Mission to Michigan: Kennedy XV--Mark and Allison's day

Once again, we used the TripIt app to plan everything, and right at the beginning we assigned who would be responsible for which day.  Mark and Allison ended up with Tuesday.

We started with breakfast in Ethan and Rebecca's cabin (it had the biggest kitchen).  It was fun to see that they had brought Quacky Kennedy, the porch goose <3

I could hardly believe how beautiful the beach was.  I think I could've spent the entire day there and knowing now what was soon to happen, I probably should have.

Full disclosure: I reached my breaking point.

I have spent the majority of my adult life parenting solo.  People ask me what it's like being married to an OB/Gyn (and the crazy hours it demands), and I always tell them the same thing: we never expect John to be at anything, but when he is, it's just the icing on top.  So with that mindset and that life style, I do a lot of things myself.  But I had done enough mentally and emotionally with John being gone for the 4th of July weekend, and then me getting everybody up north and running the Million Dollar Secret game, and John's plane getting delayed and then cancelled. So the idea of starting another day by myself was a lot.  As I told John through tears on the phone, it's exhausting being the sole matriarch.

John had told me that he would be arriving between 11 and noon if all went well, so when we got a late start, I wasn't worried.  At 10:45, I went over to the main building, got on Wifi and called him.  Turns out, he had been communicating with Mark (who had the cabin closest to the Wifi and so was perpetually connected), and had made arrangements to meet us at the hike.

I lost it.

It meant another hour of driving by myself, and for some reason (again, I was super emotional) I couldn't handle the thought of John communicating with someone other than me, and I was upset that Mark hadn't communicated anything to me.

I walked away from my running car, in tears, and went back to the cabin by myself.  I laid down on my bed and cried my eyes out.  I ate two Rice Krispies treats and heard Gordon drive the car back to my cabin.  On the walkies, I heard that Gordon and Glo were gonna drive with someone else.

After a good five minutes of crying, I heard a voice in my head that told me that I needed to go on the hike.  I didn't waste a minute--I hopped in the car and spent the next 53 minutes catching up with everyone  which I did with seven minutes to spare.  John was at the hike, but I wasn't in the best mood and didn't react very happily to seeing him or appreciate him driving through the night.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm human.  While I'm strong 99.9% of the time, I just couldn't maintain it anymore.  I felt like Atlas, but I ended up dropping the world from my shoulders onto the ground in a mess of tears.  I wish I hadn't fallen apart, but again, I'm human.

I will admit too that I felt a bit hurt.  When I finally got back within range of the walkie talkies, I could hear everyone having a great time.  They had changed their handles, and Allison was talking on them, something she hadn't done when she knew I was listening.

I arrived at the trail head just minutes after they had arrived...and there was John, so happy to see me.  But I wasn't in a very good head space yet, and my feelings were still super tender.  But we started the hike.

   

Mark had made bingo cards for us with birds on them for bird watching, but within minutes, we all had our Merlin apps out because there were so many birds that we had never heard.  Like, warblers.  I think our hike took significantly longer than it should have because we just kept stopping to hear more and more of them....and get them recorded on our app!

I didn't know what to expect from the hike (Black Creek Sanctuary), but at the point that I thought we should probably turn around, we came over a hill and there in front of us, in all its glory was Lake Superior.  I mean really, it was so unexpected and so stunning and so needed for me.

We spent a long while there.  One of my favorite pictures of the entire trip shows everyone skipping rocks.

We had some lunch that we had packed in and just relaxed.

The hike back was just as stunning, and I was grateful to feel the stress and burdens I had felt melt away as we drove back to Fresh Coast Cabins.

But as we drove into Calumet (on the way to the cabins), I remembered that a bunch of the mining equipment was displayed in the middle of town.  Knowing that most of the party wouldn't care, and knowing that Trevor might find it all interesting, John and I invited Hannah and Trevor to stop with us.  It was crazy seeing the flags in front of the visitor center representing the different countries of the miners, and there was Croatia. 

We got ice cream afterwards.

That afternoon was spent taking naps and just relaxing.  Gordon had eaten way too much at some point and wasn't feeling well at all.  Allison started making dinner (chicken explosion).  It took way too long cause we were all HUNGRY, but certainly the anticipation of something makes the fulfillment all that much better.