Michigan Double Date

Friday, May 28th Dan and I went to Michigan with our friends, Jason and Rachel, for a mini vacation. The drive was only about 3 hours, so it was an easy trip.

After we checked into our hotel, the four of us drove to Holland. There we went shopping and had lunch. There was a darling chocolate and ice cream shop close by called Kilwin's, so of course we saved room for dessert.

Later that evening we went for a walk on the beach just before sunset. It was a gorgeous evening. It was cool, but not cold. Rachel had the unfortunate luck of stepping on a bee, which stung her foot. Dan was kind enough to help her get the stinger out. Once Rachel recovered from her little sting, we walked on the sand and on a nearby pier.

Before the sun set, Rachel and I made a stop for some coffee. We found a cute coffee shop and decided to give it a try. Oh boy, were we in for a delicious treat! I can't remember what all was in the coffee, but I know that it was something like mocha and white chocolate. Then, it was topped off with homemade whipped cream and white chocolate and we were given spoons that were dipped in white chocolate! Worth every calorie!

With our amazing coffee in hand, we found a lovely spot to watch the sun set. There were a lot of locals in the area who came out to sit and watch the sun go down. One was kind enough to take our photo.

Seriously, we couldn't have asked for a better first day for our trip. Well, maybe minus the bee sting. Sorry Rachel.

Saturday, May 29th we went checked out some local wineries. We tasted a few wines and came home with a few of our favorites. One of my favorite stops wasn't for wine... it was for fancy chocolate at Tabor Hill! These candies were very pricey, so we each only got one. Oh man, they were worth it! My chocolate was called "cupcake batter" and boy did it taste like it! It was kind of like Cold Stone, but with chocolate.
That evening we had dinner at Schu's in St. Joseph. After dinner we walked down to a different beach to watch the sun set. Once again, it was a great way to end the day!

Sunday, May 30th we packed up and started our drive home. On our way home we stopped at the Warren Dunes. The crowd wasn't too bad. We had no trouble finding a nice spot on the beach to lay our things. The water was cold, but we manged to get used to it and play some catch with a squishy frisbee.

Our mini getaway was another great way to get our summer off to a fabulous start!

Colorado Trip

This post (as well as other upcoming posts) are way overdue, I know. Well, I finally have some spare time, so I am going to attempt to start sharing some posts.

On Saturday, May 22nd Dan and I got up at 4:00 a.m. and flew to Denver, Colorado to spend a couple of days with Dan's best friend, Myk, and Myk's girlfriend, Kristy.

As soon as we arrived in Denver we got into Kristy's CRV and drove up to Steamboat, Colorado. There we attempted to go rafting and hiking. Our timing wasn't the best. We soon found out that most of the major attractions were due to open up next weekend [Memorial Day Weekend]. No matter, we still did some shopping.

While we were shopping we got word from a local who suggested a sweet, little baby hike that was nearby called Fish Creek Falls. It was a 1/4 of a mile hike to a beautiful waterfall. Sadly, this was the most hiking that we got in during our trip, but I was pleased with the waterfall. There was even some snow on the ground! Even though it was quite warm, Myk and Dan still managed to have a mini snowball fight! They were so funny.

After our hike we had did at an Italian restaurant. The atmosphere wasn't all that great but the food was delicious! Everybody got something different... and everything was amazing.

Later that evening, just before it got dark, we went up to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. Wow, let me tell you... it was one of the most amazing and relaxing experiences of my life! We went from spring to spring until we managed to snag a sweet little spring that was big enough to fit the four of us! We sat together in the hot spring for a couple of hours, not doing much of anything... except taking pictures, chatting, and laughing. Soon it was dark and our only source of light was the moon. Too bad it was cloudy, it would have been nice to see some stars.

Sunday, May 23rd we drove back to Myk and Kristy's home. That evening we went over to Myk's parents' home and had dinner with them. That evening we also played Cranium. The game was new to me, but I had a blast! We played guys vs. girls... and sadly, the guys won. Oh well, it was a close game and I had a great time playing. The game has made it on to my shopping list. One of these days I'll have to pick it up.

Monday, May 24th Myk took Dan and I to the Denver Zoo. Myk managed to score us some free passes, so of course we didn't hesitate to go. It has been about 4 years since I have been to a zoo, so I was happy to go! We had a blast on this busy zoo day. I had a feeling we'd run into some school field trips... and sure enough, we did! The kids didn't get in our way too much, but they did seem to run into Myk a lot. Myk says its because he is so tall... they just don't see him.

Monday evening we had a BBQ at Myk's place. There was more then enough food for us and all of Myk's roommates. Myk was so anxious to grill, I think he went a little overboard with the food, ha ha.

Later that night Myk drove Dan and I out to Mary and Dan's house for dessert. Mary and I grew up together at church and since she got married and moved out to Colorado we don't see each other all that often. Anyway, we had a nice time over at Mary's house. We got the grand tour of their home and I got to play with her daughter, Emily, and read to her before she went to bed. Once Emily was all tucked in Mary broke out the Baker's Square Key Lime pie! It was wonderful!

After our visit with Mary, Dan, and Emily, we went back to Myk's house for a bon fire. We had all the s'more fixings and I taught everyone how to make banana boats (so good!). It was another fun, relaxing evening. One of the funniest moments was when Myk's dog rolled in some melted marshmallow!

Tuesday, May 25th was our last day in Colorado. We drove up to Estes Park where we did some shopping and had lunch. It was rather chilly on that day, but I guess we actually came on a good day because one guy said that the other day a blast of snow came through and all the shoppers ran into stores for shelter. Wild.

We made an attempt to check out some trails in Rocky Mountain National Park, but of course found out that what we wanted to do wasn't open yet. Plus, we'd have to pay, like, $22 to park and we didn't have that much time to spend there, so we left. We ended up finding this super cheap mini golf spot. It was a joke of a place and 4 holes were under construction, so the old man working there charged us $2 per person instead of $3. What a guy! Well, we actually had a great time playing mini golf! Each hole was messed up, but we made the most of the situation and laughed pretty hard the whole time. Dan and Myk both won a free game on the 19th hole... and they got to sign some sort of wall of fame for their win. Our mini golf experience just goes to show that it doesn't matter what you're doing... if you have good company, you can have fun doing just about anything.

Later that evening, Dan and I flew back to Illinois. I already miss the mountains. I hope that we get to go back sometime when there are more trails open... and maybe sometime when we take stay out there for at least a week. There is just so much to do!