Journey to Midland, MI and Back

I just wanted to post pretty briefly since I have not posted in awhile. My friend's wedding was yesterday in Midland. Thankfully, she had an absolutely beautiful day! Since it was Saturday, on a long 4th of July weekend, and a gorgeous day, I left early enough to make sure I would get to the church in time. I jumped onto 127 (a road that goes straight up to the Upper Peninsula), and the road was packed with RVs, trucks, trucks pulling boats/jet skis/ATVs, and motorcycles. I was shocked! We were going a steady pace (at least 55 mph). I got to Midland fine, but got lost finding the church (it doesn't take much for me to get lost). Luckily, when I ran the red light by accident because I was reading a map, there were no cars (or cops) around. Whew! It only took me about an hour and a half to get there.

Of course when I arrived, I needed to use the restroom. I walked into the church and saw a sign saying "Restroom" so I opened the door. Ooops...I walked in on the bride getting ready. :o) :o) When she heard my voice, she came running out to say "hi." She looked absolutely amazing!!! You couldn't even tell she was ~4.5 months pregnant (with a baby boy! :o)). The wedding started late because the maid-of-honor hit traffic on the way to Midland and got lost getting to the church. :) :)

We also ended up going to the Dow Gardens for the couple's wedding pictures. I can't wait to get them developed!!!! At first I was hesitant in going to Dow, with a few of the environmental presentations I have seen at work.... At the wedding reception, I was joking with the bride that even if she had decided to throw the bouquet, she might as well just hand it to me since I was the only *single* person in the room, if you excluded the kids. A few of our coworkers are single, but engagements are on the horizon for all of them. That's kind of sad...being the only truly single person at a wedding...

The more adventurous portion of my trip was driving home. I got on this rinky dink route (46, for those of you that are locals), and I was going through these tiny, tiny, tiny little towns that seemed to have nothing but a grocery store. Now don't get me wrong, I love the country, I just don't know if I could live in the country...I wouldn't want to travel 20 miles to get to the grocery store. BUT it did remind me of camp, and of camp fires (noticed a few parties as well). I loved working at camp that one summer, it was the greatest time of my life, better than college, better than high school and middle school. It's hard to explain, but EVERYONE at camp accepted you for who you were and society did not dictate who you should be...something I have been thinking a lot about...