I was eating my feelings and stuffing my face waiting for Shane to arrive.
When he did, my socks slipped on the floorboards and I nearly came tumbling down while racing to the door to meet him. Caleb was beyond excited which was just the sweetest thing to see.
We didn't stick around for long before we all got into the cars and drove for two hours to the lake house in Indiana. It was close to 10:30pm when we arrived at the sweetest old house you've ever seen. The bathroom and kitchen were carpeted and the decor was just adorable. Floral sofas, gigantic lamps, a glass lantern for the stairwell light and mustard yellow bench tops. It was just gorgeously vintage and I mean that in the most unhipster sort of way.
While Kellie and I took photos of the incredible trees and their changing tones, Shane taught the kids how to skim stones across the lake while they were ankle deep in the wart with pants rolled up. Isabelle caught on really quick and was doing about two skips with each throw. She even had the art of choosing the right stone, while Caleb just found the biggest rocks he could carry and splashed them as hard as he could into the shallow water.
I was asked to make lunch while we were there so I whipped up a spaghetti bolognese and added some maple flavoured bacon which turned out to be a really strong flavour. So now when I think of maple flavoured anything, I think of the spag Bol at the lake house.
After lunch, Jeff and Marj (Kellie's dad and stepmom) came over (followed by McKenzie, Marj's granddaughter) and we all went out on the boat together, letting Isabelle and Caleb steer under Jeff's instruction.
Jet lagged Shane took a nap and I ended up joining him instead of waking him up. We had burgers for dinner and converted Shane to Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.
After dinner, Shane, Nathan and Isabelle went fishing off the jetty while I finished a page in my colouring book after a few trips to the sharpener mounted on the garage wall. Shane caught a bass! He was so proud of himself. They came back when the sun was setting and started the fire for making s'mores. The sunset was one of the most magical things I have seen. The water, the colours, the stillness of the world and family surrounding me while a fire is blazing. It was such a beautiful time. Unfortunately the Graham crackers we brought with us tasted like mothballs so my first experience of a s'more wasn't extremely pleasant. I enjoyed roasting the giant marshmallows and eating them on their own anyway so it wasn't a waste.
Once back inside, we got taught how to play Bananagrams which is essentially Take Two but you take one tile instead of two and call out a banana related term each time. It was a good game to learn! Shane won a couple of rounds too!
Our time at the lake house was short lived because we found out that Cedar Point (roller coaster capital of the world) was only open weekends in October. Our only weekend left was being spent at the Lake House, so we decided to leave early Sunday morning and drive to Cedar Point, Ohio- 3 hours away.
We were overcharged for entry but only really realised half way through the day. Our exhausted and weary souls we not feeling up to hours and hours of roller coasters. We went on 5, which is a pitiful effort, I know. But know this: the five we went on were extreme thrill seekers. Especially the ones made out of wood and were a thousand years old. We actually feared for our lives going around the corners of those ones, thankful to be on solid ground afterwards. Five. We only went on five roller coasters before claiming exhaustion and starting the drive back to Michigan. Never before had I felt the sting of "getting old". I do not care for it much.
We knew that Shane wanted to visit the plane museum whilst in Ohio, but without a lick of wifi for that day, as well as being flat out pooped after our day of adrenaline seeking, we decided to just head back to Detroit because we had no idea how to get there or if it would even be open if we did manage to find our way. In hind sight we should have just stayed a night in town because this meant that we drove all the way to Ohio again that week, 4 hours each way, on a day that I was feeling particularly unwell and grumpy. I commend Shane for being my husband on days like those. What a ball of fun I must have been. It was, in the end, not a terrible day. I absolutely love seeing my other half so excited and keen, even if that means looking at hanger after hanger filled with war planes. I think Shane would dub that the highlight of his trip (bless him!), while I have undoubtedly had better days. The real highlight of the day was finding some random pizza joint called Dewy's and being pleasantly surprised with one of the best pizzas of my life. I also got a side house salad and that was superb. Not a scrap left on my plate. If you're ever in Ohio, EAT AT DEWY'S!
Other days in Michigan were spent shopping, going to the movies to see Martian with Matt Damon in it (another Shane pick. I was excited by the all you can eat buttered popcorn), dining out and just hanging out in general.
I just want to take a moment to mention The Cheesecake Factory. First of all, the menu was far too difficult to pick just one meal. Secondly, the enormous sodas were always topped up. For free. Also, the food was. Unbelievably good. Shane later said that it was the second best burger (I'll get to the first in a minute) and the steak was perrrrfectly cooked. I didn't dare spoil everything by ordering cheesecake and making myself sick. I came back another day especially for it. Holy Toledo. The Lemon Meringue Cheesecake was ultimate. It was so good. I also got the Reeces peanut butter cup one and loved that but it was just a bit too rich for me to finish. I didn't get all the way through the lemon meringue one either.. But still.
