Mini Vacation

I had the pleasure of joining my husband on a trip to upper Michigan. 

 I say joining him because he is a pilot and he flew up there and 

I drove up to meet him (corporate rules). 

 He flew in to Harbor Springs but we stayed in Petoskey  

Turns out his flight got delayed. 

 I was almost to our hotel so I decided to find the nearest quilt shop. 

 Turns out it was in Charlevoix, about 15 minutes away.  

It is a cute little shop called Hearts to Holly.  

I met the daughter of the owner and we chatted happily until my hubby called to say they had landed.  She recommended some places to eat and I left a happy camper!  

This is what the shop looked like inside. 

 Very cute and LOTS of great modern fabrics!

This is actually what I saw as I ran up to the door in the pouring down rain!

I drove back to our hotel and met my husband.  We had a room with a great view on the balcony!

We went driving around and exploring.  

We ended up eating at Mims, the bright orange house!

My husband had the fish and it was excellent but 

by far the BEST part of the dinner was his pickled coleslaw!!! 

 They make it there and it was fabulous!

The owner's son was running the place and he did a great job.

After dinner we were driving down the lake shore on the back side of the town 

when I saw some clouds like I have NEVER seen before.  

All the bottoms were pink. 

 Just the bottoms.  

We were driving and it was kind of at the top of the hill but I snapped a few pics.

By the time we were at the bottom of the hill the same sky looked like this 

(and it was only a matter of a few minutes)

We ended up going out to buy a cable so we could watch a movie that night.  

We watched Atlas Shrugged.  

Now I can't wait for the second part to come out!  

Excellent movie.  

I sat and bound a quilt while we watched the show.  

I needed to rinse the blue marking lines out so I did that in the sink and 

hung the quilt over the shower railing to dry. 

 I was hoping to get some good photos of the quilt in a cool place while we were out the next day.  

Of course the weather didn't really cooperate...at all. 

 It was VERY windy and off and on rainy.  

On Saturday morning we went back to Charlevoix to poke around.  

We bought some fudge (of course) and

 I happened to find some pumpkin (white chocolate) covered pretzels at the Taffy Barrel!  

Fabulous!!!

Took a few photos while we were there. 

 There was this HuGe ferry and we couldn't figure out to where.  

Turns out it was Beaver Island.  

"Hey Gwen Marston how you doin'?"

 I withstood the wind on the drawbridge long enough to take a photo of this light house too. 

We left Charlevoix and decided to drive back to Petoskey

but trouble is that you either drive WAY around the lake or take the local ferry.  

You bet we took that ferry!!  

Right across Lake Charlevoix!

It's on cables.  

I had never seen anything like that before.  

That's our rental car on the ferry.

This was the view from the ferry looking out the passenger window.

We headed toward Harbor Springs and decided to take the scenic Tunnel of Trees drive. 

 It took about half an hour but the drive was spectacular. 

 Lake Mi on the driver's side and beautiful houses on my side. 

We were on our way to Legs Inn in Cross Village. 

 A very unique place to visit. 

 LOTS of additional photos in my Flickr stream.  

(See hubby in the red hat??)

They serve authentic Polish food. 

 I almost ate all my pierogies before I remembered to take a picture for you guys to see them. 

 They were delish!

 

Here we are in front of this weird carved *thing*.  

I have no idea what it was but it looked like a gigantic sea monkey.

** giggle**

Took a different way back to the hotel  met the other pilot and his girlfriend for dinner.  

On the way back from dinner we could see the waves in Little Traverse Bay and

 they were breaking over the pier by the lighthouse.

One of the neatest spots we discovered, by accident, was this neat church. 

 I was totally fascinated by it.

  Saint Francis Solanus Indian Mission Church. 

 It was so beautiful.  

I wish we could have gone inside. 

 I did manage to take a few pictures. 

Sadly the mini trip ended too soon and with a 5 hour drive home. 

 Of course it was raining on the drive but look what I saw on the way.

 (Do you think it's a bad idea to take a photo or 7 and drive?)  

Me neither.

Now if you have read ALL the way to the end of this I have something to tell you.  

I will have some pretty exciting news to share with you all tomorrow so please come back. 

 The something I have been working on will be revealed tomorrow!!  

OMGosh I am so excited!!!

How will I sleep tonight???

~XOP