It looks pretty good on Sean but check out how it looks on Lorri. It is a large ring.
And here are a couple close-ups.
Baby Emma; Sean with Emma; young Jack & Lorri; Jack, Emma and Ashlee
Here I am with the little ones. Sean didn't think too much of my t-shirt by the way.
Jack was into Thomas the Tank Train thing. Sometimes he would gently place the engine and cars on the track and watch them make their circuit. Other times he would just pile 'em up and crash 'em! It's a guy thing, I think.
On Saturday morning we drove to the nearby town of Plymouth to check out the farmers market and grab some lunch.
Later, we came back to Plymouth for a Saturday evening pub crawl, Starting at Sean O'Callaghan's Public House. Plymouth is a great little town with plenty of shops, bars and restaurants adjoining the old-fashioned town square.
Day 10, Sunday, June 14, 236 miles, 5493 total
We wish we could have spent more time with Sean & Ashlee but we needed to get back on the road and continue the homeward bound journey.
We decided to head for the west coast of Michigan with detours at Ann Arbor and East Lansing to check out University of Michigan and Michigan State. First stop: Michigan. We drove around and around and found a bunch of buildings that sort of looked like college buildings but didn't really seem much like a campus. The stadium however was pretty easy to find. Maybe that's all the do at Michigan is play football.
Michigan State on the other hand has a very impressive campus and they even had an information building and a map!
We've visited quite a few college campuses on our journeys and MSU ranks right up there with the nicest. Not only that, we had a great lunch at a place called "Dublin Square" near a shopping area adjacent to the campus.
I know some of you who actually read the stuff I write thought "west coast of Michigan!!??" Well, there is a left coast of Michigan and it's on Lake Michigan. There are a couple of east coasts too, one on Lake Huron and one on Lake Erie. Not only that but from Michigan you can go SOUTH to drive into Canada!
We camped at Van Buren State Park, right there on the coast. Our campsite was just a short jaunt over the dunes to the beach.
Yes, they have sand dunes and beaches there too; big dunes and lots of sand.
Day 11, Monday, June15, 384 miles, 5877 total.
After picking the absolute wrong freeway on which to drive through Chicago (I-294 toll way - 95% of which was under construction) we finally made it to Madison, Wisconsin, a town that constantly appears on "best places to live" and "best college towns" lists. Unfortunately it should currently be included on "most roads torn up and under construction" lists. We had a terrible time navigating the town and the campus so we didn't even stop there. We were just grateful that we finally escaped the construction zones and get back on the highway. We were going to stop at "Josie's" for lunch but it looked a little rough.
We spent Monday night at Mirror Lake State Park which is not too far from Baraboo (the birthplace of the circus with a museum to prove it) and Wisconsin Dells (the town of water slides, "ducks", big schlocky hotels and lots of tourists).
I tried to capture the essence of Mirror Lake. I guess I'll have to buy a post card.
Here is Lorri and me with a hat and without a hat.
