Almost every year of my life, my family has taken a trip to Cedar Point. This year we decided to visit during the first Halloweekend of the year, when the Ohio amusement park is open just on the weekends leading up to Halloween and is decorated for the holiday. Now, first and foremost, I was here to ride roller coasters, especially now that my niece, Gracie, is tall enough and brave enough to ride the big rides. But I did manage to capture some of the day in photos. Check out the fun!
Cedar Point is so awesome that people travel from all over to visit, even outer space and the beyond!
Gracie posed with Linus and the Great Pumpkin before making her way through a spooky straw bale maze. Then it was on to the Cedar Downs Derby Horses for a race around the track.
Over in Planet Snoopy, Kaden bounced to the top of the Kite Eating Tree and drove Justin around in a Peanuts Road Rally truck.
As the sun set, witches and goblins wandered through the crowds and called people to the haunted houses. Justin and I walked through the Cajun-themed “Blood on the Bayou” to get a quick scare and then called it a night.
We have a tradition of going up north for my birthday. Last year we went to Mackinac Island and this year we went to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Two times is enough to call it a tradition, right?
If you’ve never heard the Chippewa legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes, grab a tissue and read this:
Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.
If you don’t find that story moving, I think you must be made of stone. Inspired by the legend, I’ve had Sleeping Bear Dunes on my list of Michigan places to explore for a very long time. So we packed a picnic lunch and set off to see one of the most beautiful places in America.
One way to spend a day at the Dunes is on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. With twelve official stops, it provides breathtaking views of all the natural beauty found here on the shore of Lake Michigan. The National Park Service distributes a brochure to all who travel the trail with the history and current information about each stop.
At the Lake Michigan Overlook, we rolled out a blanket and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the beach of the Dune. What you see here is not camera trickery, the Dune really was that steep!
We admired the ambition of this young man climbing up the Dune, but for us, it was just too hot to attempt!
After lunch, we explored the area a little, amazed by each view we encountered.
When we returned to the car, Justin had a surprise for me – a little heart-shaped brownie birthday cake. It was half melted from sitting in the hot car and it completely melted my heart.
We left the Dunes behind to visit the nearby Point Betsie lighthouse and walk along the shore.
As the sunset approached, we got a huge plate of nachos to go and found a spot in the sand on the Frankfort beach. A sensational view and a delicious meal… not a bad way to celebrate a birthday, if I do say so myself!
Now back home in Michigan, we were delighted to discover that our garden was doing just fine despite our two week absence. Justin carefully constructed an automatic watering system using a series of sprinkler hoses before we left, and it appeared to have worked like a charm while we were gone.
According to farming folklore, the corn should be “knee high by the fourth of July” and our corn-babies are hitting the mark.
Named for the Wolverine fight song, our gnome Victor (as in Hail to the Victors), keeps the cayenne and thai peppers company.
The spaghetti squash is growing at an astonishing rate. We’re actually worried this plant might not just take over the garden, but the whole world!
The marigolds have bloomed and just in time!
They will discourage tomato worms from feasting on the leaves of the tomato plant, which is just starting to get flowers of it’s own. And by the look of the plant above ground, the potatoes must be doing well.
The wonder pepper is growing wonderfully.
The pumpkin seeds were among the last to be planted, and the little sprout is eager to catch up to it’s spaghetti squash cousin. And the boxwood basil is really coming along.
Our little bean stalks and baby spinach are progressing nicely.
Perfectly aware that we aren’t the only ones waiting for the crops to ripen, we decided to put a guardian in place to scare away any small birds and rodents that may try to steal a taste. We named our owl Heimdall, after the sentry from Norse mythology and Thor comic books.
I’ve grown surprisingly attached to these plants and I’m grateful every day that our crops have such a beautiful place to grow up with acres of land, loads of sunshine and fresh farm air.
We stopped in the small town where Justin’s mom and step-dad live to say farewell before heading back to Las Vegas to fly home. They insisted that we check out Rainbow Basin, a nearby desert park, for our final adventure of the trip. We went at sunset, when the colors would be most intense and it certainly was a relaxing end to a great journey.
I’d heard a lot about Joshua trees, but never actually seen one in person until now. They look soft and cuddly, but just take my word – they’re not!
The setting sun gave all the plants a warm glow, and it gave us ridiculously long shadows. Awesome!
Check out the colors in the rocks! I think this is why they call it Rainbow Basin! Amazing!
Sometimes it’s cool to take a minute and recognize how small you are compared to everything around you… and smash the screen of your iPhone against the rocks as you attempt to run up the hill before the self timer counts down, as Justin did in this shot.
We saw so many sides of Mother Nature on this trip, and they were all outstanding. California has so much beauty to offer, and I can’t wait to go back!
Once we were back on the mainland, we loaded up the car and we drove to Beverly. Hills, that is.
We spent a few nights in a hipster hotel with paper thin walls and a few days touring Irvine, Anaheim and Santa Monica.
On the schedule for our visit to Irvine was lunch with a fellow Wolverine. Originally from Buffalo, my college housemate, Courtney, moved to Ann Arbor for school and then moved out to the L.A. area about five years ago. A few years later, she married Andrew, and just last year, they welcomed baby Wesley. She was pregnant with the little guy when we visited last year, so this was our first time meeting him. We set up a group photo after our Mexican feast at Javier’s at the Irvine Spectrum.
Growing up on the West coast, I predict that Wesley is going to be a surfer. In his bucket hat and shades, he already looks like he’s ready to catch some waves.
We strolled through the Irvine Spectrum, an outdoor mall unlike anything we have in the Midwest. Before we saw it, we heard this little canine making quite a fuss. It stood there in it’s Angels jersey and goggles for several minutes and barked it’s little heart out, while it’s owner sat there with an expression that seemed to say, “Are you done yet?” I laughed so hard, I just about fell over.
Unlike most malls, the Irvine Spectrum had a ferris wheel, which I thought was a pretty cool feature and informed Justin that we would not be leaving without taking a ride.
As evening approached, we bid farewell to Courney, Andrew and Wesley and set off for Anaheim – Disneyland, to be specific. When we visited southern California last year, we went to Disney’s California Adventure theme park. I bought plenty of presents for my niece and nephew while we were there, but nothing for my sister, so she asked us to stop by Downtown Disney and get her a tee shirt if we had time on this trip. Maybe it was guilt or maybe it was the power of suggestion, but somehow we found time to visit the happiest place on Earth.
Inside the World of Disney store, Justin faked some enthusiasm for Mickey Mouse, but couldn’t disguise his genuine excitement for R2D2. Sorry ladies, this man is all mine.
The next afternoon, I had my heart set on visiting the Santa Monica pier. I thought it would be so wonderful and whimsical to experience a seaside carnival, and it probably is, on any day other than the one we visited. The overwhelming crowds combined with some unexpected and heartbreaking news from back home turned the day a little sour. Though neither one of us was really in the mood for a day at the beach, we decided to try and make the best of it.
The famous Route 66 ends here in Santa Monica, so of course, I had to have a shot of the sign …and so did about a thousand other people.
The ferris wheel, the roller coaster, the arcade games… these are what I was most excited to see on the pier, and they didn’t disappoint.
We wandered along the path in the sand until we found a quiet spot for a photo.
Even on it’s busiest days, I’ve never seen Lake Michigan as crowded as Santa Monica State Beach was this day. To the L.A. natives, I’m sure this is normal, but to me, it was claustrophobic, a truly bizarre sensation to experience when standing on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
As we walked back to the car, we decided that we’ll have to come back another time to really enjoy ourselves, and actually go on some of the rides!
tresamusantephoto.com 