4th of July Camping 2009

First I just have to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Lori & Cliff for such an awesome trip!  This was my very first visit (that I can remember) to the West side of Michigan. 

FRIDAY
We were to leave Fenton at 11am on Friday the 3rd.  By the time we got all our stuff ready and got on the road it was 4pm.  We stopped just down the road to grab a quick bite to eat and hit the freeway for Ludington at 4:30pm.  We luckily missed 98% of all “holiday” traffic by doing this. 

We stopped once for gas where Lori’s nephew Mark (who is 10) had the pleasure of discovering $0.75 condoms in the restroom.  This traumatized him pretty good, he talked about it the rest of the day thinking it was the grossest thing in the world…it gave us tons of laughs and jokes. 

We arrived in Ludington around 8:30, as we passed through town I made a silly comment as went by the hospital along the lines of “at least we know where thats at” (this is important to remember for later in the story).  We got to the campground which was  slightly more “rustic” then it appeared online and proceeded to get settled into the site that would be our home for the next few days. 

Cliff got a great fire going and we roasted hot dogs for dinner that night & Cliff made popcorn over the campfire for us.

SATURDAY
We got up on Saturday got ready and decided to bike into downtown Ludington to watch the 4th of July parade.  The ride was just about 1.5 miles.  It was a great ride, this was the first time I’ve been on a bike in 2 years! 

After the parade we played a round of putt-putt golf which is basically right on the beach.  We biked back to camp and had a late lunch.  Cliff and Mark layed down for a little bit while Lori & I headed back into town to Wal-Mart for some forgotten supplies & to get my fishing license. 

We got back to camp and started prepping dinner.  Grilled some awesome turkey burgers and got ready to go back into downtown Ludington to Stearns Park to sit on the beach of Lake Michigan and watch the fireworks. 

The fireworks were great, just being able to sit on the beach with your feet in the sand and watch them over the water and beach was great.  I got some awesome sunset pictures!  It was kind of late when we got back so we relaxed a little and headed to bed.

SUNDAY
Sunday morning after a great breakfast (Lori can do amazing things in the camper kitchen), Cliff & Mark headed down to the dock to fish in Lincoln Lake.  Lori & I stayed behind to get ready to head into town for the Art & Craft Show.  The guys called and said they got some good fish so Lori & I decided to bike down to the dock and check out their catch.  Cliff had caught a pike and Mark caught 5 Perch.  We took some pictures and headed back to the camper to drop off the bikes and head to the craft show. 

I had a slight mishap on the way back…I stopped to pick up a little plastic box that someone had left on their campsite when they checked out and shortly after getting back on my bike and taking off the bike slipped in the dirt and it flew out from underneath me.  I fell to the ground, my body went one direction and my left leg pretty much stayed exactly where it was.  As I landed on the ground the handle bars slid across my left knee and I heard my hip pop, felt a large pop in my knee followed by lots of burning.  Lori had been ahead of me on her bike and stopped to come running back to my rescue.  In true Fearlessgal fashion I insisted on standing up myself and pushing my bike back to the camper, all the while insisting that i just needed some ice and to “rub some dirt on it” and we’d be on our way to the craft show.  After the knee gave out on me about a million times between the spot of the accident and my car Lori convinced me to at least go to Rite-Aid and buy a knee brace.  Well when I got out of the car at Rite-Aid my knee gave out and twisted really bad, this nearly took me to the ground.  I looked at Lori and I think she knew I was in some serious pain…luckily the Memorial Medical Center Hospital was right across the street and ‘we knew where it was’.  Off the the ER we went.  Lori got me a wheel chair and shuffled me inside, this is after we remembered to grab the camera to document all my “fun”.  I got signed in, and sent off to “Triage” for them to make my bracelet (free souvenir, lol) and shuffled off to the “Fast Track” section of the ER.  I was then shuffled of to xray.  Let me just say this was the best looking staff I’d ever seen in a hospital.  They came back a short time later and said nothing was broken and that it was most likely a severe sprain they put me in a knee immobilizer gave me some crutches and sent me on my way, and said to follow up next week with my doctor if I’m still having problems…all said and done we were in and out in about an hour.  BEST service and most friendly hospital staff EVER!

