"Who says you can't go home?"

I have lived in Utah for 7.5 years now.  But ask me about my visit to the Midwest and I'll tell you about my trip home.  I've lived on the East Coast, the West Coast and now in the Mountains, but I am definitely a Midwest girl.  Born in Michigan and raised in Indiana, so my heart will always be tied to the Midwest.  I usually try to make a trip home every two years or less.  This Fall when I visited, it had been three years since my last trip out there.  When I travel I love to send postcards.  For the past year whenever I sent one to my Great Uncle Charles he would email and ask me when I was coming to visit him.  So I knew 2013 had to be the year that I went back.  And then the "Save the Date" card arrived for Katie B's wedding.  For years I have considered Katie B to be my second Katie sister, so there was no way I was going to miss the wedding.  Now I had the timing for my trip figured out.  I just had to make it happen.

After lots of back and forth it was decided that Mom and Katie would fly to Louisville a week ahead of the wedding to visit family and friends.  They borrowed Uncle Charles' car and drove up to Indiana and then on to Michigan for the wedding.  I flew into Grand Rapids the day before the wedding and would eventually drive the car back to Louisville.  For the first in my adult years (that I can remember) I was greeted inside the airport.  As I walked toward baggage claim there was Mom and Katie and with them was Macky.  It was such a great way to start the trip. 

The three of us were staying with Macky.  Every time I talked to her over the summer she insisted that we would stay with her.  I would never argue with Macky, plus I love visiting with her.  She's been my other grandmother since I was a toddler and her daughter Nan moved in next door to us in Michigan.  According to the story, I was out playing in my little red buggy and Macky saw me.  She thought I was so cute that she just had to come over to meet me.  Mom and Nan became best friends and our families have been close ever since. Even after we moved to Indiana we still did plenty of trips and visits with our Michigan family.  When we were little kids the two families used to meet up in Chicago before Christmas to see the lights and visit Santa at Marshall Fields.  I would have described Katie B as a daddy's girl, except for when I showed up.  I have adored Nan since I was a little girl.  I have a memory of sitting in our front yard watching for Nan to come home from work.  Then I would take my dinner over in a lunch box and have dinner with her and Steve.  So when our families got together I would always head straight to Nan.  Which didn't make Katie B very happy when we were younger.  I remember the day my mom finally turned me around and said, "Do you see that footprint on Nancye's butt?  That's because I used to kick her out the door to your mom's each evening.  So she is kind of your mother's daughter."  After that I had another sister named Katie.

It was a fun weekend of laughter, friends, food, memories and a perfect wedding.  The ceremony was lovely and Katie B looked stunning.  Hard to believe that is the little girl we watched grow up.  I finally met her husband Cory and believe they will be very happy together.  I look forward to future visits when I can get to know him better.

Me, Mom and Katie before the wedding.

Nan and Katie B

Mom, Me, Macky, Nan, Katie

It would not be a visit to Michigan without a stop at Lake Michigan.  On my last night I ran down to the beach just before sunset.  Since it was a cloudy evening I was not expecting much in the way of color.  For awhile it looked like I was right.  But since I was enjoying the waves and the sand I did not rush off.  Thank goodness I waited.  The sunset that I received was one of the most breathtaking ever.  I feel truly blessed to have witnessed this beauty.

Lake Michigan sunset

The hardest part of these trips is saying goodbye before I move on to the next stop.  I held off as long as I could, but eventually I had to promise Macky I would come back soon and then drove off to Indiana.  This trip was similar to my 2010 visit minus the Chicago portion.  I started in Michigan, worked my way down to South Bend and Elkhart before continuing South.  This time I stopped at Notre Dame to see my friend Kara over lunch.  Before I left I stopped by the Women's Basketball offices and was fortunate to catch Beth Morgan Cunningham before she left for practice.  It was great to see her for a few minutes.  At some point I'll need to see her coach a game to go with the fact that  I have seen her at every level of her basketball career.  And it would not be a Northern Indiana stop without my time in Elkhart with the Facklemans.  It is never long enough, but at least I get a chance to catch up.  It sounds like they enjoyed Southern Utah on their roadtrip to California this summer.  So hopefully I can talk them into visiting me soon.

