Dreich

In our few years of married life, Andrew and I have found it a blessing to prioritize some time around our anniversary to get away for a long weekend.  This year, we took three days and went to northern Michigan.

We started off our weekend by sleeping in and making a British breakfast (with, of course, rhubarb....because it's in season).  Fed for most of the day, we set out:

It rained most of our drive, and was still fairly wet when we arrived in Traverse City.  We opted to visit a variety of vineyards and go wine tasting for the afternoon:

We stayed at a B&B northwest of Traverse City (almost to Sleeping Bear Dunes).  We selected this B&B because its owner is from the UK.  Upstairs are rooms and downstairs is a pub, complete with fish and chips on its menu (comparable to those of the UK) and Talisker in its bar.  We hoped to wake to sunshine the following morning, but instead woke to drizzling rain and fog.  Our host, Graeme, referred to the day as "dreich," a Scottish word used to describe weather that is "dull, overcast, drizzly, cold, miserable, or misty."  

We set out to hike in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, and despite the fog and mist, we had a very nice day (even if the views were a bit....limited).  We climbed some dunes:

And drove to some others.  No, we did not climb down this one:

Here's the view of that same dune from the top.  It's  a drop-off:

Our final day, we woke to more clouds, but less fog.  Hopeful, we set out for another hike by the lakeshore, only to find the lakeshore still dreich.  We hiked anyway:

This dune we DID climb, both up and back down:

See those trees?  We started at the bottom of them.

Here's the view looking up from the bottom:

We also walked through a meadow before heading back to the car:

On the way home, we stopped at Moomers for ice cream:

It's such a blessing to be married to someone, who, even when the days (literally or figuratively) are "dreich" looks for the positives, provides encouragement and support, and still brings laughter to our relationship.

Following our return home, we saw Lost & Found in concert:

Outside of all this fun, we've also be very busy.  I've been spending much of my time studying for a computerized test necessary for becoming a nurse in the UK.  Today I took the test.  We've also been filling out many forms for OM as part of their process.  Much of the work we are doing in preparation right now is behind-the-scenes, paperwork, etc.  It's consuming much of our time and we have little to show for it for now.  Stay tuned as we will continue to keep busy for the next six months!  We'll do our best to keep you updated.