Travel Thursday: The Trip that Needs a Do-Over

 

                As I plan ahead for our birthday trip this year, I’m having fun wandering down memory lane at some of our early birthday trips. I had the best time looking back over our second annual birthday trip, which took us to the tulipless Tulip Time Festival! This remains a trip for which we need a do-over. One day. One day.

                Memorable from this trip were the following things:

                HORRIBLE WEATHER! After two different Michigan trips and a Wisconsin trip, we started making rules that we either had to head south for birthday trips OR we needed to wait later in the year to take them. The north is not a warm fuzzy friend in April/May. This trip was cold, rainy, and windy the whole time.

                Whilst traveling down some back roads, we encountered some sheep that had just given birth – right there in the field beside the road. Things you do not expect to see on a road trip include…freshly birthed sheep!

                This was the trip in which Ryan said the famous line “That whole thing messes with my quinoa,” because he didn’t know what quinoa actually meant. We still use this phrase today and no one ever understands it.

                This was our first trip to Silver Beach Pizza in St. Joseph, Michigan. We loved it so much we’ve been back multiple times. It never ever disappoints. It’s in an old train depot and has views of Lake Michigan. If you’re headed through St. Joseph, you should make a point to visit Silver Beach Pizza.

                Our fifth monthiversary on the beach (in May) was notably colder than our wedding on the beach (in December).

                The MOST memorable part of this trip, besides the absence of tulips at the Tulip Festival, was the awful, awful hotel we booked. The whole story is too good to summarize, so if you haven’t read it, go here. This marks the only time in our entire marriage we have bailed on a hotel after checking in. It was SO bad. Out of curiosity, I looked to see if it’s still in business, and it is (HOW???) and all reviews match our experience. Wow.

                We ended up in a Hampton and what a gift that was.

                We toured a working windmill, and I’m still glad we did that. It was a cool experience.

                Looking out from the upper deck of the windmill gave us a panoramic view of the tulips….

                Though it was still frigid, the sun did finally make an appearance, so we took advantage of the “nice” day to visit lake Michigan and fly a kite over the lake. We may have frozen in the process, but it was fun.

                This picture is our official Michigan photo in our framed wall map of our travels.

                The “are you kidding me?” moment of the trip came when we ventured forth to watch some festival fireworks. We found a seat at the top of some portable bleachers, but they didn’t fill up like we thought they would. Ryan went to ask if we were in the right area and learned we could move for a better view. He motioned for me to join him and after I descended the bleachers, a lady at the bottom said to me, “Oh! I thought that was thunder. That was you!” Thanks for that boost, Sister.

                The fireworks were worth the thunderous relocation. 😊

                One of these days, we’ll try to redo this trip and see if we can find some…tulips??