A weekend away.

Dave and I took a long weekend away in Michigan and here I am to tell about it. I think I blog about these little getaways so 1. I can share our adventures and 2. I can look back and remember the tiny moments that were so fun. Here’s what happened —

I bought Matchbox Twenty tickets months ago because Matchbox Twenty will always be my first music love. I’ve seen them a couple time over the last twenty (25!) years, and so when I saw they were going to be in central Michigan on a Friday night, I bought tickets and dragged Dave along. It was stressful getting there between traffic and attempting to park, but once we arrived to our seats and the drizzle stopped, we enjoyed our evening outside.

The biggest highlight was, of course, Rob Thomas & co., and singing a collection of songs I love, BUT second to that was a woman sitting across the aisle from us. (If I had to guess – 70 years or so?) The opening act was Gavin DeGraw, not someone who super excited me. But this woman across the aisle? She was VERY excited about Gavin. She sang her heart out to every word, screamed, “I love you, Gavin!”, and threw her arms in the air, dancing in her seat. Her husband left to buy her a sweatshirt from the Gavin merch table at one point. And then, when Gavin was done, they left. They clearly were only there for Gavin. It was the darn cutest.

(Third highlight? Can I have a third highlight? I had printed out our concert tickets because I’m old school. We handed them to the gentleman who was scanning the tickets at the gate. He took the paper and as he held it, he said, “That’s some nice paper.” Yeah, I used my premium 32 lb. paper. Thanks for noticing.)

We stayed at a cabin at a local KOA that evening and the next day, began our trek south through harbor towns on Michigan’s west side. We love Michigan harbor towns, that’s no secret. We’ve explored more on the northern part of the lower peninsula; this was our first trek into the southern towns. We spent the most time in Holland, making it to town to catch the tail end of the farmer’s market. We ate a blueberry hand pie from the market as we walked/shopped downtown. We popped in and out of shops, including a shop of intricate German clocks and an antique store with the most impressive display of Pyrex that I’ve ever seen. (I bought none.) We shared a delicious sausage and roasted potato with hot honey pizza (so good) and beers at New Holland Brewing when we needed to cool off a bit inside. (Why is it still so hot in September?)

We continued onto Saugatuck where we didn’t explore the town so much; we sat on Oval Beach in the beach chairs we packed and enjoyed the warm September afternoon. Cat naps were taken. After that, a stop at Waypost Brewery where they let chickens roam freely through the outdoor seating and playground.

We checked into our little cabin at another KOA. (Rustic in that you bring your own bedding and walk to the bathroom; not so rustic in that there is electric and a/c.) Unloaded the car quickly before we got back in it to drive six miles down the road to The Loma Theater in downtown Coloma (pop. 1,465). They were playing three movies; we’d already seen one and the other was of no interest. So we payed $19 to watch Transformers One at 9pm.

When I say $19, please understand that was two tickets, one popcorn, one soda, and a box of Buncha Crunch. $19! In the cutest little theater on Main Street in the cutest little town! It tickled us both. Didn’t love the movie but the experience was top notch. If we want to go to a movie near our home in the evening, it’s $15 for ONE ticket, say nothing of concessions. This theater experience was enchanting. Dave was especially joy filled over the experience, including how you fill your own popcorn bag!

After a good night of sleep in our non-fancy cabin at a super-fancy campground, we made our instant iced coffee (with the most delightful milk jug in the all the land) and walked to the camp store where we ordered breakfast sandwiches. Dave took a couple jumps on the jumping pillow before it started to rain and we packed up.

We walked out to the lighthouse at St.Joseph, raincoats and all, before driving to New Buffalo to Beer Church Brewing for lunch. It’s a brewery. In a church. And they embrace it in all things; their menus are called hymnals. The meatball sandwich we shared sustained us through inevitable Chicago traffic before we arrived home to two very excited dogs.