Saturday, September 26th, though. Since the Chicago Marathon, I had lost 10 or so pounds, and I have been running year-round for several years now (I used to take winters off, but our treadmill changed that). My running partner (and boss) pushes me quite hard on our runs with a pretty aggressive training schedule. Last year, I trained with Jim for a marathon, but I was not able to run in one because of the cost (marathons can cost up to $100 to enter). Jim ran his marathon last year in 3:35, so I began to think that a 3:30 marathon was possible for me since we train together. Since my previous best time was 3:56 (in 2000), a 3:30 marathon would be pretty amazing.

Jim and I started the training quite early this year, starting serious longer runs in June. I also started training on a hill-intensive 7-mile loop for my regular (during the week) runs. Jim and I were joined by three other guys who wanted to run the marathon – Jason (who works at CVCA), Alex (a former CVCA student) and Angelo (a former CVCA student). The extra company was encouraging, and they were training for the Akron Marathon, which was earlier than the Columbus Marathon in which Jim and I planned to run. That helped push me and Jim. Jim also wanted to make sure we got more 20+ mile runs in this year to make sure we were in better shape. I only managed two of those runs because of schedule conflicts (Jim ended up with a staggering five), but both of the runs were fast and felt good and so were encouraging.

So, once I decided to run Akron (see below), I felt pretty good about my chances, and thought a 3:30 marathon was a very real possibility. I was certainly in the best shape of my life, and while I had some nagging left knee issues, they were minor and I could run through them.

A few days before the marathon, I was in the shower, thinking (I like to think in the shower). It occurred to me suddenly that I could run this race in honor of Meredith’s grandmother, Leona Wooster. Gram had been diagnosed with untreatable lung cancer in late August, and was only given a few months to live. Many people run marathons in memory of loved ones, but I wanted to see if I could encourage Gram by running in honor of her while she was still with us. It seemed like a great idea, so I resolved to do it, but I kept it to myself. One, I like surprising people, and two, I did not want to promise to run for Gram and then get hurt and not be able to run.

I was able to get a shirt made up that said “Wooster” across the chest, and I was able to hide it under an outer button-up shirt the day of the race. Meredith noticed I was not wearing my usual blue racing shirt and tried to see it, but I was able to distract her by telling her I was wearing white in case it got sunny.

Mer and I met up with our friend Nate, who was going to run the half-marathon. Nate is a fairly new runner (he started running last September), and he trained with me some. We were going to run together until the half and full marathons split around mile 11 or so. It is always good to have company for these things. Jim (my boss) was going to jump into the race at about mile 8 to run with me and help pace me. You are not supposed to do that, but Jim wanted to help me run (and he would get an 18-mile run in himself that way).

The forecast had been for rain, but it held off. It did drizzle lightly a few times on the course, and I heard that it really began to rain about a half hour after Mer and I left, after I had finished. I was most grateful for the lack of rain. It did make it humid, but at least Mer could stay dry (she was sick), and while I don’t mind running in the rain, I prefer to run when it is dry.

I’ll spare you all of the details of the run. The start is in the dark (it starts at 7:00 and sunrise was at about 7:15 or so). We do get to see the sun coming up as we run across one of the major Akron bridges (at mile 1 and at mile 2), which is pretty. As always, Mer was there to cheer me on, and I got to give her the traditional kiss on the cheek and an “I love you” at miles 3 and 10. It is very special to me that Mer bothers to come out and cheer me on to see me four times (start, miles 3 and 10, and finish) over 3+ hours. What a trooper. Mer did have good company with Nate’s wife, Rachel, and our friend Lis (who is married to a CVCA teacher, Matt, who was running the half).

Nate and I found miles 4 and 5 to be pretty tedious. That section was run out along a commercial area, so fan support was low since there were not really any houses in the area. The race was also along a major road that was along rolling hills, and it just seemed to take a while, and this section was part of my second slowest splits out of five sections of the race.

We met up with Jim at mile 8 as planned, and we had a good time talking. Nate split off at mile 11, with an outside shot of breaking 1:40 for the half. He finished at 1:40:52, which was only 24 seconds slower than my first half marathon in 2006 (which was along a flat and faster course). Nate had a great run, and I was happy for him.

The back part of the Akron marathon takes place along the Towpath (which is familiar territory for me and Jim), and then winds along roads through park lands and then neighborhoods. It is all very pretty, but what is very tough about the back part of this race is the hills. From mile 16 through mile 24, the course is largely uphill or along rolling hills. This includes a 1.7-mile-long hill from mile 16 though mile 18. For some odd reason, this uphill section was my fastest part of the race, a good 30 seconds/mile faster than my average pace. I guess I wanted to get the hills over with. Along about mile 20, Jim asked me how I was doing. I told him I’d be doing okay if the blasted hills would stop so I could get my legs back under me. I was getting pretty tired.

There was a steep two-block-long hill near the mansion Stan Hywet that hurt quite a bit. I put my head down and ran hard up it, and happily there was a water station near the top. Since I walk through water stations so I can get a good drink, I was happy that I could take a short walking rest. The course did take us through part of Stan Hywet’s gounds, which were pretty.

