Weekend Wedding

Recently we had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Chicago for a wedding celebration of a dear friend of ours.  The Music Man and I also treated it as our 15 year anniversary getaway, which just means that we went out to eat once or twice instead of packing our meals.  Romantic, I know.

We zoomed on into town just in time for the potluck, musical, gardenish ceremony in an old converted fire house.

Can you see how eager we are to dig into the potluck?

After that, we dined and reconnected with friends, then retired to our lodging (airbnb, anyone?).

What's one of the best things about Chicago?  Both the locals and visitors agree: the lakefront, of course!  So I rented a Divvy bike and tagged along Music Man's morning lakeside jog.

I admit I underestimated the difficulty of using a camera while riding a bike.

We even joined the tourists for the Architectrual Boat tour and grabbed some Garrett's popcorn before heading back to Michigan, to our kids, to our animals, to our back-to-school reality.

But what a sweet wedding weekend it was.

More Michigan!

Michigan is such a great state, isn't it?  We decided to take advantage of a free couple of days and explore a little bit more.

First stop: Lansing and the Capitol building.

The stars at the very top are the size of a dinner plate!

We loved the intricate details of the decor.

Furniture was all moved around because of renovations.

Even the Capitol building needs to have its carpet replaced!

inside detail of the door hinges

courtroom with furniture stuffed into it

After our quick tour of Lansing, we headed northwest to Grand Haven on Lake Michigan.

Even cloudy skies can't stop this bunch from having fun!

Grand Haven has a quaint trolley that drove us around the city, highlighting interesting facts.  We learned that several of the homes were mail-ordered from Sears & Roebuck.

Another beach in Grand Haven.

We spied on this beach exercise class.  Hey, ladies, if you need another workout, I've got some firewood that needs chopping!

It happened to be the week of the Coast Guard Festival.

We toured one of the ships and learned its main purpose was to break up ice in the Great Lakes.

We also drove in to Grand Rapids and visited the Frederick Meijer Garden and Sculpture Park.  Wow, those are some serious gardens.

There seemed to be artwork everywhere, even on the ceiling of the museum cafe!

Here we are, enjoying some ice cream at Pfaff's Pharmacy in Grand Haven, one of the oldest soda fountains around.

Back to the beach!

On our way back home, we stopped in downtown Grand Rapids, this time to discover some murals, a war memorial, and the local library.

When the power of love overcomes the love for power, there will be peace.

Oh, Michigan, there's so much to see!