Traverse City Trip

So, let me preface by saying, I love Traverse City. I have had many exciting and exotic vacations around the country and the world, and loved them all. BUT, there is something about Traverse that is just so damn relaxing. Both vacations I've had there have been wonderful and recharging. So my mom won 2 nights at this cheesy little motel on the strip in Traverse, and asked if Darren and I wanted to come. Now, money is tight but mom's paying for the room so ... SURE! I called a girlfriend of ours from high school who now lives there with her husband and asked if we could crash a night or two with her. Yay, a family vacation & friend vacation all in 1 week. We stayed the first 2 nights at the motel with my fam and had a great time! We rode bikes, rented a boat, went kyaking , went go-carting, shopping, hung out with our friend Vince who owns a jewelry shop there...all kinds of fun stuff. Then we went to our friends Kate & Greg's house ten minutes down the road and were planning to stay 2 nights there. At Kate's we had even MORE fun! Darren and I had the days to ourselves while our friends were at work, we explored more of TC, went hiking, kyaking again, shopping and putt putting and then spent the evenings with Kate & Greg. We drank, went boating, went to the casino, the club, and had a BLAST! Sooooo, instead of staying 2 nights like planned, we ended up staying 4! We are hoping to make it back this winter to try our hand at a little snowmobiling! Here are some pics of our trip, this might take 2 posts also with all the pics I got! Thanks to mom & dad & Kate & Greg for making this trip so much fun!

Pic 1: Darren & I mini golfing at Black Beard's

Pic 2: Darren & I hiking at Sand Lake Trails. Watch out for that Road!!!

Pic 3: Darren & I in front of Sand Lake

Pic 4: Sand Lake Trail head

Pic 5: Kate, Greg, Darren & I hangin out on their deck

Pic 6: Tubing on Long Lake

Pic 7: Look mom, no hands!

Pic 8: Me & Al boatin it up

Pic 9: Mom's cold after her turn on the tube

Pic 10: I was born for this life

More Chicago Pics

Ok, I have to narrow down the rest of my chicago pics cause I don't want to do a 3rd blog on the trip lest I bore you all to death! So here's some more...


Pic #1: For some odd reason there are all these HUGE colorful rockets all around this area called "boys town"...hmm, I wonder if they're some sort of symbol. Either way Erin and I thought It was a great place to stop & get a game plan for the rest of the morning. What do you think Erin, pretty comfy huh?

Pic #2: We discovered this quaint little leather shop (giggle,giggle) while out shopping with Erin. We SO almost went in to get something for darren but I decided on an alabaster soap dish instead.

Pic #3: Coots adorable apt. where she was living in (I hope I got this right) the Wicker Park area of Chicago.

Pic #4: Me & Coot bein girly!

Pic #5: Darren & I out for a Sushi dinner with Coot & Eric.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of pics from my trip. Ya know, I lug the damn camera around all the time, you'd think I'd bust it out more often! Anyway, I wish I had a pic of Erin's cute apt she was living in at the time. But since she's moved since anyway I guess the point is moot! Keep an eye out for my upcoming blogs, I hope to have them up in the next few weeks; Traverse City trip, family bday party, halloween & maybe even my first thanksgiving dinner, even though I have no pics of it.

Love ya,
Ash

Trip to Chicago

So I know I briefly blogged about our Chicago trip before, but I wanted to get some pics up. Guess what I spent 4 hours doing today...downloading the last year and a half of pics from my digital camera! I've been meaning to do it for a while but haven't gotten around to it. So here are some pics I got & some background about them.

Pic #1: Darren and I outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. We made it pretty much all the way through before we had to leave due to starvation. Pretty good museum in my opinion. And I got an educator discount, even better ;)

Pic #2: Darren looking up at the John Hancock building, which made both of us dizzy. When completed in 1969, it was the tallest building in the world outside New York City. It is the third-tallest skyscraper in Chicago and the fifth-tallest in the United States, after the Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, the Bank of America Tower and the Aon Center.


Pic #3: Me & my girlfriend Coot in the Signature Lounge of the John Hancock building where we paid $12 for a plate of chips & salsa smaller than a nacho's belgrande!

Pic #4:Don't really know what this is all about but I spotted it near the bus stop outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. Thought it was kind of neat.

Pic #5: Darren & I in front of the Chicago Water Tower which is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of the pump house keeper who died there in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Some incorrectly believe that the tower was the only building to survive the fire, a few other buildings in the burned district survived along with the tower. But the water tower was the only public building in the burned zone to survive, and is the only one of the surviving structures still standing.

Ok, I hope these captions are in order because they loaded differently than I chose them. I have more pics that I'll be posting on a seperate blog. Why does it limit me? That really grinds my gears!!

More to come!
Ash