Hols in Michigan–Part 1

Stuart and I travelled to Detroit separately from John and Amy for the start of our short break and their longer holiday to Michigan. In the end we arrived just as they picked up the rental car so they swung back around to arrivals and picked us up. That night we had been planning to stay with John’s brother some 20 minutes from the airport but due to a mix up on dates (still unclear exactly who got it wrong!) another family member managed to get us into the airport Marriott free (no complaints from us!!). It was already quite late but we were all hungry and headed off to a local pizza joint for dinner.

The plan for the trip was to go and see Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackin-aw), visit Frankenmuth, Bay City where the St Stan’s Polish festival was going on, while on the way seeing some of Amy and John’s family and friends.

Most people wondered why we were heading to Michigan but we saw as another state to tick off the list! The only other main attraction we missed was the Ford Museum in Detroit!

So in this western part of Michigan it was settled by the Germans and the Polish and it was still very obvious today, both with the building styles and the food and I suppose peoples surnames (a lot of z’s and k’s around Bay City!). In order for Michigan to lure some of the German settlers their way (and with their beer making skills) they renamed one of the towns outside of Bay City – Zilwaukee to confuse those coming to America away from Milwaukee, Wisconsin! Read all about it in Wikipedia!

Mackinac Island Excursion

We drove to Mackinaw City on the Thursday evening from Bay City, having already travelled from Detroit that morning so it was quite some car time. On the way we stopped for food at a bar and Stuart spotted smelt on the menu – to me they looked a little similar to white bait so we spilt a smelt and salad and it was gooood! Amy and I had booked a hotel for the evening so we could get up the next day and catch the ferry to Mackinac Island. Mackinaw City is separated from the UP (or Upper Peninsula for us non locals) from the reset of Michigan. The bridge is approximately 5 miles long with about 4 miles of cause way and about a mile of suspension bridge that looks remarkably similar to the Forth Road Bridge. Mind you I say that but when we woke up we couldn't see much – just thick fog! So we all got the rain coats out as it was pretty cool to us Houstonians. We headed across the bridge for St Ignace where we had bought ferry tickets from (just really as an excuse to drive across the bridge!).

All aboard it was a short crossing to the island. What is special about Mackinac Island is the fact there are no cars – just horses and bicycles. The harbour is marked by two lighthouse one working and one not. The buildings are wooden almost colonial. There is a fort on the hill above the town but when we arrived at 9am it wasn’t possible to see it – darn fog!

The town is made for the tourists with gift shops, fudge shops oh and some more fudge shops! There are horse and carriages going up and down the street and bicycles weaving in and out – so although there are no cars you still have to watch when stepping out on to the road. We all took a quick look around and Stuart and I decided to have some breakfast as we opted out at the hotel then hire a tandem bicycle to see a bit more of the Island. Breakfast was served in record speed and we were on our tandem by 10am.

	Horse carriages line up below the fort

Let me tell you tandems are not as easy as they look but I think they were easier than all the penny farthings we saw. I think there must have been a penny farthing stroke old bike gathering, through the day more arrived – just look at some of them. There were old guys dressed in old fashioned dress jumping up on these bikes cycling down the street. Stu reckoned he could do but I don't think they were available for anyone to have a go!

So the first couple of stops and starts on the tandem were interesting. It was actually quite good for a marriage as it involved a lot of communication!

We cycled past the fort and thought better of trying to get this tandem up the steep incline, so continued on the coastal path to Arch Rock. It was a mini arch but the postcard pictures look amazing, it was just a shame we had flat light so it hasn't shown up quite as well as I hoped. We parked our bike along with everyone else and the bottom of the track and then you rapidly climb up to the viewing point. For those less able there was always the horses to take you up. Before we managed to walk up we got talking to a man and lady who were visiting from Naples, Florida. They were very chatty and talked of how much they like Scotland and had actually been to the Edinburgh Tattoo. We cycled past them a couple more times before we finished the 8 mile island circuit.

All along the rocky shore people had been making small cairns and Inuksuk statues – some better than others. We decided we needed to do it a sheltered spot but we ended up waiting too long and the rocks ran out so we actually cycled back to the arch just so Stuart could construct his Inuksuk man. On the bike we would pulled over for photos. Stopping was more difficult as we only had brakes by peddling backwards, however I was a little slow on realising that! We had three gears and although the path was virtually flat any little incline was quite a struggle. Both of us tried to stand up to peddle and that was nearly us off! Getting going we had to make sure the left pedal was in the right position so you would get a push and start rolling.

We stopped off at British Landing – where just as the name suggest the British landed and took over control of the fort. There was a cannon with the familiar sight of a sea gull perched on it and as per usual it decided to leave its mark – plop! There was a small shop so we picked up some water before carrying on.

