V is for VACATION

The Swans just returned from a relaxing 9 day vacation in the Midwest. After doing a serious cost-analysis of flying versus driving, we decided that packing up the Prius and spending 13 hours of bliss in a four door car was the way to go. We departed the ATL Thursday after work and got on our way. We didn't leave until around 8pm and were planning on driving either to Nashville (3-4 hours away), Bowling Green, KY (4.5-5 hours away) or Louisville, KY (6ish hours away) depending on our level of sleepiness and irritability. The roadtrip was pretty uneventful until we stopped for gas around midnight somewhere between Nashville and Bowling Green. After a few cups of coffee I needed to use the ladies, so Mr. Cob filled up the car. Five minutes later I found him a bit hysterical talking to the gas-station attendant...he had accidentally put 8/10s of a gallon of DIESEL gas into our unleaded engine. (Only I misunderstood and though he put EIGHT GALLONS of Diesel in! You can imagine the fear that was going through my brain! I was seeing dollar signs evaporating in front of my eyes, convinced we'd need a new engine...) Luckily we learned that a little bit of Diesel may cause a little smoke, but doesn't do any serious damage - apparently it's really bad if you put unleaded into a Diesel and thankfully, not vice-versa. After that little mishap we decided it was time to turn in for the night. Thankfully day 2 of our drive was uneventful and we arrived safely in Newaygo, Michigan Friday afternoon.



The weather was in the mid-70s for most of our trip with low-to-no humidity. It was a nice change from HOTLANTA! Saturday morning Allison and I ran a 10K - my first ever! For some strange reason I think I like the half marathon distance better....6 miles seems to be short enough that I feel like you have to "sprint", and I am just not a fast runner. But I finished in 1 hour and 1 minute - I was hoping to get in under an hour, maybe next time! Allison, on the other hand, rocked it! She came in around 55 minutes!!! We also did two other 5.6 mile runs during the week, just for fun. I really wish she lived closer so I had a running buddy...I'm still looking for one in Atlanta! We spent the next couple of days relaxing, reading, tubing, water skiing, kayaking and just enjoying being with Mr. Cob's family.




Aside from the 10K, my favorite things from our trip were playing games, sitting by the fire and drinking my morning coffee on the porch overlooking the lake.



The big games on this trip were Bananagrams (think Speed Scrabble), Sparkle (which is really called Sequence, but I can never remember the real name so for Christmas Mama Kae and Al gave me the game but renamed it Sparkle with their handwritten title!) and Catan (the best board game ever! Seriously.). And we also had a few hilarious games of Catchphrase (my favorite was when Mrs. G said "the opposite of header"???? and the answer: "Butter"! I'm still laughing at that! Or my word was "rapier" and I said "someone who does bad things to people"...um, yea, this was not one of my brighter moments!)

It was a little too windy most nights for a bonfire, but we managed to have two great fires. And a bonfire is never complete without s'mores and doughboys. To make a doughboy follow these simple steps: 1. Get a dowel rod. 2. Spray the end of the rod with Pam or Butter. 3. Wrap a crescent roll or biscuit around the end of the rod. 4. Cook over the fire. 5. Remove cooked roll and spray butter in the hole. 6. Fill hole with cinnamon sugar. 7. ENJOY. 8. REPEAT!

We really enjoyed our time in Michigan. Mr. Cob's grandparents live about 20 minutes away, but they brought their 16 foot trailer and parked it in the front yard for three days, so we were able to spend time with them as well. And Mr. Cob's best friend from home (and the best man at our wedding) came up with his parents for a few days, so we caught up with him, which always involves many laughs. We both feel relaxed and recharged - it was a great vacation!

And our vacation didn't end once we left Michigan...it continued with our drive to Chicago and visits with some very old and dear friends.

To be continued....