Macky and Honey

Stopped at Notre Dame to visit friends

Indiana Sunrise on the way to Btown

Next stop, home to Bloomington!  I love trips home to Btown.  No matter how much has changed, it is still so familiar.  There is always so much to do when I get there, which means I miss something or someone.  I think this trip came pretty close to getting it all done.  I spent a lot of time with my dad (not sure he agrees).  The highlight of our time together should have been the IU Soccer game, but sadly they lost in OT.  I'm still glad I got to see the game, I always try to time my visits for the Fall so I can see a match.  I practically grew up at the IU soccer field.  I spent almost as much time there as I did at the fields where my teams played.  Each Fall I get phone calls from dad after home games letting me know the score and how the team played that day.  It is something I look forward to each season.  On my recent trips home I have been staying in our old neighborhood with our neighbors, the Varns.  They used to live across the street from us when we were in high school and in the evenings we would play out in the yard with their two little boys.  I always thought it was funny that they knew all our friends' cars, so they always knew who was around the house even if Mom was not there.  Tom and Anne were not afraid to say something to us, so there was very little chance we would have gotten into trouble with them keeping an eye on us. Anne also shares my love of IU soccer.  So what I do not hear from Dad, I hear from her.  Three years ago on my trip home I got to see their oldest son, Dan, play soccer for North High School as a senior.  This trip home I got to see his brother Andrew play as a senior for North in the game against South.  I am proud as a North alumni to say that North beat them with PK's.  (Excuse me, I must rant for a moment.  I do not understand why high school athletes are playing two overtimes and going into PK's on a school night.  Call it a tie and send those kids home to do their homework.  Also, why do they play a 40 minute half instead of a 45 minute half?  Maybe those extra 10 minutes would prevent the need for overtimes.  Okay, rant over.)    After watching Andrew play, and make his PK, I am convinced he will score a goal from the field this season, even though he plays defense.  He has quite a kick. 

Andrew's Senior year (North v South)

 Of course I could not forget to make time for the family in Louisville.  Especially after all of those guilt trips from Uncle Charles.  Which I actually enjoy getting because I love his emails.  He is getting better at the guilt over time.  Right before I left for Alaska this summer Uncle Charles fell and hit his head.  The doctors apparently were not sure what to do with him.  From what I heard, most 95 year old people would not have survived hitting their head.  When I got to Louisville in September he was still in the rehabilitation center, but getting closer to going home.  My Uncle Richard told me that they said that he could go home on Friday the 13th.  So he asked his dad if he would not prefer to wait until the 14th.  Uncle Charles was quick to respond, "How about the 12th?"  (It would turn out that he would get to go home on the 12th.)  Most of my time in Louisville was spent at the center visiting with Uncle Charles.  While I was there I got to see my Aunt Barbara and her husband Paul and my Uncle Richard.  Turns out that my other uncles left town the weekend I came through.  And I didn't have much luck meeting up with my cousins, but that was partially my fault.  My priority for this trip was Uncle Charles.  I hope I'm just like him when I'm 95.  Until this fall he was driving to the family business and working for a couple hours before driving home.  Nothing stops him.

Uncle Richard, Aunt Barbara, Me

Me and my 95 yr old Great Uncle Charles (I made him laugh by telling him to say, "Going home!")