All the while I kept saying I wasn’t going to let this injury sideline or interrupt my fun.  And I didn’t.  We did miss the craft show, it was closing right as we were getting there.  So Lori & I headed back to camp to meet up with the boys and headed down to the docks to do some fishing, knee immobilizer and the crutches didn’t hold me back.  We fished for awhile, got more great sunset pictures and headed back to camp, roasted some more hot dogs on the fire and just hung out and relaxed.

MONDAY
This is the day we were supposed to be packing up and heading home but happily Lori & I were able to get another day off work and Mark wanted to stay too. 

We got going early afternoon and drove down to Silver Lake.  We checked out a couple Jeep rental places, but decided to go on the MAC WOODS Dune Rides instead.  This was totally awesome!  They lease a part of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes from the State of Michigan and access is restricted to their tours.  I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life!  The dunes were just phenomenal!

After the dune ride we drove down to Little Sable Point Lighthouse.  I in “nothing is going to stop my fun” fashion, strapped on my knee brace (I have to take it off while driving) and hiked up the sand dune to the beach area.  I did stop about half way between the parking lot and the beach to rest, but then continued on once Cliff & Mark decided to go swimming.  I took the brace off and got in Lake Michigan a little.  When we went to leave Cliff had two options for heading back to the car…1 being the longer route with the smaller dune or 2 being the shorter route with the bigger/steeper dune…I chose the shorter route.  A little more then half way up I was struggling and had to take off the brace to be able to make it the rest of the way.  But I did make it.

On our way back to Ludington we decided to stop at House of Flavors for ice cream (they make their own there).  Well once there we chose to go ahead and eat dinner as it was getting late and we wanted to still make it up to Ludington State Park for a bit that night. 

We got to Ludington State Park about 20 minutes before it closed and walked around Hamlin Lake and the river.  We quickly decided that we had to go back there on Tuesday before we left to do some fishing and walking around.

We went back to camp, Cliff made another great fire, we made S’mores and Cliff roasted popcorn on the fire again.  It was a great last night.

TUESDAY
Tuesday morning we started to pack up camp.  Checkout was supposed to be 11am…well I think it was around 12:30/1pm when we finally pulled out of there.  We went and got gas and headed up to Ludington State Park for the afternoon. 

We had intended on leaving for home around 4:00, well like all our “times” we didn’t make that one either.  We were having such a wonderful time fishing and just enjoying the beauty of the park it made it so hard to pack up and leave…but finally we did…at 6:30 that night!

We stopped in Grand Ledge on our way back home to get gas and grab a quick bite to eat.  We finally made it back to Lori & Cliff’s around 10:30 that night.  I tried to help as best I could to unload some stuff from the camper as Cliff got my bike out of his truck and into my car.  I finally got on the road to my house around 11:30 that night and got home at 12:30am! 

All in all it was a fantastic trip (even the part of hurting myself wasn’t so bad, it could have been so much worse).  I definitely want to go back to Ludington as soon as possible, I think its going to be my new vacation spot.  The beauty of the area just can’t be beat in my book.

Gearing up for Camping!

Well 4th of July camping is FINALLY booked and I can’t wait!

My best friend Lori, her husband Cliff, the guy I’ve been seeing (we’ll call him “G”) and I will be heading to Ludington, MI for the long weekend.  This is especially exciting for me for two reasons:
1.  I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life and have never traveled to the West side of my state.
2.  ”G” who I’ve been dating since late February is going with me and this will be our first “trip”/weekend together. 

I’ve been working on my packing list and I’m happy to say I’ve already got most of the stuff on hand.  It helps that we are actually camping in Lori & Cliff’s camper, although “G” and I have agreed that if the weather isn’t too bad in one extreme or the other that we’ll probably sleep in the tent (this I know will bring a good story because I have only slept in a tent one other time in my life, I was probably 10).  “G” is used to real rustic camping and I think he knows he’s got to compromise on this trip with the camper being next to the tent so that there is hope I may one day do a full “rustic” tent camping trip with him.  “G” would like to try a dune hike, which of course I have agreed to even though I’m overweight and completely out of shape, I refuse to say I can’t do something…otherwise I wouldn’t be “Fearlessgal” so if this adventure kills me it was nice to share the last year with everyone, lol.

