Archive for the ‘vacation’ Category

Vacation

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

We headed to West Virginia, Virginia and DC last week. Spent some time in the New River Gorge in West Virginia and did some rafting, hiking, biking, camping and eating. Good stuff.

Beautiful day for driving

Beautiful day for driving

The New Bridge - longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere

The New Bridge - longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere

Us and the New Bridge

Us and the New Bridge

Hiking in the mountains

Hiking in the mountains

Later on in the week, we headed up to Virginia and Washington DC. We went into Washington DC for a whirlwind tour. I had been there when I was younger, but Jim hadn’t ever been. I forget how much stuff is there! We need to go back and see some more.

Jim hydrating after a run in with a kidney stone the day before

Jim hydrating after a run in with a kidney stone the day before

The Lincoln Memorial and I

The Lincoln Memorial and I

Beautiful Smithsonian building

Beautiful Smithsonian building

Jim at the FBI

Jim at the FBI

Well, I am off to Nashville this week for a girls weekend. Very excited!!

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Posted in vacation |

Cherry Festival

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Our July has been busy, but fun. Last weekend, we went up Traverse City for the National Cherry Festival and to run in the 5K. We had a great time camping, running, and biking. We witnessed the Cherry Festival Parade on Saturday. It started at 11:30 and when we left at 1:30, it still wasn’t over! We saw everyone from Terri Lynn Land to Michael Sak to the Asparagus Festival queen.







Later on Saturday, we biked the Old Mission Peninsula and did a little bit of wine tasting. Went to the newest winery on the Old Mission Peninsula called Two Lads. They have an awesome tasting room with an amazing view. They don’t have too many wines right now since they are new, but what they have so far is good! I would recommend going there if you are ever in the area.
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Posted in summer, vacation |

It sounded like a good idea…

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008


We had a great weekend – we were really productive actually. Friday, I did a little yard work and powerwashed the house and then we saw the new Narnia movie. Not the best. I would wait until it’s on video or until it’s on cable – pretty disappointing.

On Saturday, we planted our vegetable garden. In a little while we will have tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers, green peppers, and carrots. We have to put up a little fence when they start sprouting because we have some very hungry bunny rabbits in our neighborhood.
I decided to do the Reeds Lake Run 10K on June 28, so I am still in training mode. I did the six miles Saturday and still feel pretty good. Jim’s actually thinking about doing it too. He chose playing basketball as his training. :-)

I prefer to not talk about the Piston game on Saturday night. At least they redeemed themselves last night.

I had been watching the weather on Sunday and it looked just beautiful. I really wanted to take a bike ride on the Kent Trails to Byron Center. It’s a really pretty ride and there’s an ice cream shop in Byron Center – that’s all the motivation I need. Well, in my head I had thought it was 8 miles one way so 16 miles round trip. A good solid ride. No, my friends. I was mistaken. We mapped it on mapmyrun.com (the best tool ever by the way) and it was 25 MILES!! If I sit on anything, it has to have at least a three inch pad. I wasn’t ready yet.

Yesterday turned out to be beautiful too! So much for the thunderstorms (which I am bit sad about actually). We went to the big parade in the morning – they go right down Baldwin and it lasts for about and hour and a half! Audrey and all of her in-laws came. 12 kids and parents – we took up a whole block! Parade’s are so much fun when kids are there. After that, Jim apparently didn’t get enough and went mountain biking. Then more yard work – when your yard loves weeds more than grass, the work never ends. Last night we used an Olive Garden gift card (what could be better?) and then saw the new Indiana Jones movie. We both really liked it. Different than the other ones, but good.

I was really getting used to this vacation thing. Working isn’t going to be easy… but that’s why it’s work, huh?

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Posted in biking, vacation |

Mexico Pictures

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

I created an online album for our Mexico pictures. Enjoy!

http://jim-wendy.com/Mexico/index.html

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Posted in Mexico, vacation |

It’s the Final Countdown…

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

One week until the Riverbank Run!

