Retro Post: 4th of July

4th of July in Marquette, MI

And yes, this is what the Kid Rock song is all about ....

There's something magical about going back to your hometown each year at a time that you know lots of your old friends are also coming back into town (or still live there, but willing to come out on the town).  This year happened to be ridiculously hot in Marquette, MI.  I'm pretty sure candles were melting without being lit.  And of course most people don't have A/C because they simply don't need it (usually).  So my mom had to invest in a couple of new fans so everyone had their own directly on them, in order to sleep at night.

In addition, I usually like to spend some time in nature, and what I call "Serene Point", which is the spot in which I decided that my life had to have different priorities, with exercise, nutritional, ecological consciousness, and my inner Martha Stewart / Deepak Chopra.  If you've read the blog, no doubt you know about Serene Point.  Anyhoo ... THIS year the heat brought flies.  A lot of flies.  A lot of BITING flies.  So while I tried to go do my meditation, apparently mother nature said, "Not this year, baby."

This year I convinced my friend Michelle to experience the wonders of Marquette, and we had a great time to say the least!  We were also often joined by Baha, from Turkey, who was staying with my mom over the summer.

Walking around at the annual Washington Street parade - Lots of work go into these floats!  And you won't get arrested for carrying around beers!  (the police, I'm sure, would tell you differently)






Seabrook's vintage scooter came in really handy on a very busy weekend - not a lot of parking spots - notice the hog / pig on the front fender.  I'm not sure when the curly tail got broken off.

We had a really good time all week - packed with activities.  This is literally how Sea slept for like 2 hours.

You can't go to Marquette and NOT get Frosty Treats.  Think of it as a classy Dairy Queen.  Ice cream with pizazz!

Beer sampler at The Vierling - also a necessary stop in Marquette.  The blueberry beer is the best you'll ever taste!

BEAUTIFUL VIEWS!

We also had a lot of great food - this is the family at The Portside.  Lots of great food, but you have to try the breadsticks and the round ones!

Climbing sugarloaf mountain - oh no, we don't take the trail!  We scale rocks, jump gorges, walk balance beam fallen trees, rock climb, not knowing where on the mountain we're going to end up.  We eventually got to the top in record time.  So much fun!  

And of course I couldn't resist a handstand!

And I always have to have karaoke :)

Off-Roading on the way home to avoid traffic is fun, but scary when we are in the middle of the woods, our GPS doesnt know where we are, and Sea says "We can make it through that mud puddle."  And it turns out that its a small mud LAKE, and we almost DIDN'T make it through.  Poor little Ford Edge did a lot of work that day!

Not pictured:  Going way out of our way to buy a lot of huge fireworks, 4th of July parade, Fireworks at the lower harbor, International food fest (seriously - they have chinese food and everything!), Bike bus pub crawl (that was hard work!), and time at the 2 other brewpubs in town (yes, there are 3 within a mile).

What a great way to spend a week!

Peace.  Love.  Serene.