the hand of the US

Everyone put out their right hand.

Good.

Place it on a flat surface with your palm facing upward.

Seriously, do it.

Okay, good.

What you see is a map of Michigan on your hand. Don’t believe me? Google it. Anyways, that’s not my hand, but that is neither here nor there. I was in Michigan around Luddington (see map above) for Labor Day weekend. It was absolutely perfect.

Of course, there are always bumps along the way… especially if you live with my husband or myself. On Friday, our plan was to quickly pack up and head out right when we got home from work. This would have been easier if our nights on Thursday were not so jam packed, because we had not prepared at all. Imagine us scrambling around, trying to pack and get everything ready. That is, until, we could not find our suitcases. Really? We JUST went on vacation! Where in the world were they? That is a question we still do not know the answer to.

Instead of a suitcase, we used a toolbox. The husband liked tocall it a “trunk” (I think to make me feel better about the situation), but in reality, it was a giant toolbox. Yes, we are the epitome of disfunction.

We finally got on the road around 5, and we stopped for dinner two hours into our trip for the husband’s birthday. It’s not a roadtrip until you go to Cracker Barrel (or “Crackle Barrel” as the husband calls it), so we stopped there for dinner. Certainly not the most veggie friendly of all restaurants, but they do have a really fun game which told me I was “really smart”.

I ended up with a giant plate of whatever veggies were actually “vegetarian”. We hit the road again with another two hours to go! No one really got to the cottage until late, and we were up until about 1 settling in and talking with our family.

However, my body clock likes to wake me up early no matter what, so I got up and ate breakfast - I think I explained my breakfast about 20939023 times this weekend. However, that will happen with 16 people in the cottage (okay I exaggerate on how many times I told everyone about it!)

Yes, I planned ahead and brought all my essentials. It made for a great breakfast x3 (not all on Saturday… throughout the course of the weekend).

On Saturday, I had plans to do a longer run and my friend’s boyfriend volunteered to run with me part of the way. Despite the freezing cold and very fall like brisk running conditions, I managed to belt out 7 miles. Okay, in reality, we did a 3.5 mile loop, and we stopped. I then went inside for a good 20 minutes claming “I am DONE!”, but then realized 3.5 miles when you’re supposed to do 11 or 12 really isn’t going to cut it. I went out and did another loop. Garrick stayed back. I was cold and almost got lost.

However, I digress…. the rest of the day (and entire weekend) was spent playing with the cutest 1 month old ever!

Lunch was delicious - and I’m sure you can’t tell, but that is an open faced veggie and hummus sandwich. The supply of veggies and fruit this past weekend were endless, which made for a very happy Chelsey. I did have to get creative on how to make meals out of them though - I’m glad I brought all my staples with!

That night we grilled out - everyone else had burgers, and I had a portabello mushroom (it’s being hidden by the Corona actually).

I’m pretty sure this weekend I set a PR - no, not on running. On the amount of hours I slept. Seriously, I was exhausted. It was a good thing Saturday was so freezing because it gave me and excuse to sleep and pull out a ginormous puzzle.

I’m not a good puzzle person - I get too impatient and I give up. The husband, however, did a number on it along with some others!

Other than lounging, sleeping, eating, and jet skiing, we also did some farm stand shopping! There was an apple orchard a couple of minutes away from the cottage which we stopped by. I got a HUGE peck of honey crisps and two squash (one butternut, one acorn). Guess how much I spent.

If you struggle at reading clues or just really aren’t a math person, I spend only $11 on all that produce. Pretty amazing if you ask me!

Our next stop was another farm stand which had a lot of fun cute decorative things and jams/jellies/etc.

They had samples of their apples out for everyone to try - I tried a Zestar! I had never had one before, but my friend (and now cousin!) Mandi told me I should try that one. It was really good - crisp, and a little more tart than a honey crisp!

I also had a sampler of some raspberry jam - it was delicious!

I left the store with a crazy amount of peaches (which I plan on freezing for the winter). I’m really excited to have fresh fruit for the winter!

Saturday and Monday the weather really did not cooperate with us - however, it was a great time to relax, hang out with family, and just take a breather from life.

Question: What did you do over Labor Day weekend? What was the BEST thing you ate?

Tagged as: apples, farmstand, honeycrisp, hummus, labor day weekend, michigan, peaches, running, veggies