Michigan Trip 2018 - Part Two

To read the first post of this series, click here!

We got up bright and early, got the car loaded up and then went to Denny's with my dad for some breakfast before we made the trek across the state. We opted to not visit with my (Great) Aunt Jackie who lives in Bay City because I still wasn't feeling great.

We did stop in Mt. Pleasant / Central Michigan University but it was mostly just a potty break. We got to Todd's parents in the afternoon, and soon after we arrived, Emily's cousins came over. We gave them their birthday / Christmas presents and Emily got presents too from my brother and sister in law.

The kids played until it was time for dinner which was steaks and a variety of sides. The kids sat in the living room and the adults, including Todd's grandmother, ate in the dining room. Emily and her cousins get along really well, so they had a lot of fun.

After dinner, we went over to Todd's brother's house. The kids wanted to go swimming in their pool so they did that for a while. I got in for a bit too because it was really hot

out and I love swimming. It also gave Todd a chance to hang out with his brother for a while.

We went back to Todd's parent's house and watched some tv before heading to bed. I was pretty wiped because the drive across the state is long, especially after only have a couple of days without driving at my dad's house.

The next day, Emily's cousins (also my niece and nephew but it's easier to say Emily's cousins) spent the whole day at Todd's parent's house. They played with toys, worked on putting together the Pokemon lego-type set we had gotten Austin, and had a water fight.

The children had asked Todd and I to join in the water fight. We had these squirter things, and the kids took the long ones which held more water. Todd and I were stuck with shorter ones, and the kids, of course, targeted the adults. I got really soaked!

Todd and I quit after a while so the kids chased each other. They got bored of the squirter and switched to water balloons after a while. They all got wet but had a lot of fun.

We had another yummy dinner, and then went out to get ice cream. The Thumb of Michigan is an odd place. There can be fields for miles - all that you can see besides the many windmills that dot the landscape. And then all of a sudden there is a little church or store, with nothing else near it. It's weird to me.

The ice cream place was one of these and it was packed! Of course, it was the day before the 4th and very hot out. We got our ice cream and ate it up, then headed back to Todd's parent's house. Em's cousins went home and we watched some tv before turning in.

We got up early again, because it was the day that Todd and I were driving home. Emily stayed for another week and a half - she had a great time.

The drive was pretty uneventful, though we did stop at Red State BBQ in Lexington, KY. We had eaten there when we went to Lexington Comic Con in March and had discovered our route to and from Michigan took us right past there.

They were packed but we got a seat, and had yummy, yummy bbq nachos before we got back on our way. We did see some fireworks from the highway after it had gotten dark, which was a bit fun.

It was a whirlwind trip, like we normally have but it was good to see our family!

Michigan Trip - The Trek Across Michigan

This is the 3rd post in my Michigan trip report! To start from the beginning, click here!

We got up early and finished packing up. We got on the road after getting some breakfast and made a trek that I made dozens of times when I lived in Holland.

Our route took us right through Mount Pleasant, the home of my alma mater, Central Michigan University. We stopped and went into the bookstore so I could get an alumni sticker. We also wen to the big seal that is in front of Warriner Hall to take pictures.

We stopped in Bay City to see my great aunt Jackie for a little bit. Going to her house is like stepping through a time warp. It hasn't changed much since I was a child. Aunt Jackie herself is the same as she always is and was quite happy to see us.

We got back on the road and after several more hours of driving we got to Todd's parent's house. All told it was a five hour drive, so we were a bit tired. But once we got unpacked, we got changed because we were going to do family pictures.

Todd's brother, his wife and their kids, Amber and Austin, came over. Emily hit it off with her

cousins, who she hasn't seen since they were all toddlers. Austin had brought Pokemon cards so he and Emily played Pokemon.

The photographer came to the house and we did family pictures both inside and out. The outside pictures were the best, but they all were really good. After we finished with that, we had some dinner and then got changed to head to Scott and Lisa's house.

We gathered out in the front yard, sitting in chairs while we waited for it to get dark. The kids ran around the yard playing with a toy that launched in the air then the kids would try and catch it. They also did sparklers and we had smores!

Once it was dark Scott set off a bunch of fireworks. It was a very good show and the kids oohed and aahed and cheered for the fireworks. It was quite late by the time we were done, so we headed back to my inlaw's house to go to sleep.

