This past week, I had the opportunity to go home and visit with the family, but I didn't actually go home. My family was camping about a hour north from our house, so my 4 hour drive home turned into 5. I finally arrived to Stanwood, MI on Saturday afternoon and spent the majority of the day playing corn hole and catching up with my family. On Sunday, we had all planned to go tubing down the Muskegon River. We had a group of about 30 people. All our tubes were tied together with a variety of ropes as we just sat and floated down the river. The trip took approximately 4 hours to complete and by the end everyone was hot and tired. The weather for this trip was perfect, as it was sunny with a nice breeze, so you didn't feel like you were really getting that much sun. Fortunate enough for me, I didn't burn much, but others were not as lucky. After our long day my family, aunt, uncle and cousins all headed back to the campground where we spent the night sitting by the fire and catching up, as we knew it was the last night of summer. Monday morning, I got up early and headed home with the dogs, so I could get some work down. Being about 10 miles off the highway next to a river meant very poor cell phone service and wifi connection.
Monday around 2 p.m., I left home and made my way back to school. I had planned a stop to Michigan State to visit my brother who is a freshman there. After about an hour of driving, I merged onto a different highway and got off at the Michigan State University exit. I spent about 2 and a half hours with my brother. During that time I took him to the grocery store, to get some snack food, and then we spent the rest of the time catching up. I also had the opportunity to visit one of Michigan State's various dining halls, and I must say that it ranks higher than Ohio Northern. After the down pour ended, I made a run for my car and continued my trip back to school. After a large amount of traffic and construction, I finally made it back to Ada around 9 p.m.
I enjoyed my time home this weekend, even though it did go fast. We had perfect weather throughout the weekend, with no rain. I was able to catch up with family that I don't see often. The only downfall to this weekend was that I drove about 9 hours in total, but in the end all the driving was worth it.
Tiffany, sounds like you had a really great weekend! It sucks that you had to drive so much, but family time is important. It seems like you're really close with them and that's wonderful. I think that the tubing sounds like so much fun! I've never done anything like that and I bet it was very exciting. I can't imagine having 30 people traveling down the river on tubes together, that just seems like a lot going on (in a good way of course). I'm going to try to see if maybe I can get my family together to try something like this sometime because we don't get to see each other as much as we used to. It's harder when all your siblings are older and have families, because they are always busy doing other things. I'm glad the weather was so nice for you, it rained here a little and was extremely humid. Overall it sounds like your weekend was full of family fun, I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
ReplyDeleteI too went up to Michigan. I enjoyed reading your blog I have never floated down river on tubes, I can say it is now on my list of things to do. I was not a fan of the drive up as well, but the feeling you get when you arrive is worth the wait. I was curious if you have ever been up to the UP? I went once before and remember thinking how cool it would be to camp out up there. If you haven't you and your family should look into it. The drive is a little longer, but again once you get there, the drive all of the sudden feels worth it. Glad you had a nice weekend to relax, great article. I really enjoy reading your work!
Sounds like a lot of fun! A lot of driving though. I did about 10 hours of driving this weekend so I completely understand how that is. Unfortunately I also had a 9 month old puppy in my backseat who constantly wanted to climb up front with me so that made things extra interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a way better weekend than me. Michigan is a beautiful place to visit. I wish you could've included a link to the camp spot, I'm always looking for nice places. Haha, I'm beginning to notice just about every major campus cafeteria is better than ONU's. Your brother is a lucky guy, I hope he enjoys his time there. Glad you had such a great weekend! Makes me want to get out of this town.
ReplyDeleteKirk
It sounds like you had a way better weekend than me. Michigan is a beautiful place to visit. I wish you could've included a link to the camp spot, I'm always looking for nice places. Haha, I'm beginning to notice just about every major campus cafeteria is better than ONU's. Your brother is a lucky guy, I hope he enjoys his time there. Glad you had such a great weekend! Makes me want to get out of this town.
ReplyDeleteKirk