The free soda top up is a pretty common thing throughout American dining. I rate it. At Chili's, I chose a meal purely because it came with a hot cob of corn (I'm sensing a food trend here... Corn and Pizza in every country!).
We went to Ann Arbor one day and just chilled out. It reminded me a little bit of Cordoba in Argentina, in that the whole town is basically just uni students because that's where the college is. We ate, shopped and wandered the streets. It did actually hit me hard the amount of homeless people there were in the street. Some of them so so young. It broke my heart. I was crying in the car with every sign-holding beggar we passed. I tried to give a little bit of money to each person in need I saw while we were out of the car. I thought long and hard about giving money, whether it was a good idea or not. After the shortest prayer I figured, Who am I to assume that they aren't going to spend it wisely? I don't have anything else to offer, like a Starbucks card or a place to stay. Maybe if I had more time. Maybe that's what they need. Time. Someone to hear them instead of being ogled at. Someone to say, "I'm here if you need to chat" or SOMETHING. Maybe on my next trip overseas, it could be solely to spend time with the less fortunate. Taking sandwiches and fruit with me wherever I go, along with God's protective hand.
We left the Sarlow's place before the crack of dawn and caught a plane to New York. We were both so sleepy and sweaty and gross by the time we got to the hotel and couldn't wait for our room to be ready so we checked in early and accepted a room with two queens instead of a king bed. Who cares. The shower was worth it. So refreshed and ready to explore the city, it made a huge difference. We were reunited with Shake Shack, the very best burgers and shake in the world according to Shane, and even after three years of hyping up this place, we were both so content.
New York was amazing. It is always amazing. We ventured to Soho for the markets as well as the infamous Mac Bar (Shane's favourite food, on par with Shake Shack) and perused the sweet little stores the quaint part of town had to offer. I adore Soho. It reminds me of Sydney's Surrey Hills mixed with Adelaide's art scene a bit. So many independent and creative stores, stalls and amazing places to eat. Williamsburg in Brooklyn was similar, but more quiet. There, we ate at Joe's pizza and I felt as though I had a true New York slice- folded in half and everything. We also went to the Brooklyn Art Library to check out some cool sketchbooks and to submit one I completed 3 years ago on my last big overseas trip. I also registered for a painting exchange, where I paint on the canvas provided, send it off and receive one in return from a fellow participant around the globe. I really love that store, the system and the connections made from being a part of something.
Another really cool part of our New York adventure was seeing Les Mis on Broadway. And even better was that while waiting in line for tickets to see Wicked, prices for Les Mis dropped 40%. Wicked was sold out anyway, so we got prime seats for Les Mis at $60 each! Bargain. We ate at Applebee's before our show, where our waiter earned himself a decent tip for living in Adelaide a few years ago while his girlfriend worked for The Advertiser. Such a friendly human being; even though there was a line of people waiting for a table we didn't feel rushed or pushed out of the restaurant at all. It was probably a little too comfortable because we had to be at the theatre in 5 minutes and we were 10 blocks away. We BOLTED, weaving our way through hordes of tourists and locals alike. We puffed and panted all the way up the stairs of the theatre and got to our seats just as the lights dimmed and the music started that striking intro. The show was phenomenal. Whoever played Jean Valjean had me floored. I was constantly dabbing my eyes with his stellar performance. Shane asked me a few questions about it during intermission, something I am sure he soon regretted because it had me rambling and hyped up until the music started and the curtains rose again. I'm so please he at least loved the innkeeper and his wife. He was also brilliant. Potentially even better than Sacha Baron Cohen (please excuse the poor spelling, I have no idea how to spell his name) in the latest film production!
Our last night in New York was melancholy for me. Besides the fact that we are not travelling home together (separate bookings and various flight cancellations and redirections), it was difficult to process that this was the end. Shane asked what my favourite part of my trip had been and I burst into tears. It's too hard to think about it being over! Back to real life, uni, completing that chapter of my life and starting a new one. I know that should sound exciting but to me it sounds like dread. I used to be the girl who loved change. Especially drastic life changes. But now, change is scary and daunting and I just want to run away and not have to deal with anything that might put me out. Is that me getting old? Or am I going backwards and chucking a childish tantrum? Either way, I'm not looking forward to going home.
I guess we should just try and keep up the adventures once we get there.
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