Along about mile 23, I was really hurting. I really wanted to walk, but I had two factors going on. One, I was racing for Gram, and along this section I told myself I could not walk because “I can’t give Gram crap.” If I was going to honor her, I was going to give her my best. Also, I knew I still had a real shot at breaking 3:30, but not if I walked anywhere outside of the water stations. Jim was also a real help along here. We were no longer talking much (I was too tired), but it was good to have him along. It also helped having people yell “Go, Wooster!” in response to my shirt; this section had a fair number of spectators, so that helped.

I took things one mile at a time, and Jim talked me though the last hill at mile 25. We turned the corner on to High Street, where the marathon finishes, and Jim peeled off right at mile 26 (the last .2 miles are fenced in by barriers for some reason). I am deeply grateful to Jim for his encouragement in the training and during this run. The marathon finishes up in the very cool Akron Aeros baseball field, and I ran on the the field and started pumping my fist in the air. I knew I had it. I finished the race, crossing the line in 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 20 seconds (3:28:20). That works out to a 7:57/mile pace for 26.2 miles, and I broke my previous best time by 28 minutes. I was thrilled. What a great race. No crap for Gram.

Nate had waited for me (what a guy!), and so he helped me to a seat and then he went looking for Meredith. He found her, and Mer took me home, tired but happy. Here are my stats for the race:

2009 Akron Marathon
3:28:20 finishing time, 7:57/mile pace
132 out of 1,421 finishers (top 9.3%)
113 out of 976 male finishers (top 11.6%)
15 out of 144 males, 35-39 years old (top 10.4%)

——————————————————————————————————-

Interesting story about getting to the decision to run Akron. I had planned on running Columbus, but it was looking like that was going to be expensive because Mer and I would have to get a hotel. So, I decided to run the Towpath Marathon instead. It was about the same time (October 11th), and was flat and fast, and so I would have a good shot at breaking a 3:30 time. I had told my friends who were training for Akron that they were nuts because Akron is so hilly. I figured you could not run a fast race in Akron.

So, I was out running my hilly 7-mile loop one day and was thinking about the race. I am a Christian, but I do not “hear” from God very often. This day, I suddenly felt as if I should not run the Towpath Marathon, but that I should run the Akron instead. I started making excuses in my head and tried to talk myself and God out of that idea. This lasted for several days, and finally it came to me that I was saying that I was putting a fast Towpath course ahead of what I felt as if I was being called to do. I was basically saying that the all-powerful God of everything could not possibly make me run fast on a hilly course, so I would have to run the flat course. I finally saw the flaw in that logic, and submitted; I decided to run Akron out of obedience to what I felt was God’s call. At the time I thought it was because Akron was a Saturday race and Towpath was a Sunday race. If I ran Towpath, I would have to miss church, in effect not honoring the (Christian Sunday) Sabbath (one of the Ten Commandments). That very well may have been a large part of it, but now I’m not so sure.

I ran the race in honor of Gram. I was able to send her my shirt (washed, of course), my finisher’s medal, and a letter telling her how I loved her. She got this package, and I am told it was a huge encouragement to Gram and Gramps, which was the intent. I was blessed enormously in knowing I was able to encourage Gram.

The Towpath Marathon, which I had wanted to run so I could have a fast time, was Sunday, October 11th. Gram passed away on Friday, October 9th. God wanted me to run the Akron Marathon because Gram was not going to make it to the Towpath Marathon. If I had disobeyed what I was sure was God’s call, I would have missed my chance to tell Gram what I felt and to bless her (and myself). I am still in awe at this. God is good – I obeyed, and was able to honor Gram and still break 3:30. Amazing. Thank you, Lord.

Saturday (September 12th) was our last day in Chicago for the Wedding Weekend. James came over to the apartment, and we all headed to Jury’s restaurant. According to Shannon and Jo, Jury’s is well known for their burgers, and Shannon likes it because they are a rare place that sells hard cider (which he likes). It was a very pretty day, so we sat out on the deck in the back of the restaurant. Fair Irish Maine boys sat in the shade and were thus comfortable – most of the deck was shaded, happily. The burgers were quite good, and it was a very pleasant lunch.

Shannon and Jo decided that we had to try a nearby ice cream place for dessert, so we wandered over to Drew’s. Drew’s makes all-natural ice cream. I got a brownie with ice cream on it, and it was quite good, but if I go back, I’m going to get what Shannon got – an ice cream cookie sandwich. His looked really good.

By this point it was early afternoon, so Mer and I decided we should go. I wanted to stop by Mom and Marc’s place in Michigan for a few hours, and then try to make it to eastern Michigan to see our good friend Ellen. Staying with Ellen would make the Sunday drive home much shorter, and we would probably even get to go to church with her. I had hoped we would be on the road at 1:00, but it was a little after 2:00 when we left. We gave James a lift since we were going right by the University of Chicago area.

