There exists a land on the other side of the Lake from Chicago that is as pure as the driven, lake-effect snow; the only state with an opposeable thumb; the home of Madonna and Bob Seger and Tom Brady and Jessie Spanno and Tom Selleck; the place where the Cluley family name as we know it had its humble beginnings; the place where Tim Allen narrates all activities of daily living. That place is Michigan.
We recently had the pleasure of visiting the The Great Lakes State with our gracious host, Jason Biehl, and a dozen friends, most of whom are Northwesterners. For the past 2 years, Jason has been trying to arrange a trip to his family's cottage in Northern Michigan. Because of the distance from Chicago (about 370 miles) and the fact that we all have terrible schedules, it took several attempts to make this thing happen, but it finally came together Super Bowl Weekend. The timing was perfect as I was finishing up two weeks of nights in the ICU and was itching for a little R&R.
Jason's family's place is a little slice of lumberjack heaven. Tucked back into the hilly, snowy woods off of Little Traverse Bay, it's as cozy as you can get. It was complete with an awesome fire place (with plenty of firewood), bearskin blankets, a ping pong table, a didgeridoo, and enough sleeping room for a dozen city slickers. There were also several flat screen tvs for good measure.
Seriously does it get any better?
Our host and his didgeridoo
View from the kitchen. Also, several scenes from Kiss the Girls were shot here.Rather than give you the minute by minute breakdown of how often I was throwing logs on the fire, what type of blanket I chose to curl up with on the couch, how many pieces of bacon I ate at breakfast, or my general Ins and Outs for the weekend, I'll just give you the highlights in no particular order:
- The Hot Tub! (aka the Ha-tub). To a boy from Texas, there's not much better than walking half naked out into freezing temps and getting into a steamy hottub. Then add nine other people, booze, and murky water and you have yourself a party.
The Ha-tub at 25% capacity
- An intense game of Cranium with no shortage of trash-talking (Wendy and I were on separate teams), an abundance of fist pumping, Scott burping in Katy's face, and all hell breaking loose every time we had a Club Cranium. After all that, I don't even think we finished the game.
Cranium team "trash talk"
The Boys
The Girls- Yvonne's 30th birthday! We had our very own Giants fan with us on the trip. She's also a fan of the Ravens, 49ers, and Bears. I think she may have Patriots and Packers connections as well. At any rate, her team won the Super Bowl! And the ladies made her a lovely cake that would make Eli proud.
The Birthday Girl
- An entertaining Super Bowl made even more interesting by the numerous prop bets we were making. The Patriots inability to make a big play, while entertaining, took a back seat to the coin toss, Kelly Clarkson's singing endurance, and Madonna's panty hose. We also threw in some squares to make it even more interesting. Speaking of making things interesting, we may have offended a certain townie pizza delivery girl. Bless her heart.
- Jello syringes. That's right I said SYRINGES. Thanks to Nurse Nelson we were well equipped with semisolid, alcoholic beverages shooting out of 60cc syringes. Creative rituals ensued.
"I'll see your red, and raise you two yellows."
Just a great picture
- An impromptu tribute to Whitney Houston (pre-mortem) at a random gas station on the way home, highlighted by I Will Always Love You blaring with the windows down and Bruno serenading an unsuspecting septagenarian.
Could not have asked for a better weekend for my first ever trip to Pure Michigan.
A thing of beauty
Pure awesomeness.
ReplyDelete