If you recall, last year we went to the fabled Upper Peninsula, where we had heard the trees were brighter, the lakes deeper, and the hills hillier. It was quite beautiful, but it was a hell of a drive--over 7 hours. For a two day weekend trip in the middle of a busy semester, we all decided that was a little much. So this time we reserved a cabin near Cross Village at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula.
As a side note, our cabin choice is mostly constrained by whether or not the owners allow dogs. All of us have dogs. And since all of us want to go to the cabin, that means no dog-sitters left in Ann Arbor. Usually the owners end up saying "Ok, you can have one or two small-to-medium sized dogs." In turn, we usually don't tell them that in fact we have 10 small-to-Ella sized dogs.
Anyhow, we headed up on a Thursday night. We all arrived in staggered succession, stopping to grab a beer from the fridge on our way in to the living room of the cabin, where there was a roaring fire. The cabin itself was really great. It had three true bedrooms (with doors), one with two double beds and one twin bed, and two with a queen bed apiece. Then there was one open loft area with two twin beds.
The plan was for Alex, Abby and I to share the room with Brian, Heather, and Rowan. We figured that since we had camped next to each other without any problems with the babies waking each other up that it would certainly work in a bedroom. And, really, it did, but it was much more stressful for everyone than expected. It's one thing if your baby wakes you up, but it's a whole different guilt level if she wakes up another baby. So I slept on pins and needles, jumping out of bed at the slightest cough from Abby, ready to soothe her back to sleep without crying (please, oh, please!). Like I said, for the most part, it worked fine--I'm sure I was over-sensitive to the possibility of Abby waking Rowan up.
The cabin we chose was located about 200 yards from the shoreline of Lake Michigan. It was fantastic. The weather on Friday was windy, and oscillated between gray and rainy, and sunny but stormy. I couldn't believe how much the lake resembled the ocean on that day. The dogs had a blast running around free on the sand. Abby built a few sandcastles and dabbled in the water a little bit. That afternoon we drove to Harbor Springs through the famous Tunnel of Trees. I have to admit I fell asleep on the drive, so don't have much to say about the Tunnel. But I did run through half of it later in the weekend and that half was really pretty.
Saturday was also stormy, but a bit sunnier. We ate, napped, and relaxed some more. Later in the afternoon we took a trip to Wilderness State Park, about 10 miles north of our cabin on Sturgeon Bay. There we hooked up with the North Country Trail. You may recall that Heather and I ran our trail marathon on part of the North Country Trail, but a bit further south.
Sunday was the best weather of the weekend. Beautiful blue, clear fall skies and 65 degree temperatures. Heather and I celebrated the weather by running 22 miles. It was so much fun to run through different country, and at one point I even felt like we were in the mountains! That afternoon, while Abby napped, I sat on the beach with the dogs and a beer, soaking in the sun. It was fantastic.
This leads us to Sunday night. It started off well enough. Abby went to sleep at 8:30 as usual. Rowan joined her around 10, and I joined them all around 11:30. Alex had decided he didn't want the stress of sleeping next to me, since I was continually waking up and telling him to stop moving, so had settled on the couch downstairs with all the dogs and Mike (who didn't want to disturb Tory with his heavy snoring). At about midnight, Abby started coughing. She would cry a little bit after every cough. After a half hour of this, she stood up and started getting serious. So I grabbed her and put her in bed with me. She couldn't settle down. Coughing and just restless. After a half hour of that, I decided Tylenol was in order. I went downstairs and we doped her up. Back to bed then. But she was even more awake from the trip downstairs, and was crying when I tried to lay her down. I heard Rowan stir now and then and started to worry. So I moved downstairs with her, right next to Mandy and Bobby's room, in the middle of Mikes room. She was now worked up pretty good, screaming and screaming. Trying to get up and then screaming some more. Clearly we were keeping people awake. But what could I do? So, finally at 2:40, I collected my blankets and Abby and I moved to the van. Van seats suck to sleep in. And it is cold at night these days. But Abby slept on and off, and at least she didn't wake anyone up (I was awake the whole time, how could she wake me up?). We went back in to the cabin at 7:30 to find Rowan up and about. Heather gave me a surprised look and said "I brought Rowan down because I didn't want to wake Abby up!"
And that's why we might not get invited back next year.
Did I mention the sunsets were beautiful?
4 comments:
Wonderful post. What fun!!! Next year you could all convene at a cabin in (ahem) NORTHERN NEW MEXICO!!! ooooooohhhhh... =) I'm sure that you'll be invited back next year--everyone will have forgotten, and many of them have (or will have had) babies and understand that a night like that is par for the course.
I like reading it from your point of view. I really only remember Rowan screaming, not Abby. But, I am all for bringing some tents next year to set up in the yard. Though, next year they'll be 2.5, so maybe, just maybe, they'll be better. Or worse.
P.S. I'm in for a N. New Mexico trip.
What I like most about this post is that you are wearing your bee lab shirt (im pretty sure) and your scrubs. I look at it and I think. That's my Suz! Sounds like a great weekend with a few typical kid antics thrown in;)
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