I have been looking forward to this weekend away since we booked the hotel last February. An old co-worker of mine was getting married in Marquette, and requested that there be no children at the reception. We hadn't hung out since we worked together but I was flattered that she invited us! We decided to make a weekend out of it, just the two of us, which we haven't done since our honeymoon. You can imagine, how excited I was. :)
Major thanks and shout out to my parents who watched the kids all weekend, and it seemed to go really well! We dropped them off Friday morning so that we could get started on our long 7.5 hour drive up north. It always surprises me how big Michigan is... and how much more of Michigan there is once you're past the bridge! It was weird to look back and not see all the carseats in the back, to be able to listen to the radio and pick which songs we wanted too, to stop when we needed too (which wasn't often) and to just talk without interruptions.
We ended up stopping in Cadillac for lunch at this local brewery and it was pretty good! We had burgers and we tried their sample drink thing... which was good! We liked 3/4 of what we picked which I think is a win! After we were good and full we were back on the road!
There is always this look out that i like to stop at if we are heading that far north and, since we were kidless, it wasn't that big of a deal to stop at random places! It was a lot farther north than I remember it being, but I was glad because that allowed me to take a little after lunch nap ;)
We ended up stopping again after the bridge to stretch our legs and take some gorgeous pictures of Lake Michigan. I forget how big it is and how beautiful it can be! We definitely took that time to soak it all in before we headed up into the vast unknown haha
It was about 6:30 when we checked into our hotel and got situated. We figured we should eat something before everything closed and didn't know about some of the great restaurants downtown so we just ended up at a chain. The funniest thing happened while we were there! I don't know how funny G thought it was but I am still very much amused. Our server came up from behind Gaetan and asked, "How are we doing tonight ladies?" She thought since he had the mun he was a lady... when she saw his face she said, "Oh shit! I am so sorry!" haha. It was a nice little quick dinner together, and I was just happy to at our destination.
Back at the hotel we decided to try out the hot tub. They had a kids area and then they had an adult one which was bigger and hotter. It was fun to just float around and then we met another couple there that was there for the wedding. So we chatted with them for a little while and ended up seeing them at the reception too. Turns out one of the couples lives in Portage and fairly close to us as well. That was hilarious!
The next morning we woke up for breakfast and then headed out to Presque Isle to explore. It was windy but it was gorgeous. I guess this is the best weather they had seen in awhile for that time of year and we were thankful. Lake Superior wasn't nearly as cold as i was anticipating, in fact it was pretty warm. But after we explored for awhile and soaked up all the beauty we had to head back to get ready for the wedding. It was a bit of a whirlwind day because of the wedding and all that, but it was a great day and I was sad that it went by so quickly! I could tell that G was missing the kids though since this was his first time away from them, ever. He has never missed a tucking in, so I can imagine this was pretty tough for him.
Sunday we woke up and got ready to check out. We wanted to check out Sugar Loaf again, and this time wore more appropriate footwear. They had two different trails, one more difficult and the other easier. I guess the easier one was longer but more sure footing but the difficult one wasn't that bad. It probably took us about 10 minutes to get from top to bottom which isn't bad. The view was AMAZING. It was fun because we would see were we were on Presque Isle the day before and then we could see the other parts that might be fun to explore again sometime. We kept meeting people from the Kalamazoo/Portage area while we were there too, which I think is funny. We are 7.5 hours up north and we meet these people from home, where we would probably never meet them otherwise. It was also Northern Michigan's homecoming so I think a lot of families were around for that.
Before we started the long trek home we stopped at their famous breakfast spot, Sweetwater. I have to say that is the best chai I've ever had! :) The drive back went by a lot faster than the drive up. I'm not sure why that was but I did hear a segment on NPR about it... so I guess it's not just me that feels that way! I guess on the way up we were more casual about taking our time getting there, and if we wanted to stop at different scenic outlooks we would, and did. On the way back we pretty much just drove straight through. It was a nice little vacation from the kids but it was definitely time to see their little faces again!
This was the best weekend away that we've had together, ever. I honestly think that this was better than our honeymoon because we appreciated our time together more since we don't get it often! Sure we get to go on date nights every now and again, but a WHOLE weekend together? Heaven. Also, good to know that I still like hanging out with him ;)
JVG
