Vacation Odds and Ends

I thought I would share the rest of our vacation pictures with you.

This is just Irv getting tired of being photographed. :)

This was a little cheesecake shop.....with very good cheesecake!


This is their old state hospital....purchased and being totally renovated as offices and retail. The inside was wonderful and the little shops were great! Isn't it a magnificent building?

I love old log cabins.....



Lake Michigan.....with an awesome little rock tower someone built.




I thought this was kind of cool....


So pretty......


I happen to love black squirrels. We don't have a lot of them here, but we saw a lot of them in Michigan! Isn't he just the cutest little thing?

We had never seen grapevines growing like this before....

Cherry trees......everywhere.......



A very old gas pump in front of a little general store......



It was a long way down......but lots of people chose to walk, or slide down on their butts.....down the 450 foot drop to get to the water from the scenic look out. We chose not to. We would have gotten down....maybe....and never got back up! See those tiny little people way down there?


The view from the look out was wonderful, but the wind was so strong it almost blew you over. The sand hitting your legs really hurt....but it was worth it!


Everywhere you turned there was something beautiful to look at!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Kayaking the Crystal River

We had a wonderful three hour paddle down the Crystal River on vacation last week. The river was so clear that even when it was 4 or 5 feet deep...you could see every little pebble on the bottom.
The beginning of the trip was very narrow and very winding. Irv laughed until he cried as I tried to get my bearings. I would crash into branches on one side, over compensate and crash into branches on the other side. I had to duck under things and put my paddle up to keep myself from smacking into other things while Irv paddled along gracefully behind me laughing his butt off.

It was actually a bit frustrating. Granted, we only kayak once a year, and we are normally on a big straight river where you don't have to worry about crashing into things...but I am pretty good at this and I was having a hell of a time.

Then I realized what the problem was. I just wasn't paying attention to the kayaking, because I was so in awe of the water and my surroundings. Once I reminded myself that I had to paddle and pay attention to the winding river, I was fine.

The website for Crystal River Outfitters didn't say that we were going to have to portage (carry our kayaks across roads) three times during our trip. We really try to avoid that when we kayak because Irv has a very bad hip, and it is very difficult for him to get in and out of the kayak to start and finish...much less three more times....but we managed and still had a wonderful time.

This dam was the reason for the first portage.

Irv just cruisin' along.....

Can you see how clear the water is in this picture? So beautiful. Our rivers here are muddy and pretty dirty for the most part. This was such a treat!

I think the best part of the trip was when Irv went around a bend and I hung back trying to take some pictures. It's hard taking pictures on a river. You want to stop, but the current keeps you moving. Anyway, I had pulled toward the shore to take a picture when I heard a big splash! I looked across to the other side and there was a deer leaping to and fro in the tall grass along the shore. It seems that Irv had pulled his kayak over to shore when he got around the bend, and startled the deer. He never got to see it, but I sure did. It was so awesome!






I had so many dragonflies hitch a ride on my bright yellow kayak. Every time I would try to grab my camera to take a picture, they would fly away. It took a while to get this shot. Most of them were this smaller black and blue variety.


The current zoomed me past this dead stump, but I managed to paddle myself back so I could get this picture. I thought it was so awesome!

At the beginning of our trip, we let this couple pass us. I really didn't want company on my journey and I really like to go slow and look for wildlife...so anyway...we let them pass. Toward the end of the trip we came upon them again. It seems at one of the portages, they attempted to pull out in the wrong spot. The husband tipped and got caught in a small whirlpool near a drainage pipe. He wasn't able to flip his kayak back over needless to say because it was filled with water, so he walked it the rest of the way.

When we met up with them, there were other kayakers and they helped him pull his kayak up onto a pier and tip it to get the water out. I talked to his wife and she said it was pretty scary. She said he seemed okay, but they were going to find a doctor to have him checked out. I felt so bad for them. Irv and I both noticed that when he was walking his kayak over to the pier he seemed very frightened when the water got deep....we are thinking maybe he didn't know how to swim. The river was probably 5 feet at it's deepest, but if you can't swim....even that would be terrifying.

The people at Crystal River Outfitters were just awesome. Such great service! They even had a nice little shop where I bought a darling little t-shirt type dress. They recommended the sandwich shop next door where we had fabulous subs...one of the best I've ever had.

I even bought a couple of stickers in their shop that say, "Life Is Good"....because it sure is!

Sailing on The Tall Ship Manitou

Our first sailing experience was certainly one to remember. We set out at 3:00 p. m. and returned at 5:00 p.m. The captain was a very pleasant guy and his 2 girl and 2 guy crew of 20 somethings was fabulous. Those kids worked their butts off to show us a great time aboard their ship.

We were allowed to go "below" so we could see what things looked like....the crew actually lives on the ship. I must say that isn't something I could do after seeing their "beds", but what an experience for these young people.