One week until Andrea graduates from college!

One week and one day until we flee the country!

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Posted in family, running, vacation |

Back by popular demand…

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

I am baaaack.

As promised… pictures from our vacation to Ludington. It was fun for me because I had spent some time there growing up since it was only an hour away from Whitehall. Jim and I got to visit one of my favorite restaurants: PM Steamers. They ring a bell every time the Badger (car ferry) comes in. We planned our dinner so we could be there when they did it. It’s probably a silly thing, but I remember that when my family would go there. It was just fun to be there again.
We had great weather while we were camping. It was a little chilly at night, but that’s why you have campfires! We ate hobos pies and other campfire concoctions the whole week. Jim made me breakfast (egg in the toast… his speciality) every morning! We did a ton of bike riding and hiking and even checked out Manistee and the Nordhouse Dunes. We also climbed the Big Point Sable Lighthouse. Amazing views! The salmon also started moving up the rivers to spawn, so there were fisherman and salmon everywhere. I was actually pretty cool because these huge fish would just sit in the streams and there would be 25 or so fisherman trying their best to catch them, but the fish didn’t really care to eat. They were there to reproduce and die. Sad little fishies.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. You can view all of them here.






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Posted in Ludington, vacation |

I think I sprained my wrist…

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

I had my first volleyball game last night… and I think I sprained my wrist… shoot.

Pictures of our vacation are still coming… be patient. I can only do so much with one wrist.

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Posted in vacation, volleyball |

Nashville

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

I made it back… the trip down took 12 hours, which is less than desirable. The crew consisted of Michele, Chaeli, Julie, Suz and myself. We ran into a couple accidents and a lot of traffic. When we arrived in Nashville, April greeted us with spaghetti. I don’t think I have ever had better spaghetti. We spent the rest of the night catching up, which is always a good time!
Saturday morning we decided to have brunch at a Nashville icon – Pancake Pantry. The wait for us was about 2 hours, but hey, we did it. Again we were so hungry because when we ate our “breakfast” at 1… oops. The rest of the afternoon consisted of shopping the boutiques in the area and me letting down all of my friends by not buying the perfect black dress… sooorry Michele. :-)
Later that night, we headed to downtown for some dinner and line-dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon. So much fun. We learned a new line-dance and I actually caught on this time.
On Sunday we headed to Opryland. At Opry Mills, they have some good outlet stores and I finally purchased something other than food in Nashville. We decided to see “The Nanny Diaries.” It was cute, but I am not sure if it was worth the $9. Nashville movies are expensive, but hey… their gas is cheaper!
After the movie he walked over to the Grand Old Opry Convention Center. AMAZING! Their is the convention center where they broadcast the opry and then there is an unbelievable hotel attached to it. This place was phenomenal. First of all, it’s huuuge. There are different sections of the hotel and each section has a different garden/plant/tree layout. The whole place is covered in a glass roof – a sort of atrium. There are live palm trees, flowers, a fifty foot waterfall, a tropical breeze and a river with a real riverboat all inside of this place. The whole time I was in there, I couldn’t believe it was inside. I really felt like I was at a tropical resort. Does anyone have any connections to Fred Meijer? He needs to build one here in GR. He already has the garden thing going for him. I would spend many days there in the middle of February. No more seasonal depression for me! The website is here. The pictures don’t do much justice, but at least you get the idea.

I looked at the room rates… does anyone want to send Jim and Wendy to Opryland?? You know you want to. :-)

We drove back on Monday and it only took 10 hours. I am glad to not be in the car anymore… I will have more pictures of Nashville soon.

Jim had a good time mountain biking in North Carolina. He was wiped out… the mountains are actually mountains in North Carolina and a tad bigger than the ones at Egypt Valley.


This one is a winner. A church actually built this… they call it the Kings of Kings statue. Jim and the guys called it Touchdown Jesus. Read all about it here. I will keep my comments to myself in case any Solid Rock Church members read my blog… ha.


I still think I had more fun.

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Posted in Nashville, vacation |