Tuesday, November 3, 2015

celebrating ONE year

(updated with a couple things I forgot)
Doug and I have been married one year! That is worth celebrating :)
The Jeep engine dying took a hit on our budget, but we still celebrated by going up to Charlevoix (I'd never been there) and then went over to Beaver Island (largest island in Lk Michigan).
The traditional one year anniversary gift is paper. I made these things for Doug, which I mostly saw on Etsy and copied :)
keychain
And for the paper, our framed vows.
At our wedding we had the table numbers double as anniversary cards.
It was really cool to open year one and read words written to us a year ago by our friends. Seems like just yesterday everyone was wearing winter coats inside to celebrate our wedding with us! I'm excited for the rest of the cards, but have to wait...
The morning we left was absolutely gorgeous. Doug and I had carved our pumpkin the night before
our lovely jack-o-lantern model
blue skies and pretty trees!
fresh pumpkin seeds for the road.
We finally re-hung our mirror in the bathroom and started our trip. Went out for lunch and did a little shopping along the way. We stopped by Traverse City to go out for dinner with Doug's friends then slept at our hotel in Charlevoix.
The next day was drizzly. We boarded the ferry for Beaver Island.
the boat was rocking so I took one Dramamine and it pretty much knocked me out
we arrived
our nice little B & B, cozy, and really nice owners
We rented their car and drove around the island. It's 54 square miles and lots of state land. Pretty trees.
Tried fried green beans at the local tavern when we got lunch. Ok, pretty blah without ranch which makes them even worse for you than they already are! This trip's food can pretty much be summed up in one word: junk. Unless you count the one lunch we ate in Petosky, that was fresh, healthy, delicious. Anyway, back to Beaver Island..
Most of the touristy places were closed for the season already, so we ate and went to the one gift shop attached to the hardware store, and then drove down to the bottom of the island. This is the biggest birch tree in all of Michigan.
At this point I was still pretty drowsy from the Dramamine so sad to say I kinda slept off and on while Doug drove, we eventually reached the bottom. It was super windy and still rainy.
First bad wife fail of year #2 Doug asked me to walk on the beach but I didn't want to be cold and wet. So he went out by himself.
For his paper gift to me he gave me a nice card, a paper heart necklace (he made!!) and some Chinese paper lanterns. It was still raining when he gave them to me so we couldn't do it. We did laugh at the English translations though.
The other thing sweet Doug did for me was in the card there was a note and he said the real copy of the note he had framed in a waterproof frame and nailed it to a tree on the island where he proposed to me. So it will always be there :)
Their community center was playing Jurassic World on a big projector screen so we went and played fooseball, watched the movie, and headed back to the B & B. I forgot, while Doug went to get us some popcorn (free, thank you community center!) he said the ticket lady who we had chatted with earlier was introducing him to this other islander as 'a young man on an anniversary trip with his enchanting wife' and he said the other lady looked him up and down and said "some people really should reproduce". Um... lay off!!! Maybe it's ok to say creepy things to visitors on small islands??
The next morning we took the ferry back to Charlevoix, and of course it was a beautiful day.
(heart necklace)
These were the 'befores' we left the island. The first 1/2 hour wasn't so bad, I was knitting and reading. Then the boat started rocking. It was so much worse than the way over. I spent the next 1.5 hours head in knees over my throw up bag and eventually puked in the bathroom.
The nausea cure all back in the car.
By now it was Sunday so a couple things we had wanted to see (castle farms) were closed. So we headed over to Petosky. Browsed in a couple shops, ate the yummy aforementioned lunch, and then on the way back to Charlevoix we hit a deer.
Oh deer!
(Doug wanted me to say that) Doug hopped out to check out the Jeep (cracked front frame, large chunk of fur (ouch!)) and I hopped out to check out the deer. Poor gal was limping away. But I was very glad she was alive. I walked down the road awhile after her and she eventually ran into the woods. I hope she makes it.
We got back to our hotel and stayed in with pizza and cable tv. Very relaxing. The next morning, also gorgeous, we headed back and stopped at my aunt and uncle's for lunch and to visit my grandma and grandpa. There was another aunt and uncle visiting from out East so it was nice to catch up for a couple hours. We headed back in the afternoon and got home safely. Although when we got back we noticed a bump on September's tail. On closer inspection, much to her disliking, we saw a quarter sized spot of fur missing and a little wound! Awww, my poor baby! She didn't seem to be in pain, and her tail appeared to bend alright, but I wanted to wash it off with antibacterial soap. We did that with her wrapped in a towel to avoid being scratched to death. But as soon as it was done she just started licking it. Hmmm... cat cone? Anyway, I'm keeping her inside a couple days until it scabs over and watching for signs/symptoms of infection. Other than that not really sure what to do. I wonder what happened to her :(
So yeah, I'm not sure if I would go back to Charlevoix/Petosky, altho I'm sure in the summer the trails and beaches would make for a quite different experience. We did think though that next year we might celebrate a week early (usually better weather) or go somewhere warm!

3 comments:

  1. Awww, so sorry you guys ran into the deer on your anniversary trip, glad everyone is ok :) maybe you should look into progressives roadside assistance with all your recent mishaps :(

    I know of a cozy, warm B&B if it's cold next year ;)

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    1. I know!! Doug has AAA which was well used on our trip to missouri. But just plpd on the Jeep so to the junkyard he shall go

      haha, that could work :)

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  2. Charlevoix & Petoskey are two of my favorite cities in all of MI! I'm bummed you didn't have a better experience! But gosh Beaver Island is so pretty! And one year is totally worth celebrating... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!

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