Still apart...

Cortney went to her family reunion today, Jon went to work.  Not really fair, is it?  In Portland the weather was warm and sunny while 50 or so Slaytons were reunited, or were meeting for the first time.  Cortney and her mom photographed each family and catalogued names of people they had just learned and didn't want to forget later.  There was a lot of good food, and there were lots of stories to share.  Family reunions, in general, are fantastic and intriguing.  It is difficult to wrap your mind around the idea that you are, if somewhat distantly, related to all of these people.  It's also neat to think about what actions your ancestors took that separated everyone - Cortney's great-grandmother moved her family from Wisconsin to Oregon when her grandmother was a teenager.  Lucky for us, her grandmother then moved back to Michigan to marry her grandfather, but much of the rest of the family remained on the west coast... and the rest is history.  If nothing else, our genealogy research has gotten a big kick this weekend!  And there's only two more days to go...

Parting: not so sweet sorrow

We are 3 hours apart.  Actually, we are an entire country apart (Cortney is in Portland for a family reunion, Jon is at home working), but what makes the separation so striking is the three-hour time difference.  We have always gone to bed together; gotten up together in the morning; called each other during lunch breaks to check in; eaten together; gone to bed together again.  Of course, with cell phones it's not like we are out of contact (even though Jon has been too busy these recent weeks to bother with email), but it is difficult to coordinate our phone calls in a timely fashion.  Jon used the flight tracker widget on the laptop to make sure Cortney's flight landed safely, but by that time it was after midnight.   And Cortney called to "tuck Jon in," but that was at 1AM his time and 10PM her time, an hour and half late/early depending on who you talk to!  But while we miss each other, we both have busy weekends ahead and the time will fly.  And hopefully Cortney will be flying on Monday, but with the Northwest mechanics' strike.... well let's just say that we are keeping our fingers crossed.

A desperate lengthening of days

Yesterday was our last vacation day. Woke up; eggs and cheese for breakfast; state park beach in the morning; read more book on the sand; heading for home.  Home?  Who ever wants to go home from vacation?  While laying on the beach we concocted a scheme to extend the trip a bit… and add one more national park to our belts before our annual pass runs out (next month).  After lunching on the deck with Lonnie we hit the road at 2:30 and headed for Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  It was a great stop and worth the extra time… we haven’t ever seen so much sand in one place.  And we got there as the day was waning, so everything was bathed in an evening shade of mystery.  We didn’t stay for sunset.  As it was we didn’t get home until one in the morning, and four plus hour drive felt like a real crawl.  Just as a note… Tim Horton’s is a good bet if you ever need coffee after midnight while on the road.

We are on vacation...

why are we blogging?  We’ll make this short.  Slept in; great coffee; lunch at the bar; quaint shops; nap in the breeze; read a book (DaVinci Code, together); swimming in Walloon Lake; dinner with relatives; sunset over the bay; reprise of putt putt (Cortney won); drinks on the deck; reprise of the fire.

Beach Blanket Bingo

For a beautiful day at the Sturgeon Bay beach, we took the scenic route through the “Tunnel of Trees,” winding through the “Devil’s Elbow” curve and past “Legs Inn” at “Cross Village.” Is this northern Michigan or Middle Earth? The water was nearly bath-water warm and Jon pretended to be a beached whale, and Cortney got artistic, Tarantino-style, photographing Jon’s feet. We shared a delicious picnic lunch while wondering if a capsized kayaker would ever manage to right himself (we’re still not sure, since he refused help from a rescue boat that his concerned wife sent out).
We took advantage of pay-per-view to watch the Will Smith comedy “Hitch.” It’s all about about the dance scene in the epilogue.
We ended the day with a fire on the deck (in a firepit, of course). The flames, smoke, pine trees, and elevated deck made Jon feel like he was in the Ewok village. Cortney was on firefighter duty, spray bottle in hand, furiously putting out any stray sparks. One landed in Jon’s lap, and he ended up with soaking wet shorts. Good save, though, Cortney.