Growing up in Bloomington, I attended St. Charles Elementary which was a small Catholic school.  I think the most students they had during those years K-6th was approximately 200.  My class was never bigger than 21 students.  Despite the small size I have made many lasting friendships from this school.  These include other students, teachers and families.  At one point during my years in Utah there were 5 of us from St. Charles living in the Park City/Salt Lake area.  Currently, there are 3 of us.  In fact, one of my best friends from my class now lives 2 miles away from me.  Last summer I was fortunate to attend the wedding of my "big brother" Jake whom I had met in 1st grade.  Our families did everything together growing up, birthdays, super bowls, graduations.  You name it and our families probably celebrated together.  It was wonderful to be there to see him get married.  And on this trip I would have a couple hours to catch up with the Schraders.  Their whole family is like having two more parents and three more siblings.  I love whatever time I can get with them.  This summer when I did my trip to Alaska, my trip leader was another of my St. Charles classmates, although David was two years ahead of me.  My mom drove morning carpool and David's mom picked us up.  After all these years I still think of David like a big brother.  When I arrived in Bloomington for this visit I had promised myself that I was going to spend an afternoon catching up with Madonna who had been my 6th grade teacher and Heidi who had been another one of my best friends since 1st grade.  (We won't count how many years that equals.)  I drove into town and headed straight for Madonna's house.  We had a fabulous afternoon spending quality time chatting over lunch, walking around downtown and just generally catching up on things.  Hopefully I have convinced her to give the mountains another try and to come visit me.  A definite highlight of my trip was the opportunity to see Heidi, her husband Matt, and to finally meet her twin boys.  They were already a 1 1/2 by the time I got to town.  I must admit, I am in love with those boys.  They are a riot and happy little guys.  We had a blast playing at the park.  My last morning in town I walked over with the Varns' dog Ruby to meet them and play a bit before I had to leave.  They thought having Ruby there was great fun.  It was hard to say good bye.  I hope that I will get them out west soon.  The boys will be ready for skis before you know it.

 

Heidi, Gates and Hunter at the Park

 All in all it was a fabulous trip to the Midwest.  I am definitely going to work harder to make sure that the next time it does not take me three years to get there.  I love that I have all of these amazing people in my life and some great memories from growing up in Michigan and Indiana.  I love living in the mountains (and I am not sure I could survive humidity anymore) but in my heart I am definitely a Midwest girl.

17 Days of So Much Fun- Hope to Anchorage (The End)

Day 16-
Today is Renee's birthday.  Natalie had bought some decorations and candles while others got her some treats in Seldovia the day before.  Then we all waited.  We decided we needed to start eating breakfast and sing when she came in.  There were pieces of cake from the previous night and one had a candle in it.  Natalie got a lighter and handed it to Evie since she was closer.  We were ready, just needed the birthday girl.  We saw Renee coming in so Evie went ahead and lit the candle.  And then Renee did exactly what David had warned and went for a coffee first.  When she came in we all sang Happy Birthday in our own languages.  Poor girl.

We were taking the water taxi back to Homer and Tony let David know that 2 of them were coming over for our group.  David wanted Renee and Mary to go in the first group with him so they could pick up their fish.  Since I was ready I offered to go as well.  We grabbed our stuff and headed down to the beach.  I did not realize that Ulli was ready or I would have stayed and waited for the second taxi so she could go.  When we reached Homer the other three dropped their stuff at the truck and headed to the fish processor.  I grabbed my bag and quickly used the open space to repack everything.  I had to work fast since group 2 was already heading my way.  Ulli was able to get herself sorted before the 3 returned with their fish.  We even had enough time to hit the shops down the street.  If I had money left at this point in the trip I would have been in trouble.  I loved the Eagle Salmon carving with the story in the Native Crafts shop.  Once the 3 came back we headed toward Homer proper to drop Ulli at the place that would fly her to McNeil the next day.  They were going to take some of her stuff over a day ahead since there was so much gear and people going the following day.  We all took turns saying good bye.  Before we left though we had to get a group shot with big smiles and flashing the peace symbol.  It relates back to Ulli's glacier hike with the Swiss girl who posed for every shot by flashing a peace symbol.