Once we were getting closer to the town again we started to see more horse drawn carriages. These ones, we were told, were self drive – basically you hire it and although you have the reins the horse really knows where to go without you!

As I said we decided to go back to the arch approximately a mile out of the town to build the Inuksuk and for me to go paddling so I could say I had be in Lake Michigan. We only had 30 minutes because we didn't clock another hour on the bike rental. We sped through the town and got to work on finding suitable rocks. Stuart has done this before on Montrose beach. The little Inuksuk with stubby arms looked pretty good when all done. As for me I walked in to the tops of my feet then rapidly back out – it was pretty cold but maybe not as cold as our pool was in early March.

We got back and The Olivares’ had been busy at the fort watching the cannons and riffles firing not to mention they squeezed in a pastie – apparently a common thing in this part of the country. Well we couldn't leave without a pastie so we went to the baker on the main street and got two to take away. Sitting on a bench (accompanied by the ever watchful seagull) we munched them down. They weren’t as good as Cornish Pasties as just meat and potatoes – I couldn’t see any other vegetable bits and there wasn't the spiciness of ones from home, but ok when you are hungry I guess.

By now things had got a lot busier in the town as ferry loads of visitors had arrived. Stuart completed lunch with an ice cream and I had a raisin and bran muffin. After a bit more looking around we gathered together again – only where was Conor (the youngest)? We did a rapid search and fortunately what seemed like a lifetime to Amy, but was less than 5 minutes they found Conor chatting/ un-phased to some adults up the street that had found him and had just gone to tell the one police officer on the island.

The clouds had lifted in the afternoon so we jumped back on the ferry and decided to sit up on the deck despite the chilly temperature so we could see the Grand Hotel and Mackinac Bridge. The boys looked decidedly cold by the time we got back to the car!

It was then a three hour journey back to Frankenmuth to see John’s sister. There were many sleepy folk in the car – but at least not the driver!

Frankenmuth – The Bavarian Tourist Town

Frances, or rather Franie as John calls her, lives and work in Frankenmuth. Frankenmuth is a place for the tourists now but at the centre is the Bavarian Inn that contains shops, restaurant and more. Frannie who works there took us on a tour of the inn including taking us to see the kitchens, butchery (stroke sausage making place) and the office where he stocks are taken from and the general running of the place. Most of the buildings are more Germanic in style or at least not traditional high street looking places.

Stuart and I headed off shopping one morning and there was a farmers market so we went to check it out. There we saw a guy, yes a guy pushing a pink animal pram. Basically a a pram with a cage on it, and when we heard a huge meow we turned around to see a very large cat, almost a lynx sized cat, inside it. I think it was more distraught about its pink cage than the fact of being taken out for some air! I met the eyes of another lady at the meow and we both raised our eye brows! However the farmers market although small had some yummy cherries where i bought a cups worth, some hand made soap we picked up for Frannie and some home made dog biscuits we bought for Gretchen! Frannie stocks for many of the shops including the joke shops, girlie shops and gift shops. One things Stuart found was bacon dipped in chocolate to his delight! Both Amy and John were less impressed with the salty flavour! The weirdest thing we saw while in Frankenmuth was a Nazi storm troopers goose stepping through the town barked at by an SS Officer!!!

Frannie owns an old sit up and beg bike that we all had to try – it was actually pretty comfortable for short distance!

The blurriness is because we are going so fast!

We ate dinner at Frannies and then made ‘S’mores’ on her Chimninea. Except the first one I tried being disgusting because the Gram crackers were off the second was ok. S’mores are basically cooked marshmallows put on a Gram cracker with a bit of chocolate followed by another Gram cracker to make a sandwich. The downside it isn't real chocolate – it is Hershey's! For the kids more than one was required even if it was just to eat the melted marshmallow!!