We got to Mom and Marc’s place about 5:30 (because of the time difference), and Mom and Marc and Kelly and Paul were just getting ready to sit down to a dinner of ribs and corn and other good stuff. Mom and Marc insisted they had enough and so asked us to eat with them, which we were quite happy to do. We ate too much, and got to chat for about an hour and a half, at which point I felt we needed to leave to have any chance of catching Ellen awake. We went out to the car and started to pull out when a flock of turkeys came wandering out. I had never seen wild turkeys before, plus they were wandering right in the road, so we stopped the car and got out and watched. They were funny little birds. They also delayed us another 25 minutes or so, so it was about 8:00 when we left Mom’s. It had been my original plan to be at Ellen’s at 8:00, but we were delayed in Chicago and I had spaced on the hour time difference. Ooops. And no, I had never told Ellen we were coming – I love surprising people. It does carry some risks though.

Ever the optimist, I was determined to drive to Ellen’s in the hope that we would get there about 9:30 and she would still be up. We made decent time, but it was almost 10:00 when we pulled into her driveway, and her entire downstairs was dark. However, there was an upstairs light on, so I tried knocking and ringing the doorbell. Mer felt as if we were probably going to wake her, and wanted to leave, but I at least tried calling information for Ellen’s number. Sadly, her number is not listed, at least not in Michigan. So, feeling a bit foolish about my bad planning, Mer and I wrote Ellen a note and stuck it on her car under the windshield wiper. We then proceeded to drive the rest of the way home, and got home about 1:00 or so. We later found out that Ellen had been awake watching a movie, and thought she may have heard a doorbell, but figured if it was a friend she would get a cell phone call. She clearly mistakes me for someone with the brains to have my iPod with me for all of my numbers.

We would have loved to stay with Mom and company or to see Ellen, but getting home late Saturday/early Sunday did allow us to sleep in and have a very mellow day instead of spending a good chunk of it on the road. Next time though, I won’t be such a turkey – I’ll bring my phone numbers along.

Friday of the wedding weekend (September 11th) was an all-tourist kind of day. Jolene had to work (sad), so that left me and Mer to be touristy, with Shannon leading the way. To get the day started off right, Shannon and I ran up to the Skokie Sculpture Park and park and back, a run of about 6 miles or so. It was fairly gratifying that I was clearly in better shape than Shannon, which is often not the case. Shannon is an avid biker, but had not gotten to ride much over the summer, and I was two weeks away from a marathon, so I was in pretty good shape.

After we showered and got ready, we headed over to Ann Sather’s Restaurant for breakfast. Mer and I love this restaurant for breakfast – they have huge and very good cinnamon rolls that we quite enjoy. We always walk to the restaurant from Shannon’s place, a walk of about 2-3 miles. It is fun to see the city neighborhoods, and we always go along back streets to get to see houses and buildings. We do this even when we visit Chicago in the winter. It whets the appetite.

After we got done with breakfast, we decided it would be fun to go downtown and see a few sights, especially the sights that had changed in the 8+ years since we’ve lived in Chicago. Shannon works for the Art Institute, so that seemed a great place to start. Shannon was able to get us into the staff area of the building to meet a couple of curators of whom Shannon is very fond. They were very nice and funny women, and specialized in ancient art. On the recommendation of the curators, we then went to see an ancient falcon sculpture that looks as if it could have been right out of the Art Deco period. We also wandered through some of the 16th and 17th century rooms of paintings to see a few paintings that are very famous and/or that Shannon and Jo like.

The main attraction Shannon wanted us to see in our limited time at the Art Institute was the new modern wing. It is beautiful. I think Shannon said it was $300 million, and it looks like it. It has wooden floors, large ceilings, huge windows that look over the city, and the art is laid out in a logical (and not crowded) manner. Much of the art we blew by, but Shannon did want us to see some of the views of the city which happen to be near art that does not pass the Matt Test (the “could I have made it?” test), and thus the art made me angry. Still, much of the modern art was at least okay, and the views of the city are fantastic.

The new wing has a new restaurant and patio that looks over the park and the city, and also has a pedestrian bridge into Millennium Park. This is a great space. While we were looking at the city and having our picture taken, a woman was being filmed next to us for some kind of Chicago-based TV show. We then wandered down the bridge (which also has wonderful views of the city) into Millennium Park.

Millennium Park is a wonderful addition to the city. It has a lot of space, and the outdoor auditorium is really cool. They have planted walking gardens and new hedges that will take 20 years to grow to maturity. There is a cool winding bridge that connects the park to the shoreline. There is a small artificial stream that runs through part of the park, and several business people were eating lunch beside it or dangling their feet in it. Mer and I dangled our feet in the stream, and it was really cold! Shannon talked to a local guide who said the stream mirrors the original Lake Michigan shoreline, which is neat (the current shoreline is probably 3/4 of a mile away from the park). We wandered over by the sculpture called “The Bean,” which has become a Chicago icon and is strangely fascinating. The park’s fountain/square was working, to the delight of many children, but the large signs on either side that usually show faces that spit water at the kids were turned off. There was also a small display of Chinese sculpture near the fountain, including a metal dinosaur.

We were hot, so we stopped by a smoothie bar. Mer got water, but I was happy to get a strawberry concoction. We then jumped on the El to go back to the apartment, but got off a stop or two early to get ice cream at a place Shannon recommended. It was quite good. We then walked to the apartment, where Jo met up with us. It was a good afternoon, and the evening was still ahead.

