Summer Slipped Away

August slipped away faster than I could even think of getting out a post about all my adventures. The second I thought I had time I unexpectedly received a full-time job offer and within 48 hours was thrown into my first adult job. So it has been a busy past few weeks with lots of adjustments.

I got to spend three weeks in the summer spending time with 2 of my best friends from college and it was epic I thought I would take you along on a trip down memory lane.

Traverse City Michigan

I started the adventures by road tripping from Cleveland Ohio to Traverse City Michigan on a long but fun 6-hour drive filled with only the best of music jams. We stayed in Traverse for four days at a cute Airbnb that had chickens and cows. We even got to collect eggs in the morning.

While in Traverse we did some hiking trails including one up the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was a ton of fun and felt like something that didn’t belong in Michigan. The best part was running down it.

We also went on a sailing ship where they served some Traverse Specialty Cherry Ice Cream. As we heard the whole trip, Traverse City is the cherry capital of the world.

A lot of time was spent playing badminton and eating s’mores and even playing with glowsticks. Traverse was a perfect relaxing vacation.

Fireflies!

The greatest thing that happened, which is going to sound silly to many, but it was seeing a TON of fireflies and getting to catch them. There are no fireflies in California and despite living in the midwest for 3 years for school I had somehow only seen ONE SINGLE firefly on my first day of school and none since. On this trip, there were so many it felt like this scene in Princess and the Frog.

I was like a little kid racing around and catching them.

Detroit

After a couple of days in Traverse City, I headed out to Detroit to visit with my college roommate. We went out to Belle Isle and saw some ginormous Koi fish. I had never seen ones that big before. I also got to wave to Canada. Though it took some convincing as I didn’t believe Detroit was across from Canada, before heading to eat some Detroit Style pizza. It was yummy but I am not really a thick crust pizza fan.

Heading over to the west side for a visit to Grand Rapids and a stop at the infamous Pronto Pups. A walk-up, cash-only corn dog stand. There was already a pretty long line when we got there but I will say it was worth it. The batter is really thin so it is easy to eat a bunch. I got three, and I was very happy.

Frankenmuth

On our third day, we decided to head out to Frankenmuth aka Michigan’s Little Bavaria. It was so super cute. The architecture really makes you feel you are in Europe. Though it was funny that a French Indian War reenactment was going on while we were there. So we got to watch them have a battle, drink bubble tea, and eat cheese curds.

Right on the edge of Frankenmuth is the world’s largest Christmas store: Bronners’ Christmas Wonderland. Of course, we had to go in. As the name implies, it is massive. There are almost 20 different sections plus a theater. Christmas music is playing at all times and it’s all decked out so it feels magical while you get to shop. I got a Michigan Ornament to commemorate my trip.

Back to California

After 4 days together, we weren’t finished. She hopped on a plane back to California with me for the rest of the week.

We spent a day at the San Diego Safari Park and it was fun but it was really really hot so we didn’t see as many animals as we would have liked. Though we did see a Platypus and that made the entire day. They are much smaller than I thought they would be.

Swipe to see the platypus

The most interesting and unexpected thing we did during the week was going to a Murder Mystery Dinner in Claremont. I think it could have been a little bit more organized for how the ‘audience’ can work on solving the mystery, but I had a blast. I was too busy trying to not miss anything suspicious that I didn’t eat much. Even my little brother was getting into it with the codename the ‘Great Cornholio.’ (Bonus points if you know where he took that from) Though his improv backstory could use some work.

A visit was had to the Balboa Park Art Museum which is a good chill day adventure. Especially when you accidentally dress like a painting.

Julian California

Then a day trip out to Julian which I had never been to. Julian is a historic town best known for its pies, specifically apple pies. We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant that is in a historic home and then picked up some pies to take home for dinner. YUM

Our last adventure day was another trip out to La Jolla to check out the Scripps Aquarium. It is much smaller than I anticipated it to be, but we saw some cool things. The seahorses were super cute and on the move which was fun to see. Then the best thing: the blue penguins. They are tiny and cute, and admitantly stinky. They were basically Pablo from the Backyardigans. We finished off our La Jolla day by checking out the chatty sea lions and walking to dinner. I had amazing shrimp risotto and ate every bite. To top it off we grabbed some organic GELATO that was bomb. I got mint and lemon and the seasonal flavor, watermelon.