Mid summer conditions in Houston

I would like to say summer has just arrived but the reality of it is that Houston is as hot as anything just now. We had our first rain shower the other day and it actually rained for a couple of hours however most of the water that fell, ran straight off the rock hard earth into the drain so I could not get out of watering again!
We haven't done a BBQ for a while so decided to make kebabs with the antelope meat given to me by one of my colleagues after her hunting trip in south Texas. It was a fine beast and tasted pretty good too!
Because there has been no water the mosquitoes are not too bad making it good for all of us outside – dog included, but because of the heat we actually resorted back to eating inside in our working air conditioning!
Amy and I sent the boys off to the bar the other day while we stayed back to work out what we were going to buy with our monies from the jewellery party. I may be forgot to write about that – Amy and I hosted a Stella and Dot party at mine for about 15 ladies. The great thing about it you get money to spend based on how much all your guests spend. Our ladies spent lots so we had over two hundred dollars each to buy things and it sounds silly but I was actually having difficulty spending that much – it was almost greedy, however we managed!! Once we had finished we drove to meet up with the men and Laura who were sitting outside Watson’s – a British style bar nearby. By the time we got there they were all fed up with the waitress who can only be described as a dumb blonde, Amy quickly discovered they were correct when it took her a couple of attempts to remember our drinks order!
Stuart is sticking to his paleo diet and the other night we both tried something new – spaghetti squash. We had seen a cooking programme with it and it looks just like a bowl of spaghetti once cooked and scraped out. We had a piece of oven-roasted Mahi Mahi on a bed of spaghetti squash topped with a tomato and basil sauce (sauce vierge) using Bill’s garden tomatoes – all very tasty. Anyone wanting the recipe will have to talk to chef Stuart. To accompany I had a glass of wine in my new wine glasses – essentially a wine glass with the stem cut off therefore less risk of spilling it!

	A foody collection!

Well I haven't done a big Gretchen picture collection for at least a week so here is some more of her from the other night. I wanted some artistic ones but I wasn’t quick enough snapping and she moved her head!

How to know if your doggie behaved on holiday

So while we were away Gretchen went on holiday to Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch. Although we didn't give her the top room – with TV, wall paper and extra comfy bed – she was still very well looked after. She was out playing with the other doggies 4 times a day and managed to be bathed three times during her short stay – this would suggest play time was lots of fun!

We were greeted first by a card from Gretchen telling us how much she was enjoying herself, and how she cant wait to be back!

The best thing they do is give you her report card on collection. So like every proud parent we were very excited to see she got a ‘Green Card’ tick. Essentially, she played very well with all the other doggies and was extremely sweet winning over all the staff no doubt!

I think she is pleased to be home, even if it is a bit dull with just Stuart and I!

A weekend in the air

This weekend we had a flying visit to the UK in both meanings of the word!  Leaving Wednesday night after a busy day at work I slept like a baby all the way to Heathrow and to be honest I also slept all the way up to Aberdeen where we landed at about 4pm the following day.

Ann and Neil kindly put us up for the night as we were supposed to be surprising Iain at his 40th the following day!  Well not all surprises go quite to plan so he actually knew we were in the country.  A relatively quiet night was just what the doctor ordered.  I woke at about 3:30am – wide awake however, after tossing and turning finally getting back to sleep only to feel dreadful when it was time to get up.

I had seen a meeting request the previous evening so we had breakie (well Stuart got his in Aberdeen – with black pudding and back bacon!) and heading off into Aberdeen to do a bit of shopping – you know pick up all those things you miss!   I had to leave Stuart to complete shopping so I could head to the office for my meeting.  He got the train back to Dyce so Emma could meet him and then they were going to start preparing for the party that evening.  I finally got out to Emma and Iain’s after 6pm.  Poor Neil had had to do all my duties – sorry Neil but could you just go to the garage AGAIN!!

The birthday boy had been playing two rounds of golf in Dundee and got home at about 8:30pm to be greeted by all his guests. 

The party was fun although we did nearly forget the champagne in the freezer.  Iain got to blow out candles twice, once for Alex who had to go home to bed and was disappointed by the lack of party hats!, and then a second time for the adults – he had so many candles he could blow them all out at once!

The party begins before the birthday boy arrives – we all start tucking into the food!
	The different skin colour is quite amazing! Cake number one with many, many candles! It almost burns the house down!

Next doors hen party came in for a bit of rude hula hooping and that is when Iain broke out the stags tutu from his weekend away!  We remained up until 5:30am – a little mad I know but it always seems to be the best way to get over jet lag I have found!

	Cake number 2 being prepared with 40 candles!! It was actually quite a challenge to get them all lit without burning your hand on another burning candle!
Just look at the puff in those cheeks!
	5:30am approaching!

We were all woken the following morning by Louise and Matt who Emma had invited to breakfast since they couldn’t make the party (they had a good excuse they had flown in from Australia that morning!).  It was a good thing they turned up when they did as we had a quick shower, sort out wedding gear, breakfast then off to the wedding.  The others were heading to St Andrews for the day as Emma had surprised Iain with a round on the Old Course.

On the way to the church we had a nosey at the house – it was still standing and except for the nasty net curtains the tenants have put up the house looked fine.

Unfortunately the glorious sun on Friday had long gone and it was decidedly miserable but that didn’t dampen the atmosphere in the church.  Emma looked beautiful and could not stop grinning through out the service.  Even the minister commented on there very happy manner!!  After the ceremony we all stood outside under our brollies and through confetti at them

We gave Clare a lift to Pittodrie House Hotel where the reception was – so I got to see how well she had been looking after my old golf that still looked to be going strong!  We took a ‘quicker’ back route!!  Well I think we were last to show up and on the way it had absolutely chucked it down.  Although the back route was not as quick as we hoped it was lovely and the green countryside was just fabulous.