Group Peace Out photo op

After our goodbyes we headed toward Hope.  We stopped at the Fred Meyer on steroids in Soldotna again.  The apparel end of the store had sweatpants that said "Soldotna" down the leg.  I would have loved a pair, because who else would have them back home?  I managed to resist temptation.  Most of us had lunch in the truck while we were there but David went for Taco Bell.  It was time for a change in the diet apparently. 

On our way to Hope we stopped to do the Russian River Falls hike.  Due to the parking situation David had to stay with the truck.  I teased Thorsten that he had gotten rid of David and now had all the girls to himself.  It was not a hard hike but we did figure out the 2.3 miles was referring to one way.  Along the way we were fascinated by the cute, red mushrooms.  They look like something out of a Mario Brothers video game.  We did not see any bears but did see flying salmon trying to get up the Falls.  If I was them I would be cursing my parents for coming from this river.  I would also lay my eggs before I had to swim up the Falls.  It was brutal to watch them pushed back.  Natalie had to pull Thorsten and me away.  On the way back we added a Ptarmigan to our list of wildlife for the hike.

Red mushrooms & Flying Fish at Russian River Falls.

Hope is very small, historic and packed on a Saturday night in August.  We drove through the camping area so our leaders could point out where we could camp.  Then the truck was parked by the Social Hall.  Perfect location since we had access to some picnic tables.  There were some camping spots across from the cafe/bar but more open area at the end toward the water.  Thorsten seemed to think the bigger spaces were too far away but that is where Mary and I headed.  Eventually the others joined us.  Thorsten did not want to be alone.  David and Natalie opted to put their tent on top of the truck.

Cafe and Bar in Hope

View from our campsite

David made dinner for us tonight.  Mary donated a few pounds of her halibut.  It was so delicious.  Even Thorsten and Evie ate some of it and they both swear they do not like fish.  We could already hear the music while we were eating.  We cleaned up quickly and then sat for a few minutes drinking some more before we headed down to the bar for the live music.  I finished off my last beer with dinner and the wine cooler while we chatted.  Natalie gave us each money back from the kitty which helped cover the $5 charge at the bar.  Renee wanted to buy the first round for everyone as a thank you for making her birthday special.  Most of us had a Raspberry Woodchuck.  I am not sure they had that flavor when I was drinking them in college.  We grabbed our drinks and headed out to enjoy the music on the porch.  On the way I was stopped by an older fisherman.  It took me a few minutes to make my escape and join the others.  The band was good, the drinks were cold and we got some fun group photos.  When it was time for a second round I treated for Renee's birthday but switched my order to coke.  My three drinks had hit me.  It rained on us but that did not stop the fun on the deck.  Later in the evening David saw a table open up inside and grabbed it.  Thorsten, Evie and I all joined him and then waited to see how long it would take the others to find us.  I had a great discussion with David about why I should just pack it in and head out traveling.  I am just not sure I have the personality to quit my job and travel, no matter how much I love it.  Mary actually found us first and was all set to buy us a round.  None of us could take another drink by that point.  Hopefully we can all make it safely back to our tents after our fun evening of celebrating the trip and Renee's birthday.

Our fearless leaders at the end of the trip.

Me and the Europeans

Mary, Renee, Thorsten, Evie, Me

Me and Evie showing off what David taught us

Day 17-
Our last day together.  So sad!  And guess what, it was raining.  It sounded worse in the tent than it was outside.  The alarm went off at 8am.  I tried to get Mary to take her stuff to the truck and let me take care of the tent.  She decided she would skip breakfast and take the tent down later.  I was skeptical since the clips are so hard to get unhooked.  I left her sleeping and went to get myself organized.  I am hoping that when we get to Anchorage I can get a shower that is not from rain.  Everyone eventually wandered down for breakfast except Renee and Mary.  I helped Natalie by getting stuff out for her.  When Mary came over I went to clean out our tent and try to get it taken down.  I feel bad that it is going to be so wet for Natalie and David to deal with.