We all piled in Jo’s car to head out to dinner and a show. We ate near the theater we were going to, at a local Italian chain called Leona’s. Mer and I are very fond of Leona’s as well, having eaten there quite a bit when we lived in Chicago. Sadly, this night, the food was slow in coming, and Mer’s food came out last and late, so she did not have much time to eat it. We did make it to the nearby theater in time, but it was not the leisurely sort of meal we like to have.

Shannon and Jo treated us to a play called The Night Season, which is a play about an Irish family. It was about a father (often drunk), his three daughters, an elderly (and slightly crazy) grandmother, an American actor who stays with the family, and one of the daughter’s former boyfriends. The theater was very intimate, with the stage only about 10 feet away. The audience was fairly small (about 25 people). The actors did a fine job in acting their roles. I enjoyed the play, and found it compelling, but it mostly just told a story. There is certainly nothing wrong with telling a good story, but the play did not leave me thinking too deeply about it when I left. Still, I do enjoy theater and it was excellent storytelling, so I had a very good time.

Not a bad little day in Chicago.

Sorry for the lag in blogging once again – I was sick for about 18 days, and then out of town for 4 days, so much of October’s planned blogging got put on the back burner. I certainly needed to mention this entry, though – it was 18 years in the making.

Back in early August, I got an e-mail from Mom that had a subject of “Wedding.” I figured a cousin or someone was getting married and Mom wanted me to know. I was rather happily surprised when I opened the e-mail and found out that Mom and her long-time (and long-suffering) other half, Marc, were getting married on September 10th. She said she would understand if I could not be there with the start of school and all, but that was just silly. I would not have missed this wedding for the world. I love weddings, and I like Marc very much, and it’s my Mom – c’mon!

Meredith and I got permission to miss school both Thursday and Friday of that week in September, and we made our way out to Chicago after school on Wednesday the 9th. It was uneventful, with the highlight being the traditional stop at Dairy Queen near South Bend. We got to Shannon and Jo’s place late, but stayed up to see Shannon’s excellent DVD slide show of the pictures of their summer trip to Maine. The pictures were quite fantastic, and Shannon chose some fun music to go along with the pictures.

Thursday came about and we spent much of the morning puttering. Shannon made brunch (French toast) while Jo ran errands. We all took our turns in the sole bathroom in the apartment, and got spiffed up and headed down to the University of Chicago with Jo driving. We got there in plenty of time, and only a few people were there yet.

The small chapel that Mom and Mar chose was beautiful. It could only hold about 50-60 people, but the seats were carved wood, the stone was classic gray, and the altar was backed by a giant stained glass window. It was a great venue. The place started filling up, and finally we got word that Mom and Marc had arrived. We went outside to say hey, and escorted them in a side door so Marc could go to the front of the chapel and Mom could go to the foyer.

Mom went to great lengths to make sure her children were involved in her wedding. Shannon and I got to walk Mom in (a task I apparently sucked at – Shannon and I went at different speeds with me going faster, so Mom got kind of cockeyed). Kelly got to be the Matron of Honor (I’m sure she’ll be happy with her being called “Matron”). Jolene and Meredith got to read poems; Jolene read a poem by Maya Angelou that Mom had requested. Meredith read three sonnets (Shakespeare, Barrett Browning, and ee cummings) and (at my suggestion) a poem about husbands by Ogden Nash (he he!). The officiating bishop did a great job of officiating a dignified service, while still having a few moments of levity that showed how well he knew Mom and Marc. I was very pleased at the liturgy of the service – I’m not sure what one it was, but it was very sound from a Christian perspective.

Marc seemed nervous – that made me smile. Marc is usually very much in control and usually very quick to help with the levity of a gathering. His being nervous was wonderfully honest, and it was a nice testament to his feelings. Mom looked very elegant in a simple blue dress, and the space was small enough that the service was easy to hear.

The service lasted about 30 minutes, and then we all went outside to chat. The World’s Cutest Niece was quite happy to be playing with a balloon of a butterfly, and the Wold’s Cutest Nephew was very well behaved in his car/travel seat. It was good to see Kelly and Paul and the family – we do not get to see them so much as we get to see Shannon and Jo and Mom and Marc.

  After some pictures were taken (I actually did not take any during the ceremony since I was in it), we dispersed to go to a nearby Mediterranean restaurant that Mom and Marc had reserved. As an aside, when I got out of the car in my suit and fedora, a man outside the restaurant told me I looked as if I was a magazine cover. That made me very pleased. Not surprisingly, the restaurant’s food was ample and excellent, and was served up in four courses. Mom and Marc do know food, and I was happy to share in their good taste.

  After an excellent meal and some visiting with people, we headed out to the car to head northward. We were going back to Shannon and Jo’s. Mom and Marc and Kelly and Paul and family, as well as a few others, were headed to Mom and Marc’s apartment nearby. Mom and company were planning on heading to the Michigan home the next day, but we decided that we get to Chicago so rarely that we would stay in the city for a couple of days to see a few sights.

It was very much a lovely wedding, worth waiting 18 years for.

