Seattle

Whew! We're finally home. It's been a crazy month but we've had an awesome time. We saw lots of family and friends as well as a lot of the country.


This is a map of our most recent travels and this doesn't even include our Seattle/Alaska adventure!

Our first vacation of the month was the Seattle stop before the Alaskan cruise. It was a great stop.


We went on the Underground Tour of the old city, to the Space Needle, Pike's Place Market to the Sonics old arena, scored free tickets to a Marlins-Yankees game, and lots of other stuff...

This was just the start to an amazing month of vacation... more to come!

Detroit Zoo

We weren't quite sure what our plans were going to be today but we decided to go to the Detroit Zoo. It was a fun impromptu trip even with the super hot weather! 

This was the butterfly and bird house-thingy...

A river otter...

A baby chimpanzee poking his own poop...

This was a walk-though exhibit with animals from Australia (there were no fences but don't worry, they told us if an animal approached us to just be patient and let it pass)...

A gorilla relaxing... 

A GOOD DAY!! 


On to bigger and better adventures! 

packing

I love vacation... I hate packing.

I think I have pulled out every bag we own in order to figure out what's going to work best for our upcoming travels. We're in that weird in between that's too much for certain bags but can't fill up others. To add to the challenge, we need nicer/fancier clothes for some nice dinners (I don't have many of those and I certainly don't travel with them) but we're making it happen and totally excited!


Besides our cruise in Alaska we're also packing for a day in Detroit and a couple days in Seattle. I'm adding a week in Idaho on top of that! It's going to be a crazy month!

bothers

A couple things that have been bother me (because of course, you want to know):


1. Fireworks

Now, not the festive ones that are set off by the city to the tunes of patriotic music that takes me back to my 5th grade class on the actual holiday for which they were intended. Those are beautiful and festive and fun and have my full support. No, the ones I'm getting quite sick of are the ones that my neighbors have been setting off in the parking lot for the past month at the most random times. Sometimes it's not even dark outside! What is the appeal of a firework if you can't even see it!? If they just want to set $20 on fire, I could take it off their hands (that's my inner cheapskate coming out). They will never stop startling me and I hate it!! It was the same way in Pocatello. I guess I never knew to be grateful that this wasn't allowed and/or as readily available in Riverside! 


2. "Practically Engaged"


We have a friend (who I really like by the way) who continually describes himself as "practically engaged" and this is just ridiculous to me. Being practically engaged is called dating/in a serious relationship!! The only time you may be practically engaged is if you are sitting at a restaurant with a ring in your pocket waiting for dessert to propose; other than that you are either engaged or you are not. Now, there's no shame in not being engaged but please, own it!!


Phew! I feel better now!

Independence Day

For Independence Day this year we went to the Ingham County parade in Mason, MI. There were lots of people and lots of tractors. 

We sat on the grass in front of the Ingham County Court House (below) and watched the parade. This courthouse has actually been the site of a movie shoot-- I'm not sure what it is but Hugh Jackman is in it!

They also had this cool war memorial honoring all the Ingham county residents who have lost their lives in various wars (WWII in the middle and Vietnam and Korea on the sides)...

Here are some of the parade members...

And the grand finale (if you can call it that)... Yes it says the Real Housewives of Ingham County...

After the parade, we were going to go to the fairgrounds for the fireworks but we decided to go to a friend Mike's house and sit around his fire pit in the backyard. No crowds, good friends and fireworks... can't complain!