The speeches were very good – funny and quite emotional.  Emma’s dad managed to make all the girls at the table fill up! We all ate well, breakfast was a long time ago, and it got us ready for the dancing that followed.  The evening guests included many more work colleagues so we had a fab catch up and the evening passed so quickly.  The only downer was our cracking headache that set in at about 9pm from the heavy night before!!  We managed a couple of ceilidh dances – on the Arcadian Stripe the Willow I nearly came a cropper thanks to Nick (although he was just paying me back from swinging him too hard!). We got home at about 1:30am just about 20 minutes after the others had got back from St Andrews, however there was no continuation of the party we all needed bed!

Sunday was quiet with all us missing the best of the weather while we were still in bed, however we did manage to eat breakfast outside only wearing one fleece!  Our walk around Bennachie was a little soggy and probably the reason Emma and I were walking so fast to the complaints of the boys!  We collected our car from the hotel and all retreated back to the house to dry out and eat more cheese and biscuits! 

Sunny ……
	…then not! We were all rather wet after this down pour.  Good old Scotland lives up to it reputation.

In the evening we went for a curry, however it didn’t go quite to plan as people dropped like flies.  Ann feel off the pavement 200 yards from the restaurant only to be taken to A&E with a poorly ankle, and the Carolyn and Kevin phoned in with food poisoning – not good!  Anyway Stu, Iain and I still enjoyed a good Light of Bengal curry to get our fix!!

On the way home we dropped into A&E to see the invalid. Poor them they had been waiting nearly 2 hours and still not seen not to mention now very hungry and probably our gloating about our curry didn't help!  However, while we were there they were called in and Ann is now in a removable plaster for two weeks and hobbling around on a crutch before she gets reassessed.  Get better soon Ann.

Thank you to you all for putting us up and we had lots of fun despite of the limited time.  I thought we were going to be in the UK an extra day when our flight from Aberdeen was delayed and we very nearly missed our Houston flight. 

One ring is not important, but three or more in quick succession is!

Well we had a little excitement before coming away at the house. So Sunday I went into work in the morning but couldn’t last more than a couple of hours since I hadn’t requested the air con to be on. So I decided to upsticks and continue at home. However, as I sat there through the afternoon I said to Stuart it seems to be getting hotter in the house. He turn the air con down but the thermometer was showing the temperature was increasing. Oh yes you know what that means – air con broken!!! I got on the blower to the landlord and he called his air con fix it man but he was out of town until Monday!

Sunday evening we had the annual block BBQ and it was cooler going outside than it was in the house – possibly because of the thunder and lightning that was going on over head! (No real rain though). The block party was fun and we met the new neighbours at the end of the street as well as some of the other folk who don't really get to see very often. Gretchen was very good up until she cleaned up the left plates on the ground – and which may have been responsible for her sickness the next day!

So that night was hot not to mention Gretchen was up with a dickey tummy a number of times through the night. My husband slept through very well!! I got up to go running with Dorte despite of the lack of sleep.

So the air con guy turned up late morning and set to work on the problem. In doing so he tripped the electricity. Stuart and him went and sorted that out, but when they came inside there was an electrical burning smell, next Stuart saw the ceiling in the kitchen begin to bulge, then start dripping – he had just moved away when the ceiling gave way!! So him and the air con guy quickly turned off the water.

Poor Stuart then tried to get hold of me but I was in a meeting and ignored his constant calling – sorry honey. I phone the landlord to break the news. We now had no air con, no water, the electricity was potentially dodgy and there was a hole in the ceiling with water everywhere. Almost immediately after speaking to the landlord the air con also told us the air con unit was totally caput. So I rang back the landlord and couldn’t keep a straight face when I had to break this news to him as well.

The long and short of it was that an electrician was called to check the electricity, and a guy came to sort out the water so we could actually remain in the house. That night we had a second night of no air con – glorious although at least this time Gretchen had a better night and no belly ache (I am getting an appreciation of what a child will be like!).

The next day Stuart had non stop workman coming in and out and from about 9 in the morning to 11 in the evening we had a new breaker box installed, a new hot water tank and pipework (the reason for the water was because there must have been an electrical surge which melted the copper inlet and outlet to the hot water tank!), and a new air con unit. That night was wonderful as in the two days the house had already started to smell foostie. Actually I woke up and I was freezing! The only thing left now is the hole in the kitchen ceiling but the insurance guys are coming this week and it will be fixed after that assessment.

On the plus side the new air con unit, which is out the back of our bedroom is much quieter than the old one!