I so look forward to sharing the events of the weekend.  I’m sure there will be many amusing stories.

UPDATED 5.18.09 ~ My 100 Things List

I’M ABLE TO CROSS ONE THING OFF MY LIST!

Well I’ve been working on this list for awhile…here it is:

My 100 Things List

1. Vacation to New York City

2. Spend a New Years Eve in Times Square

3. Visit all 50 states

4. 2 week vacation to Alaska

5. Snowboard at least once

6. Ski at least once

7. Tent camp for at least 5 nights

8. Bike around Mackinac Island

9. Vacation to Ireland

10. Vacation to Italy

11. Ski Lodge Vacation with Friends in Colorado

12. Audition to be on TV or in a movie… even if you’re just an extra

13. Take sexy photos of yourself (keep them somewhere safe)

14. Visit the North Pole

15. Attend The Tonight Show or The Late Show as an audience member

16. Spend a night pub-hopping in London

17. Go white water rafting

18. Fall in love – even if its not everlasting

19. Write a book… even if it’s short and never gets published

20. Visit the Senate and the House of Representatives to see how Congress really works

21. Take a shower under a waterfall

22. Sleep on the beach under the stars in Key West

23. Hit up Oktoberfest in Munich.

24. Hit up Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

25. Hit up Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

26. Hike the Grand Canyon

27. Attend a Red Sox vs. Yankees game in Fenway Park

28. Visit the Amazon Rainforest

29. Pyramids at sunset

30. Take a road trip across the U.S.

31. See the sun rise on the East coast and sunset on the West coast of the US in the same day

32. Ride a trolley car in San Fran

33. Take a hot air balloon ride

34. Hold a chimp

35. See a shuttle launch

36. See the Northern Lights

37. Make a tasty pot of chili not involving a premade seasoning packet

38. Visit Paris

39. Learn to drive a Manual Transmission

40. Attend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

41. Take a trip with my brother & Sister – NO PARENTS

42. Save $5000

43. Send a secret to PostSecret.com ~ Sent in a secret this week…have more that I plan to send.

44. Send flowers to 3 different people for no reason

45. Start to trace my family tree

46. Go paintballing

47. Complete the local wine tour

48. Take a girls only trip with friends

49. Get a passport

50. Walk, run or jog in a 5K

51. Visit Mount Rushmore

52. Sleep on an overnight train

53. Go to a palm reader/psychic

54. Drive the Merrit Parkway (Connecticut) during the Fall Foliage season

55. Plant a lemon tree and use the lemons

56. Give bone marrow, a kidney or a liver lobe

57. Fly in a helicopter

58. Run for some political office

59. Forgive myself for my past

60. Spend Christmas on the beach enjoying drinks

61. Make a hole-in-one

62. Learn to bartend

63. Spend time with someone who is aware of their last moments on Earth

64. Volunteer at a homeless shelter or Soup Kitchen every holiday for a year…my family can live without me once

65. Become a foster parent or court appointed guardian

66. Ice skate in Rockefeller Plaza

67. Go whale watching

68. Don’t talk for a whole day

69. Fast for one whole 24 hour period and not complain about it but learn from it

70. Bring myself to tell my ex thank you for ending our relationship…my life is much better now.

71. Spend a day doing “touristy” things alone

72. Take a vacation alone

73. Move back into my own place!

74. Have the guts to ask for what I want or deserve

75. Live by my blog name ~ FearlessGal ~ be fearless in all I do

76. Find the campground on the beach in Florida (saw it on the travel channel and now can’t remember the name) and stay there for a week