Thursday, Aug. 6th, was our last day in Amish Country, at least this time around. We slept in and packed everything up and made sure the cabin was in decent shape. Once everything was okay, we headed over to the town of Berlin, where we headed over to The Farmstead for brunch. We again avoided the buffet that every restaurant seemed to try to throw at us, and ordered single meals. It was a good restaurant, and I hope to get it on the Amish Country rotation.

After brunch, we drove over to a local furniture store. The two men in the store, who appeared to be in their 30s, were speaking Pennsylvania Dutch when we came in, and they continued to switch effortlessly between Pennsylvania Dutch and English while where we there, depending on who they were speaking to. Both men were very friendly, and we spent quite awhile lusting after beautiful wood furniture that was very reasonably priced. The owners also told us that we needed to head out to a local farm (near Miller’s Bakery) and get a “fry pie.” It turns out that a fry pie is the perfect way to get your fruit. The Amish take a fruit spread, like strawberry, wrap it in a pie crust, deep fry it, and coat it in a glaze. Wow, were they good.

We took the men up on their recommendation and went out to the farm. The fry pies were as good as advertised, and there were lots of other wonderful baked goods available as well (of course). We wandered around the yard a bit after we had our food, and we looked at the various animals.

We then pointed the car homeward, although I wanted to make one more stop. There is a store near Berlin that is advertised as a forge and iron works. It turns out the actual forge is in Pennsylvania, and this is a retail outlet, but it was still fun to look at the various metal pieces. While Mer was in the bathroom, I bought her a pair of earrings (with cats on them). And because this was Amish country, the earrings got me a coupon for a free piece of pie at an Amish bakery on the way home. We decided that Amish country was now aggressively flinging food at us wherever we went, and so we saved the coupon for another day.

Keep in mind that we were in Amish country for only ten possible meals, and we skipped three of them. In a little over 50 hours in food central, we both managed to pack on 10 pounds each (which we have since both managed to take off). On our 11th anniversary, there was just more of us to love!

Wednesday (August 5th) was day two in Amish country for our little anniversary getaway. We slept in, and then took our time getting ready. I sat on the front porch some and started Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Once we were presentable, we headed back to Grandma’s Homestead restaurant because we had seen the night before that they had a breakfast buffet. It was quite tasty, but my favorite part of the breakfast was the homemade strawberry jam. They were not messing around with that – it was basically smooshed-up strawberries (and probably some sugar) and it was fantastic! Shockingly, we both ate too much.

After breakfast, we headed (via scenic back roads) to Miller’s Bakery. Miller’s Bakery is off the beaten path, but had been recommended to us by the owners of the B and B. It was certainly worth the trip! They had huge cookies and desserts for very cheap, and they had homemade chocolates for $6/pound. It was a pity that we went there when we were full, but we still managed to buy a few baked goods and chocolates. And, yes, you are starting to see a food theme in our vacation.

We stopped back at the bakery of Der Dutchman on the way back to the B and B to pick up a cake that Mer had wanted. She really had just wanted to buy a slice, but they only had whole cakes this day, so we plunked down the $4 and went home with too much food.

We went back to the cottage were we munched on our bakery goods, and I napped while Mer went on the back porch to read. Having fully rested, and having virtuously skipped lunch, we took a scenic drive out to Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen, where we tried to order fairly light – we got sandwiches again. We were both still pretty full from brunch and snacking.

At some point during the day’s driving, we saw another smile-worthy moment. We saw a very cute little Amish girl in her traditional Amish clothing, and sporting bright pink Crocs. Mer and I both agreed that Amish children are all cute, including the boys. Neither of us is particularly parentally inclined, but the children we saw were just cute. They sometimes waved and we never saw them pitching fits.

After supper, we went home again and we played Dark and Stormy, a game about the first lines of books. I think I actually won this time – I can win about 1 out of 5 times when we play, but I may be remembering it wrong. Still, I’ll say I won. We played on the front porch, and were able to wave at a couple of Amish girls who rode by on horseback. The evening was quite nice, and it was pleasant to be on the porch with a good excuse to watch the sunset.

We ended the evening by beginning a six-part adaptation of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I had recently listened to the book while running, and so wanted to see a movie version. The adaptation was decent. They cut some characters, and the changed a little bit of the ending (which we saw once we went back home – we did not watch all six parts that evening!), and made it a little more romantic, which I guess I can overlook. It was a good way to end a good day (nothing says “anniversary” like 19th-century literature!).

Mer and I took our second (of two) mini-vacations in August. Over a year ago, a friend of mine gave me a two-night stay at a Bed and Breakfast down in Ohio Amish Country. I had not used the gift certificate, and Mer thought it would be a good use of it to celebrate our 11th anniversary (which was on the 8th of August). I agreed that it was a fine idea, and so I took three days of vacation – Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, August 4th-6th. It would have made more sense to make the vacation join up with a weekend, but the B and B was booked for the weekends around our anniversary. Besides, it made for a nice treat to be away from work during the week.