It was a beautiful day and as we were sailing across the bay....I thought about how awesome it would be to just lay on the deck with my eyes closed and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine as the wind and the sails take me to far off lands.

Enjoy the cruise.......

Make it a beautiful day for yourself.......

The Waiting Game Revisited

Before I start posting awesome vacation pictures this week, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what's been going on with me for this past month. About a month ago I went in for my annual trans-vaginal (internal) ultra sound and my CA125 (tumor marker) blood test. My half sister has ovarian cancer...she has for a number of years now. There isn't a good test yet for early detection of this horrible cancer, so what they have at this time is what I do each and every year.

When I was having my ultra sound, I knew something wasn't right. The tech was taking so much time and seemed to be zoned in on one area. She did different things than I've had done before. I was scared.

So that you don't get freaked out before I finish the story....I do NOT have ovarian cancer.

I waited and waited and waited for the results.

When the results finally came in, the nurse said that the doctor wanted me to make an appointment to come in to talk to her about them. RED FLAG!!! I never have to go in to talk about test results. I told the nurse I would gladly do that, but could she read me what the report says......

To make a long story short, my uterine wall has thickened. It was thicker last year, but no further testing was recommended so we didn't do any. This time it was even thicker and they did recommend further testing. I went in to see the doctor and we scheduled a hysteroscopy (where they look inside your uterus) and a D & C (where they scrape the walls of the uterus). Everything they remove is sent to the lab for biopsy.

I had that done one the 15th. While I was at the hospital, my blood pressure was really high....so high that they gave me meds for it twice. (Not a good thing when I just got weaned off the meds and my pressure hasn't been all that great since going off....but that's another story for a different day).

Irv and I thought about canceling our vacation because the results wouldn't be in until the day before we were suppose to leave. Would I want to find out I had some kind of cancer and then go on vacation the next day? Probably not.....but we decided to wait and see.

The doctor removed three polyps, but said that she saw nothing that concerned her. We just had to wait for the results. Well they came the day before our vacation and everything was benign. It was a good day. :)

I do have to go in and see her in a couple of weeks, because the fact that my uterine wall is too thick is an open invitation for abnormal cell growth and that is a serious concern. I have no idea what the treatment options will be, but my guess is some type of hormones or a hysterectomy....and I could be totally wrong, but that is just my guess.

It's has been a month of waiting and wondering. For the most part I stayed in control....but my mind often wandered and that is never a good thing when you are waiting for test results. All of this is part of the reason that I am not going to blog every day for a while. I am drained...mentally and I just have other things that I want and need to be doing right now. I have a shower to prepare for, walking and physical therapy to do, my etsy shop to tend to and a summer to enjoy.

So, how are you when you are waiting for news? A nervous wreck, cool as a cucumber or somewhere in between? I was somewhere in between...leaning slightly toward the nervous wreck side this time. I was a bit disappointed in myself for that. I am usually very much in control....to a fault in fact. HAHA!

I will be reading blogs, but maybe not writing or commenting as much as usual during this next month as I get ready for the shower and work on fourdogday...but I will be here.

Make it a good one and do something really nice for yourself today.

Silent Sunday....Vacation....Ahhhhhhhh

Traverse City Here We Come

Everything is packed.....even a swimsuit! HAHA! I can't tell you the last time I had it on, but you never know. There is a pool at the hotel.....I don't think the lake will be even remotely close to being warm enough for me!

The snacks are all in the fridge waiting to be thrown in the cooler in the morning. The dogs got baths. The dog/house sitters are all set. The camera batteries are all charged up and ready to go. The alarm is set for 4:00 a.m........yes, 4:00 a.m......we want to get through Chicago before everyone else wants to get through Chicago and our reservations are made for a two hour cruise on the Manitou and our 3 hour kayak trip down the Crystal River! Vacation time is here and I am so excited.

The weather is suppose to be nasty tomorrow for the drive, but we really aren't in any hurry and hopefully it won't be crappy all day. The next three days look wonderful!

I told Irv I was leaving the computer home and get this........he said to bring it in case we want to look something up! So, the laptop will be coming with, but I don't anticipate being on it much.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I will be back soon with pictures and stories to share.

It's Time!!

I'm making a list and checking it twice......gonna make sure I don't forget anything when we leave on our mini vacation to Traverse City on Wednesday. Irv is running some last minute errands, laundry is just about done, house/dog sitter is lined up and we are counting the hours.

I've been weather watching and right now it looks like a stormy day Wednesday for the drive up, but then a couple days of partial sun and cooler temps which is exactly how I like it.

Tomorrow I will call and make our kayaking reservations and also the ones for our ride on the tall ship. I think there will be enough nice weather for that....and probably the dunes and the scenic drive up the peninsula. I am so excited!

I haven't decided whether the laptop is joining us on our little trip. If you don't hear from me for a number of days.....you will know it decided to stay home!

Have a great rest of the day and I'll chat with you soon!