With the exception of a bit of arguing between the Hubband and myself over whose fault it was that we were driving all over upper lower Michigan looking for a hotel, the weekend didn't turn out half bad.

Friday was a beautiful day and we all blew out of work without a single guilty twinge. I'm still unsure why it is that 3 hours off work seems so much longer than the same 3 hours of weekend time, but it does. I hit a couple of antique stores and laughed at their prices, then scored some real deals at some garage sales (old photos and scrabble tiles). Unfortunately, I also left my sunglasses at one of the sales, but it evens out, I guess. Then I was off to the hairdresser's where Scooby (her nickname) trepidatiously trimmed my tresses to a bouncy little cap of curls. The back of my neck is rejoicing in the cool breezes and even Hubband has to admit that it is cute. He's not happy, but he says it's cute. We sent my pony tail off to Locks of Love.

Saturday, I had lunch with CWF and then did a quick pass of the grocery store before we hit the road running. Chicken dinner in Frankenmuth on the way up (where we totally blanked on the fact that the city would be flooded with summer tourists on such a fine day). Then a nice leisurely drive up the coast. We drove through acres and acres of emerald corn, soybean, and beet fields; windows rolled down to ruffle the new locks. We detoured east, down a dirt road that dead-ended on a hill overlooking Lake Huron. Along the wetland shore were spotted 6 white herons. Gorgeous.

All was well right up until we started looking for a hotel in earnest. I'm still not sure why (could be those gorgeous views I was just describing) but every single room, from roach motel to resort, was booked for the night. We must have called 12 hotels. Nothing. We were discussing backtracking two hours to find a room when I suggested we could just go home and say we had car trouble - who would know? - which started the argument and Hubband blaming me for the whole thing. (I have since checked the email I sent him to confirm this was just him over-reacting.)

We ended up about an hour west of where we wanted to be, but we did find the last room available in that town. It was clean, but old and outdated, making me feel like I was on the lam in some indy film of our lives. We spent the evening playing mini-golf and shopping at Walmart, got a fairly good night's sleep, and were back on the road by 8 am the next morning.

The weather could not have been better. Sunny with a cool breeze blowing, so we were able to cool off by simply slipping under a shade tree or into the barn. Boy and I enjoyed feeding apples to the three horses and made friends with all the dogs. Hubband was a little irritated by the "Prayer" meeting that got underway just after breakfast, but I enjoyed it. (If I'm going to go to church, I can't think of a better place than in the middle of God's country on a day like that!) We sang a couple of hymns, etc. The whole thing was relatively painless. Then SIL arrived (late) and we got the ball rolling on setting up for dinner.

Ever see a pig roasting? Ever smell a pig roasting? Mmmmmm. I was a little grossed out during the carving process, and Boy was sincerely concerned that perhaps that pig was a friend of one of the horses. He was assurred they'd never met and that must have worked for him, because he didn't miss any strokes at dinner. I managed to dump half my food when the styrofoam plate broke on me, but still enjoyed the dinner. (My husband's people can throw down when it comes to food!) We visited for a while and whined about being too full, said goodbye to each animal and completed the "family picture". Then we were off like a shot at 2 pm, exactly as we'd planned.

The trip home was easy and uneventful. We made only two stops, one to look at the bay a last time and another to grab a quick drink and some gas. While the trip to the bay didn't quite pan out, it was interesting. Instead of leading to "Saginaw Bay Public Access" as described, it led to this lovely area of untouched wetlands. There was a truck path through part of it, but then it became more of a swamp situation. Standing on the edge between land and lake, with the reeds and cattails waving and whispering around me was wonderfully peaceful. They were so tall they were above my head and we could just see a piece of the lake now and then when the breeze would move the greenery about. A white Heron swooped through the air above my head, looking for fish, and I could hear what sounded like a hundred different animal noises, but couldn't see a thing in the dense foliage. I could have stood there for an hour.

But Hubband wasn't having that. Off we went and home through a quick rainstorm. Everyone scattering to our own corners as enough togetherness was had by all.

This morning I am back at work. It took me all of three hours to be annoyed by my coworker, but that's my problem, isn't it.

I wonder if Hubband would let me take a day off? Hmmmmm.