We slept in at home on Tuesday (why start a vacation with setting an alarm?), and got things packed up for the 90-minute drive to Holmes County. It was a pretty day, and we had no trouble getting to Amish Country. We stopped at our usual Amish restaurant, Der Dutchman, for lunch. It was more or less on the way, and we decided we could check in at the B and B after we had eaten. I had a very good but un-Amish stir fry (the chicken in it was quite wonderful), and we swung by the bakery after lunch and drooled over the cheap baked goods (they were selling pies for $6 and entire ho-ho cakes for $4). We held off on buying any, because I wanted to visit the chocolate factory down the street that we had never been to (and had not even known existed). Before stocking up on chocolate, we decided to poke around in the shops in Walnut Creek.

My favorite store there is a religious wood carving store. I am a big fan of wood, and while a few things struck me as tacky, on the whole the carvings were tasteful and made of beautiful wood. My favorite piece was a reproduction of a hymnal page of “Amazing Grace.” It would have fit nicely in a spot in our living room, but the price was way too high (more than some complete furniture sets from Amish stores).

I was poking around in the upstairs portion of the store when I heard someone talking. I pretty quickly realized the woman was not speaking English, and after a moment or two I figured it must be Pennsylvania Dutch (a Germanic language spoken by some Amish and Mennonites). The woman was in traditional dress – a white bonnet and a plain, light blue dress. The parts that made me smile were that she was wearing white sneakers and was speaking German into her cell phone. I don’t know all the “dos and don’ts” of Amish ways, but that was a special moment and made me quite happy.

We did finally get down to the chocolate store, and they make the chocolates right there. You can watch the small factory where the candies are made, and the store wisely leaves the factory windows open so you can smell the chocolate. If I recall correctly, we bought over 1.5 pounds of chocolate (most of it was mine, I have to admit). With our evening goodies well in hand, we made our way back to the car and drove the 15 minutes or so to our B and B, a cabin called “A Little Slice of Heaven.”

The “Little Slice of Heaven” cabin is very pretty, and only has capacity for two groups of guests. We had to share the place with another couple who showed up late on Tuesday and left early on Wednesday, so they were no bother at all. We had the place all to ourselves on Wednesday night. The cabin is small, but has lots of woodwork and all the features we wanted in a B and B – a TV with DVD player for movies, a nice stereo for music, and a whirlpool bath for luxury. We let ourselves in and unpacked, and Meredith polished off her book she was reading while I quality-tested the bed by taking a nap.

We decided to deliberately strike out and explore new places that evening. Usually when we go to Amish country, we just go to Der Dutchman. The friend who owns the B and B strongly encouraged us to get on the back roads and see things, so we did. It was good advice. We took a bunch of back roads through lots of farm country. We saw several horse-and-buggy teams on the road, and we had little trouble getting to our restaurant of choice, Grandma’s Homestead. I figured we had decided on a decent place when I saw a hitch rail with several horses tied up to it. I know that much of Holmes County is touristy, but I took it as a good sign if the local Amish ate there from time to time.

Mer and I ate another excellent meal, and we even tried to be light by getting sandwiches since we were still full from lunch and chocolates. I was thwarted in trying to avoid dessert when I found out my meal came with free dessert. I got some custard ice cream with Oreos mixed in. I was okay, but I need to remember to stick with baked goods when in Amish Country – that is where the desserts really excel.

We went back to the B and B where we relaxed by watching the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic Top Hat. The music and fun nature of the film suited my mood quite well, and it was a very nice way to end a very pleasant day.

July 4th was a Saturday this year, and nothing says “Freedom” like a road trip to go see outdoor sculpture. So, we headed off early to go to the Meijer Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids, which was about 90 minutes away. It was a fine day, with some clouds, but we figured that between the slight threat of rain and the holiday, we would have the gardens mostly to ourselves, which turned out to be pretty accurate. The rain never came, and so we had a warm but not sunburn-likely day, which is pretty ideal for me.

Getting to the gardens was uneventful, and Meredith was tickled to see that it was right across the street from Cornerstone University, where she has had several students go. We parked in the lightly-populated parking lot, and made our way inside. We paid, and used the restrooms, and saw that there were some inside exhibits, but made our way outside pretty quickly in case it were to rain. We grabbed a map from the inside info desk, and armed with this, Meredith was able to plan our orderly tour of the grounds. We immediately dismissed the idea of a guided tour via tram (neither of us likes tram tours since you cannot always linger at a place). Mer decided to circle around the outside of the park, strongly encouraged by me since it was a wooden walkway through some wetlands. I like walkways. The wetlands were pretty, and had some animal sculptures placed in the trees and bushes and that pleased us both very much. The gardens overall did a very nice job of incorporating the sculptures with the landscape, even when the sculptures were abstract.

The walkway ended near the “farm” area of the gardens, with pretty farm buildings and sculptures of farm animals. We poked around the barn (which had been moved to the gardens from elsewhere) and farmhouse (which really just held bathrooms), and then Mer kicked into gentle tour-mode. We took the wandering garden paths in a gentle stroll, but in a manner that would allow us to see the entire gardens without have to backtrack much. There are several areas of the gardens that are quite isolated, with sculptures down shielded paths, and the largest sculptures are spaced quite a bit apart, so nowhere does the park feel cramped or crowded.