Up Next - Independence Day!

CMU vs. Nazis

Image: hoganisms.com

The university I went to doesn't get in the national news much. Sometimes in sports news when the football team goes to a bowl game. But yesterday a story from my alma mater started popping up on Facebook - from quite a few people who didn't live anywhere near mid-Michigan. And it wasn't a good story.

Apparently the College Republicans group was handing out Valentine's and one happened to have a picture of Hitler with anti-semantic speech on it. You can google what it said, but I'm not posting a picture of it. I prefer my picture of Captain America punching Hitler instead.

The political climate in this country has gotten really bad. But I would have hoped that even college kids would realized that this is so not okay! The group posted a weak apology on their Facebook page, but CMU is investigating it. I truly hope that whoever thought it was funny gets their butt expelled.

I'm several generations from the one who fought in World War II. But I've always been interested in history and the time period of that war is one of my favorites to read about. But I didn't really get a true sense of the horrors of the Holocaust until Schindler's List.

I was 16 when the movie came out and I remember my mom taking me to see it. The movie is horrific, but because of what really happened to those people in the Holocaust. My mom and I had a long talk about it afterwards. I only watched it once again in college because I was a film major and I'm pretty sure I had to watch it for a class. But honestly those images were seared into my brain.

I'll watch Schindler's List again with Emily when she's old enough. Especially in the times we are living, it's so important to know our history as to attempt to not repeat it. It's sickening that those kids at Central Michigan University didn't have the knowledge to realize what they were doing was absolutely wrong.

My Ghost Adventures - Help Me!

Last year, I wrote a post about how I always thought my basement was haunted. I never had any concrete evidence to prove that though.

When I went to college, I had a great interest in ghosts even though they freaked me out. When October rolled around, I saw that they were offering free ghost tours of the campus the night before Halloween. One of my roommates and I decided to go.

It was the first year for the ghost tours and the people running it hadn't expected such a large turnout. We waiting in the cold for hours but finally it was our turn. Our tour guide had a flashlight but we were pretty much in the dark.

We walked around the oldest part of campus learning about all the ghost stories. One story was about a girl in one of the dorms that would see the words "Help Me" in the bathroom mirror after a shower. We ended up in the courtyard of Barnard Hall which was not being used at that point in time. We heard about the most famous ghost of CMU which was Carolyn.

Carolyn was a girl who had gone to Central in the 50's. She had gone to a dance with her friends but had gone back to her room complaining of a headache. Her roommate found her dead in the morning. It is said that she roamed the halls of Barnard ever since.

It was the eeriest part of the evening and I had a hard time getting to sleep the next day. I didn't have any early classes in the morning so I had the dorm to myself. I locked the door and took a shower. When I came out, the words "Help Me" where on the mirror.

Needless to say, I was extremely freaked out. I never mentioned it to my roommates, because I didn't get along with the majority of them and knew they could have been playing a joke on me. I took cold showers for the next month of so.

When I was brave enough to take a warm shower, it appeared again. And would every time I took a warm shower in that dorm room. It was extremely freaky but still not a solid case for a ghost.

Next time, my experiences with the Cinema Ghost!

College Memories - Li'L Chef

Image: www.flickr.com

I was always pretty much a homebody. I liked hanging out with my parents in high school and just being at home. I was never one to party.

But my mom wanted to help me spread my wings so she insisted that I got to a college out of town. I decided on Central Michigan University, in part because it was were my dad had gotten his Master's degree.

It took me seven years to finish my degree. I changed majors three times and had some issues with classes. But partly I just loved being in college and living in Mount Pleasant.

Mount Pleasant has a main road that runs right by the school. For the majority of my time at CMU I didn't have a car so I had to walk everywhere. There were fast food places that you could get to, but Li'l Chef was one of the restaurants you could go to without having to cross the massive street.

Li'l Chef also was the only 24 hour restaurant within walking distance to the campus. I had many meals in there, often on Saturday night after LARPing. We'd sit with kids coming from the bar and talk about what had happened in the game.

Yesterday I saw on Facebook that the Li'l Chef in Mount Pleasant was closing. It's sad because I have a lot of memories of that place, but it's been probably ten years since I've been there. I've moved on since college and I guess so has Mount Pleasant. But I'll have fond memories of that place that was a part of my experience.