So another year draws to a close. It was an okay year. I worked a lot. That’s what I remember from the year–working and going on trips.
Our first big trip was a drive out to Nebraska to go to our nephew’s graduation. The drive was something–12 hours across country, well mostly Iowa. Ha! We saw family, that was as sweet as always, plus there was some drama too… Just can’t have a family outing/get together without some kind of drama. It all turned out okay in the end. The highlights of my trip were spending time in the pool with my grand-neice Nevaeh and grand-nephew Carson. I love pool time!! Especially with kids. Then on the way back my husband and I stopped at a state park in Illinois, Starved Rock, and did some exploring. We want to go back because it was a very pretty area.
My husband and I vacationed in Kentucky with family in July. It was fun. I spent most of my time with Nevaeh doing girly things like playing baby dolls, coloring, and doing fashion plates. We also went to the water park a couple of times. Yay! More pool time. I tried kayaking for the first time and I really enjoyed it though I don’t much care for the water in Kentucky’s lakes and rivers. Very muddy. In addition to playing with my niece, another favorite part of the trip was visiting Mammoth Cave. I had been before when I was a teen and it was awesome to go back and see more of it. I still want to go back and see more. There are hundreds of miles of cave(s) to explore. We went a day with family, did 2 cave tours, then went back on our way home. We spent the night in a cabin at the National park and did 2 more cave tours. The damn tours get booked up so fast we had to take what we could get but it was all interesting. I want to plan out a trip and book some tours far in advance. I want to go back! I’d have to say that Kentucky is probably my second favorite state after Michigan.
Of course, me and my husband did our annual bridge walk trip. We walked the Mackinac Bridge for the 9th year in a row. We camped at Straits State Park for about a week. The weather wasn’t the greatest. I really wanted to get to the beach but it was too cold. We hung out in Sault Ste Marie for a day, watching freighters go through the locks, but basically relaxed around camp this year. We have a new tent–a dark room tent–and a new kitchen tent and stand so camp was much more comfortable. We just packed so much stuff! We really need a bigger vehicle…and maybe a camper. Yeah, that’d be nice. We had to pack up in a gale. That wasn’t the greatest but we survived.
Finally, we took a fall trip to Mackinac Island. We stayed at our second favorite hotel on the Island, our home away from home, The Murray. We hung out in their spa pool. We hiked. We hung out in the spa pool. Basically, I couldn’t wait to get into that spa pool. That is another thing I want, a spa pool…or a spa…or a pool. But then I’d never want to leave home so maybe it’s okay that I don’t have one.
What else happened this year? Nothing much good other than work and the trips we took. We survived what life threw at us: a friend committed suicide (it was a terrible shock), I was told I need a hysterectomy (because of fibroid tumors), my mom had a stroke, my husband had chest pain and had to have a heart cath (which went well)… we survived, we survive.
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