A Spin-off of Crazy & Loving It!

Jro & Gunny are in the midst of posting about their trip to the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula for you non-Michiganders). I have to laugh because she keeps giving us cliff hangers. At this moment, I dream that she is sitting at her computer waiting for midnight, so that she can post the day 3 of their humorous adventure.

Their trip so far has been about Whitefish Point, and Tahquamenon Falls.

Flash back to 1998. Den and I had been married for 1 year, and had no children. We decided to be adventurous and head up to the UP with Mike & Donna whom we commonly refer to as Ken & Barbie. I vividly remember driving up in our dark green Chevy Blazer, and jamming to music. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot - that song played about a gazillion times on the radio. So much so that I still can not listen to it without wanting to gouge my own eyes out with a fork! Then K.C. & The Sunshine Band came on. "Get down tonight!". Den and I were shimmying our shoulders as we barreled by Barbie & Ken, looking at them and dancing while we drove.

Jro talks about the area being desolate. She isn't kidding. When you see signs for Paradise, it isn't what you think. I refer to Paradise as palm trees, warm beaches and awesome drinks. This is trees, trees, and more trees, with a blacktop road running through them. At one point, we had the radio on and when we hit scan, it went in a complete circle without landing on a single channel! Cell phones? Forget it. Not even if you drove around with a 15' antenna on your car.

As we got closer to our campground, we saw a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road. Off in the distance, standing very tall and eating grass, was a Moose! We were so excited to see it, and thought "Cool! There are moose up here!". We should have taken note of the number of cars pulled over, with tourists shooting photos. This would be the LAST moose I would see! Even now, 11 years later, I still haven't seen a Moose in the wild since.

Barbie & Ken set up their pop-up while Den and I pitched our 3 bedroom tent. Lord knows why we needed such a monstrosity, but it sure was roomy! We put down tarps and fixed them "just so" with the hopes that no water would come in if it rained.

During our trip, we had the brilliant idea that we would hike from the lower falls to the upper falls. After all, it couldn't be that far. :-) A guide at the park said it was approximately 1 mile to the upper falls. Definitely manageable.

We made our way through the forest as happy little hikers. About a mile into the jaunt, Barbie trips and sprains her ankle. Did I mention we are about a mile into the forest? I also haven't told you that Mr. Park Guide was wrong. It wasn't exactly 1 mile to the upper falls. As we stood there in the wilderness, we are all 4 looking around thinking, OH CRAP, as we are watching Barbie's ankle swell up like a bowling ball. There is no way we can carry her out, and there is no way someone can come get her. This was up and down, turn here, turn there hiking on a very narrow dirt path that looked like it was made about an hour before we all decided to become stupid!

Barbie was a total trooper. She toughed it out and continued the hike. 3 fricken miles later, we were all worn out, pissed off, and no longer speaking to each other. Had we known it would be 4 miles, 1. we would have drove, and 2. we would have taken at least a water bottle or something to keep from dying of thirst!

We spent a total of 2 minutes looking at the stupid falls while seething that we were now FOUR miles from out campsite with an injured camper and NOTHING to drink! PLUS there was a very cute little gift shop with a plethora of beverages chilled to the point of almost being frozen, and yet we had not a dime between us. Being that the upper falls were only supposed to be ONE MILE from the lower falls, why would there be a gift shop there? Who would have thought of that?

We decided to take the road back. Tired, weary, dehydrated, injured, and PISSED, we all walked the 4 miles down the road to our campsites. No one said a word the entire time. We got back and all parted our ways. Everyone napped for about 2 hours, then got up and everything was fine. We were talking again, laughing and having fun... until we played UNO. The game that NEVER ends.

I don't remember a lot about the trip, but those things are as clear as the monitor in front of my face. After we arrived home, our phone rang and it was Barbie & Ken. They weren't ready to say goodbye yet, so we met them at a restaurant which is now called Tin Fish on Lake St. Clair. We had drinks on the deck as we watched the boats and the sunset. We laughed and laughed, and to this day are still GREAT FRIENDS.

I can't wait to see Jro's next installment!