We did end up seeing the entire park. I think it took about 5 hours, plus a little more to see the inside exhibits. I liked most of the pieces I saw, and I do not remember being made angry by any of the modern pieces. I do give much more allowance for abstract sculpture for some reason. I generally like it, especially when it is outside. I think the abstract pieces are better when surrounded by trees. Some of my favorite works included:

A horse sculpture that looks for all the world like it is made of driftwood, and it looks like a horse Death would ride. It is actually made of bronze, but it really does look like wood. It is pretty remarkable.

A huge horse sculpture that is one of the main works of the Gardens. Here we came across a family with two small children. They were running around under the sculpture, and the dad announced they had to move on. As they ran under the sculpture, the older of the two children (who was probably four) looked up and announced “Daddy! This horse is a boy horse!” I found that rather amusing.

There were a pair of very whimsical dragons in the children’s section of the park which made me think of a former student of mine and made me convinced that Mer and I need to kidnap her and take her to the Gardens to see these creations. 

There was a sculpture of an old man and a young girl, and I think it was just called The Storyteller. I’d love to be a good storyteller someday, so I liked the piece.

There were many more sculptures around, and they were quite wonderful. I strongly recommend swinging by Grand Rapids if you are ever even close to the area. You can spend a quite delightful 4-6 hours here.

We did also look at the indoor exhibits, which had a special exhibit featuring works by Calder, who invented the mobile (sculptures that hang and balance from string or wire), as well as huge steel sculptures that can be found worldwide (including Grand Rapids). There are regular indoor exhibits as well that included a carnivorous plant exhibit and a Victorian garden. It really is a wonderful place to visit, and Mer and I want to go back in the fall and winter to see how the grounds change.

Once we were back to the car, Meredith asked if we could swing by the three nearby colleges where she either had students attending or where she had known people who had gone there. She likes to be able to visualize the campuses. Since they were close, I agreed, so we popped across the street to the small but nice campus of Cornerstone University. We made the circuit of campus in just a few minutes, and so proceeded on to the other side of town to Calvin University. Calvin has a much bigger campus, and is more traditional- looking, with more brick buildings, paths, and many trees. Even driving, it took us over 10 minutes to get around the entire campus. It just seemed to go on and on.

We hit the highway and headed back south. Our last stop was to be in Holland, home of Hope College. We got off at the Holland exit and proceeded in to town, and it looked pretty bland – huge strip malls and nondescript housing areas. Mer’s friend had always talked about how cute the college and town were, and I have to admit that I was skeptical. We pushed on and drove into the real downtown, the historical area. It was charming. There were traditional shops that faced wide sidewalks, with restaurants and bookstores and music shops. We drove around Hope College, and it was fairly contained (about 1 block by 2 blocks), but it was very pretty. I needed to use a restroom, so we stopped and wandered around a bit. We found a great bakery that served unusual, large, chocolate desserts, and we were quite won over. We hope to get back to Holland again soon as well.

Once we got back to Mom and Marc’s place, we told them about our day, and then the four of us went downstairs to watch the movie Doubt. It is a film about a Catholic priest who is accused of molesting a boy in his school, and the film revolves around how one can prove something like that. It was quite excellent and thought- provoking. Oddly, Marc and I felt for the priest, while Mom and Mer felt more for the nun who was defending the child. A very good film – I recommend it.

We went home on Sunday, and picked up with a pleasant stay-at-home summer (including going to see The Winter’s Tale for free with our friends Matt and Lis). However, so that I can soon get back to live blogging, I’ll wrap up the entire month of July with this journaling of a very good vacation.

Thursday (July 2nd), we tried another Michigan parks trail. This time it was a small free park called Warren Woods. The trail head again had no map, but the trail was in okay condition and in a pretty woods, so we felt fairly encouraged. This was furthered when the trail began to border a small ravine with a stream at the bottom – it was pretty with the promise of getting much prettier. We crested a hill and found some stairs leading to a beautiful wide wooden foot bridge. This was a very happy find, and so we strolled across the bridge to see what awaited on the other side. Here, the Michigan trail fantasy ended. On the other side of this fantastic bridge the trail abruptly ended in a swamp. We thought that maybe things had been wet and the trail might continue on the other side of the swampy area, but we saw no evidence of that and were getting swarmed by mosquitoes. So, Warren Woods trail turned out to be a great 3/4 of a mile long trail. We headed back to the car.

We drove up to Silver Beach in St. Joe’s to walk around the town and the beach. The town was building a carousel and ballroom near the beach; I will be excited to see how that turns out someday. I support a ballroom! The day was very windy, and so the beach was not overly crowded, although there were quite a few people out anyway. We walked along the beach and headed toward the dual breakwater/lighthouses of Silver Beach. The pier cautions people against walking along it, but it is very wide and fairly smooth, so people walk and fish all along the structure. We wandered out to the edge and watched the waves come crashing over the concrete, and we got to see a sailboat go out on the very choppy lake. After a very leisurely time, we headed back to the car and headed home. Happily, Mom and Marc came in that night, so we got to see them some that evening.

On Friday, we headed out with Mom and Marc in their car. They agreed to drop us off at Weko Dunes State Park. If you walk into the park, it costs nothing to get in, and then it is about a two mile hike back along the beach to get back to the Weko city park. We thought that would be fun. It was a very pretty day, and the Weko Dunes beach was absolutely mobbed. It was funny – there were what felt like thousands of people all in fairly close proximity, but if you wandered a little ways along the beach, the crowds disappeared. I guess it is hard to walk to uncrowded areas with a cooler, beach umbrella, and a four-year-old in tow.