77. Become a name in political circles

78. Become a true activist for what I believe in

79. Tell a stranger they are beautiful and mean it

80. Go one week without using the phone (unless an emergency) or internet

81. Pay off the IRS!

82. Visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park

83. Get arrested

84. Buy a camper

85. Learn proper Chef knife skills

86. Sleep on a beach

87. Buy Season Tickets to the Red Wings

88. Buy Season Tickets to the Tigers

89. Rejoin Big Brother Big Sisters

90. Accept the flaws of those I love

91. Join a golf league

92. Buy a really good set of golf clubs

93. Get my tattoos fixed/reworked

94. Lose weight & be healthy

95. Read the entire bible

96. Attend church on a regular basis

97. Learn to sew & be able to hem my own clothes

98. Always seek to improve

99. Vacation with that special someone

100. CONTINUE TO ENJOY AND EXPERIENCE THINGS NOT ON THE 100 LIST!
     

If anyone has any other suggestions for my list or if you can help me cross some of this stuff off email me!

Wow just about a year…

Well it’s been just about a year since my world turned upside down.  I can’t believe how quickly (and easily) the time passed.

I am still living with my parents, and in all honesty don’t know when I’ll be moving.  The economy is just too iffy and I’m not comfortable making financial obligations right now.

On a positive note, I’ve been dating someone for a few months.  We met online last summer but due to circumstance we did not actually meet in person until February.  We’ve gone out a lot and I really really like this guy.  The most unfortunate part of it is that we live about an hour away from each other so we don’t get to see each other as frequently right now.  Hoping that will change though.  We’ll see how it goes!  I’m planning on inviting him to my cousins wedding, which means he’ll be meeting my family…again we’ll see how it goes!

My friends and I are starting to plan our summer camping trips…first up 4th of July weekend!

Updates

Well its been awhile since I really put anything of substance up here for everyone.  So I’ll start off, well from the beginning, haha.

The last few months at work have been very difficult.  Many of us who have been around for several years could kind of see the writing on the wall, sort of like when you paint on a white wall with Tide detergent in college or high school and you can kind of see it in the regular light (if you use too much) but you can’t really know the message until you turn on a black light…work has been kind of like that.

Well our business is in real estate and we’re in Michigan…like I said we’ve kind of known that we aren’t in a great position.  Anyhow, several weeks ago our company had to let four people go.  This was such a shock as we are already such a small operation to begin with.  Most of us were friends with the people that were let go so that made it that much more difficult.  Just as we were adjusting to that change we were informed that regrettably the entire company had to take a pay cut.  I can’t lie and say I wasn’t devastated by this, however I’d rather have the fraction of the paycheck I’m getting versus being on unemployment right now.  The mood and tone in our office is just starting to recover, but there is still that underlying angst about the what if’s (at least there is for me).  But I’m happy to be employed still and will continue to come to work each day and do the best I can with what I’m dealing with at that moment.

I’ve been looking for a place to move into, a roomate type situation.  I thought I had found the perfect place right near downtown Royal Oak, however the room was a bit smaller then what I need and I’ve decided to keep looking for now.

I met a guy online awhile back and we never really had a great “I have to meet this person” type connection, however around Valentines Day we started talking a ton and ended up meeting.  We’ve been on a few dates, but things seem to be fizzling out.  I don’t know my real feelings on this.  I really liked this guy (I like him more then any other guy I’ve dated so far) but there is a little distance between us so it makes it that much harder.  We’ll see what happens.  In the mean time I’m still out there…if anyone knows of any good single (and at least moderately emotionally) available guys, send them my way!

I’ve changed insurances and now must go get a physical by my doctor to qualify for the lower premium.  I go on the 21st of April.  I’m realizing that I need to quit talking about getting healthy and actually do it.  I’ve tried WeightWatchers and although I love it never had stellar results.  I am going back to the gym and hope to drop about 20lbs by July…my overall weight goal is much more then that, but I’m thinking if I just take it in 20lb increments I’ll have better success.  I’m all about the silver lining in situations, my silver lining in my pay cut is that I can’t afford to do many things right now so the free gym at the Auburn Hills Community Center is going to be my source of entertainment.

