Thursday, June 17 – Wednesday, June 23
We finally made it to Michigan to visit my cousin Dave and his wife Lori and boy, it did not disappoint! It was so great for our 2 families to get quality time together and for Zoey and Quinn to get to know them better. Luckily for us, Elia was home from college and Sam joined us for Father’s Day (we missed you Jake!) and the girls were instant fans of their “cousins.”
After 4 long days of driving, nothing tasted better than the carnitas tacos and Michigan brew we had that night. We even celebrated our arrival with a midnight dance party!
Our first day, we walked, biked, and skateboarded downtown for lunch at the War Water Brewery and some well-earned ice cream. We sat overlooking the St. Clair River, a giant river that is the border between USA and Canada. On both shores there is an interesting mix of beautiful riverfront homes with large, lush lawns, industrial smokestacks, and big ships heading in and out of Lake Huron. After our long walk, we enjoyed a nice evening swim at the St. Clair Golf club.
The next day, Dave, Lori, and I did a great ride along a nice network of bike paths to Marine City and then back along the river. Beautiful views and absolutely no hills. That evening, Dave and Lori had to go to a party for a close family friend and since it involved driving a few hours, we opted for a nice family dinner and movie at their house instead.
Sunday, we celebrated the dads with homemade eggs benedict made by Sam and Lori. Delicious! We headed out on the river in their sweet surf boat and drove up to Lake Huron. We anchored by the beach and ate lunch and played in the water. Sam and the girls entertained us all by being super goofy. After lunch, Sam and Elia taught Kevin and I how to surf behind the boat. It was pretty fun. When you get up on the board, you pull yourself into the wave pocket so that the board is almost touching the boat. They had awesome speakers so that the surfer could select their favorite music to surf to. I got to surf while rocking out to Black Sabbath behind the boat! Kevin couldn’t get enough of the boat surfing and definitely got the award for most turns. Elia is so good that she can completely let go of the rope and stay surfing in the pocket of the wave. So cool!
Monday and Tuesday Kevin focused on getting some work done. The girls and I checked out an awesome playground and skate park and then had a delicious lunch with Lori and Elia. I took the opportunity of having some down time to clean out the car and trailer and restock the food supply for our next leg of our journey. Lori took the girls to a candy store and bought them enough treats to hopefully last the rest of our trip. We closed out an awesome visit with an amazing dinner at the River Crab, and Elia was our server!
This morning we awoke before the sun and headed out early. Canada is closed to most visitors which means we had to drive an extra 3 hours to get around Lake Erie. Bummer!
1,000 Miles on I-90
What a great adventure you all are having. I miss all the Tracy’s and hope they come to visit soon!
cool beans! Great having you guys!