The walk was quite nice, all in all. It turns out much of the walk was easiest if we walked in the water. There, the sand had been compressed into a hard surface that was pretty easy to walk on, plus the water was cool. On the occasions where rocks drove us back to the sand of the beach, the walking was much harder and a lot hotter. I’m not sure how long it took us to walk the whole way back to Weko Beach, but it was long enough that I was glad I did not have to turn around and do it again to get back to a car.

Back at the house, Aunt Linda and Uncle Kenny showed up, and so we had quite a crew for dinner (six in all). After dinner, we headed down to the beach to see the sunset, and as a bonus, the beach had three trumpet players playing “Taps” as the sun set. It is tradition for someone to play “Taps” at the beach when the sun goes down, but it is very unusual to get three trumpet players on one evening. It was a very pretty way to end a pretty day.

Okay. After weeks of being depressed at how far behind my blog had gotten, I have made the radical decision to skip most of the summer. Imagine I did lots of fun things and ate too much, and you would not be far from the truth. I have decided that I did need to blog about a couple of summer things, though. We took two trips this summer – 6 days in Michigan at Mom’s place over the Fourth of July, and 3 days in Amish country in August for our anniversary celebration. I’ll get to the August trip in the next day or two.

Since this was the second summer of trying to sell our old house, we needed to look for a vacation on-the-cheap. Mom’s place in Michigan is very beautiful and has the wonderful merit of being free. Also, Mom and Marc would be there on the weekend and that would be fun, so off to Michigan we went.

We left on Monday, June 30th. We had stuck around until Monday because Mer’s parents were in town over the weekend for Aunt Mary’s 70th birthday party on Saturday the 27th (a big shindig I wish I could blog about). At any rate, we left on Monday. Mom’s place is only five-and-a-half hours away, so we got there in good time. At this point, I’m not sure what we did that evening, but my guess is we played games for the evening.

The next day (Tuesday) we started off with our usual visit to Sammie’s Diner for breakfast. Sammie’s has huge breakfasts that are pretty cheap, so we are fond of the place. Later in the day, we headed down to South Bend to see our friends Gen and Dan. We had not seen them in almost two years, and they had added a new member of the family in that time. So, we got to meet Ellie, who is very cute and seems very good-natured. Gen’s dad came over, and we all headed over to a very good Mediterranean restaurant, Elia’s. Gen and Dan were excited that we wanted to go there; it seems that their South Bend friends are reluctant to get Mediterranean cuisine. We had a good time together, and headed back to Gen and Dan’s place for a little while. Since we still had a 40-minute drive, we had to leave around 9:00 or so, but I do have to say my addiction to dessert, especially after eating out, got the better of me. After getting gas, I pulled in to the Perkins restaurant next to the gas station to get dessert. It was yummy.

Wednesday was the first of July, and it was a nice day. Mer and I wanted to find some places to hike in the area. We like hiking in Ohio, and the parks around us are well maintained and free. So, we set out to find a park. We landed on going to Grand Mere state park. It had a slightly confusing gate. It was supposed to cost $8 to get in, but there was no ranger. The information kiosk was stuffed with a diaper, and the lock-box-looking thing seemed to be in disrepair and looked as if the money might just fall out. I felt bad about it, but given all of that, we just went into the park.

I’m afraid to say that Michigan parks (we checked out another one or two over the week) make Ohio parks shine. Grand Mere was the best of the parks we found, but there was no ranger, there were no trail maps, and the main trail was next to a swamp and so the place was swarming with mosquitoes. We walked along for about a half a mile, and had resolved to turn around and leave shortly if we did not get away from the bugs, when we found a trail that went (very steeply) up a sand dune. So, we took that. The dune was very difficult to get up, but once we did, there was a breeze and no bugs. The dunes kept going up, so we kept climbing, and were given wonderful views of the lake. We tromped around the dunes and headed down to the beach. We meandered around the beach for some time and had fun watching the lake and people and a very happy stick-fetching dog. We eventually returned back up the dune and went back to the car.

We headed further north and went to South Haven. It had been recommended to us as a very cute town, and it was. It had turned cool and was spitting rain, so I don’t think we saw it at its best. We did duck into a diner/ice cream parlor for lunch, and then headed over to the South Bend Chocolate Factory for dessert. A huge piece of chocolate cake caught my eye, so we got that. It turned out to be a pretty shocking $12, but we split it, so that was less shocking. The cake weighed in at over a pound and was quite delicious. Certainly not a treat to have on a regualr basis, but it was nice on vacation.

We headed back home from there, and in approaching Silver Beach we had the happy timing to be the first in line at a drawbridge that went up for a huge freight ship. It took about 20 minutes, but I liked watching both the bridge and the boat, so I did not mind (I was actually pretty excited about it). We made it the rest of the way home and, in the mood for it, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I’ll write more about the other three days tomorrow. For now, it is good that the blog bridge has come back down and I can proceed again.