“My 100 Things List” aka The Bucket List ~ I’m starting my 100 Things List.  So far I have 50, hoping to fill the other 50 in tonight.  Once I have all 100 down on paper I plan on placing my list on here and tracking what I accomplish.  Wish me luck, I’d love to be able to get the majority of the list done in the next 10 years!

My best friend recently bought a new camper so hopefully I’ll have some camping stories for everyone this summer!  I am going to hopefully try “tent” camping though this year so you know stories will come from that one!

FearlessGal’s #1 Guy – Bentley – A Tribute

This post is dedicated to my wonderful and crazy English Bulldog Bentley.  Many of you may not know that Bentley has been having quite a few behavioral problems these last few months.  It is with a very heavy and sad heart that I have to tell everyone that I had to make the agonizing decision recently to find Bentley a new home.  Over the last couple of month his behavior became more and more erratic and crazy.  I first thought it was him simply adjusting to his new environment at my parents home.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  But no matter what I have loved him. 

He is going to wonderful new parents where he will be an “only dog” again.  I met with Julie and Tim last Wednesday and can’t say enough wonderful things about them.  Bentley seemed instantly comfortable and at home with them, and they just seemed ecstatic to have him there.  They wanted to keep him right away but I had to ask for a couple of more days with him, I just wasn’t ready to part with him yet.  I came home that night and started taking a million pictures of him and making endless lists of stuff to remember to tell them and things I wanted to do with him before Saturday morning when I took him to his new home.

Bentley is and always be more then just a dog to me.  He really does mean the world to me and always will.  He is the one I cuddle up with in bed each night rubbing the cute little nub just above his tail that he loves so much.  How am I going to sleep in silence at night without his louder then a grown human man snoring?  What will I do without him trying to push me out of his way to get more space in the bed?  What am I going to do without the wonderful “bully breath”?

Bentley can never be replaced in my heart and I have no desire to even try.  I can’t imagine loving another dog as I did him.  He has been with me since June 27th, 2004 he was my first dog. 

Saturday morning I loaded up the car with all of Bentley’s belongings (man this dog had a lot of stuff) and we hit the road in the winter weather to drive down to the Livonia/Redford area where he will live.  We finally arrived I unloaded all of his stuff and talked with his new mommy about all his little quirks and oddities.  Of course making the stellar impression only Bentley can make he continued to try and “dominate” her and finally right as I was getting ready to leave vomited on her living room rug…great impression I know.  She was so great about everything.  I hope that he is endlessly happy in his new home!

I have already received an update regarding Bentley that he is extremely happy at his new home as are his new parents.  He’s already gotten to meet a bunch of new people and even played with a child (something he never did well in my care).  I can’t wait to hear more about him!

Another New Hair Do

Well it was about time for a change again…so I went brunette…what do you think?

November 08 Hair

Going Camping!

Well it’s 9:40am on Friday and I have completed so many tasks already.  Got my dentist appointment taken care of…given a clean bill of dental health, woo hoo!  Paid some bills, getting the rest of my packing done and I’m off to meet up with Mark to head out to Groveland Oaks for some camping fun!  Stories and pictures to follow on Sunday!

Fearlessgal is Pushing 30…EEK!

So it has hit me in recent days that my 30th birthday is just around the corner…I know you’re thinking who thinks December is just around the corner…I do!  It is just over 4 months until my 30th birthday. 

For those who don’t know I was supposed to be on my honeymoon for my birthday…well since that’s not happening I’m trying to plan an alternate trip with a few friends.

So we’re from Michigan and I’d like to travel somewhere…anywhere, does anyone have any ideas?  It doesn’t have to be warm…just somewhere not here!  My birthday is December 4th, which is a Thursday so we’re looking to head out Thursday morning and come home Sunday.  We’ve talked about New York, Chicago, Toronto, Phoenix, Vegas, and Savannah, but none of them have really stuck out as a must do…

Please tell me what your favorite quick getaway is!

New Hair Cut!

Ahh…finally a new hair style!  I’m looking to mix it up a little…what do you think?  The first picture is right after the salon…the second is me doing it myself this morning: