Our mini-vacation 2009: The Porcupine Mountains

(The Porcupine Mountains are located in the U.P. of Michigan and are awesome)

The first picture was one of the last ones we took as we headed out of the park and back home. At this point, we were just aching for showers - a dip in the lake can only do so much. I had worn those gray pants every day to go hiking, and the bandana hid my shameful secret - a matted nest of hair in dire need of a cycle of lather, rinse, repeat. The cleanest one in the picture was probably the dog. No, really.

One of our first views of Lake Superior of Gordon Lightfoot fame ("Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," anyone?). Note the white dog head shoved against the side of the car, craning to get more of the freshwater fresh nature scent.



The drive up wasn't bad, especially to me, who got to sleep off a cold the majority of the 6 hour trip up (thank you, big guy!). But by the time we arrived, we were ready to stretch all 8 of our legs.

We didn't get to witness this view every day as the sun went down, but we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks every night. As the weekend wore on and the evenings got windier, the sound of the waves mingled with the sound of the wind running through the trees. You don't realize how similar those two sounds are until you try to separate them out. Which, incidentally, is a great and quick way to fall asleep. I can see why sounds of nature CDs sell so well with the Ambien crowd, but nothing compares to the real thing.

But back on non-vacation time, I fall asleep to the sound of hoopties driving way too fast down the street and the voices of Early Kyler or Peter Griffin. But at a certain point, everything turns into a lullaby. I can fall asleep in a room with a fully plugged band playing their hearts out. It's just a matter of repetition.

After this vacation I will forever love the Porkies. That's right, people call them the Porkies and I'm one of them. Get your giggles out now. Porkies. Pork-ies. Porkies. They're still awesome. More to come later this week.