Today was the last chance for Natalie and I to kill each other in the truck murder game.  I was not sure how I was going to get Natalie to take a cup from me in the back locker.  I did start carrying my cup around to get her used to seeing it.  And then I got a lucky break.  Natalie and David were taking down their tent, so I set my cup on the footstool in the back locker and went to help.  Of course I forgot my cup when I walked away.  When I came back Natalie had grabbed it and asked me why it was in there.  I told her she was dead.  And that is how I won truck murder!  I forget where Natalie had to get me, but she had to find a way to get me to take a tampon from her.

Our last morning was the first time we were actually late leaving by about 10 minutes.  But we can just blame the rain and hangovers for that one.

I was really hoping to see Beluga whales on the way back to Anchorage.  Then we reached the point where we could see it was low tide and were out of luck.  I turned my attention to seeing a big moose in the water.  During our drive Natalie showed us the video David made with our photos.  It is really good and I hope to get a copy down the road.  She also gave us the compilations of everyone's best photos.  I am excited to see them all.

We stopped along the way in Girdwood for coffee.  Since Thorsten and I had bought rounds the night before, Mary bought our drinks.  There was a bumper sticker in there that said, "The Grind.  The Place Hangovers Come to Die."  Rather appropriate for our group.  We also stopped at a meat place.  It was somewhere David had seen and wanted to check it out.  I bought some salmon and reindeer jerky for some of the family.  I also tried some samples of it.  Not sure about salmon, but I liked the rest.  After that we headed for the airport to drop off Thorsten for his flight.  Definitely hitting us that the trip is ending.  We got to Anchorage in time to see some of the last runners finishing the marathon.  It reminded me of the couple I met on my last trip to Alaska.  The husband was running a marathon in every state.  I wonder how that is going?  At the hostel Natalie talked them into giving her the keys early.  I took advantage to run in and clean up.  I had a bit of time before my friend Meghan would be there to pick me up.  I sat with the remains of our group while they finished lunch  and then we all went to help clean out the truck.  I thanked David and Natalie for putting up with me.  I know I'm not the easiest to travel with.  They told me I had been an easy passenger to deal with.  I would like that in writing for my family.  I could not end the trip without photos with David and Natalie in front of Atka.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I am hoping to see them all again.  After all, I have to go to Germany to try the bread.  And I really want to see the tulips in the Netherlands.

My stuff in the seat that was "mine" for 17 days

Natalie, Me, David

Meghan and Zoey picked me up and we went to run a couple of errands.  We all forgot it was Sunday which caused some issues.  We picked up lunch at Wendy's and headed for their house.  Meghan had to work so I got to hang out with Zoey and Terry.  I have to say that Zoey has one of the greatest imaginations.  She told me the best stories about her baby polar bear.  I could not do them justice if I even tried to repeat them.  I just hope she keeps that imagination and creative streak.  And if Meghan or Terry ever record her I want a copy.  Terry ordered pizza for us and we had a late dinner.  Then he tried to get Zoey to bed.  It was not working, Dad 0, Zoey 2.  Eventually he said good night and went to lay down with her in hopes she would stay in bed.  He must have fallen asleep because a little while later Zoey appeared again in the living room.  I told her to get up on the couch with me and curl up.  She eventually fell asleep there.  Meghan had to move her when she came home from work.  I had a bit of time to chat with Meghan before we headed to the airport.  It was so late that I was struggling.  It was hard to say good bye at the airport.  I hope I will see Meghan and her family the next time they have a layover in Salt Lake City.

Me and Zoey

They are not kidding when they joke the Anchorage airport closes in the afternoon and reopens late at night.  It was really busy for after midnight.  I got checked in, through security and wandered to my gate.  About that time I realized that I did not have my phone.  I ran back to security but they did not have it.  I checked by the store where I had been looking at t-shirts, but it was not there either.  Really hope that I left it at Meghan's or in the car.  What a way to end my trip.  So unfair that the phone found a way to stay but I have to go home.

Good bye Alaska, Hello Reality.