People vs. The raccoons

It all started with a long, lazy, leisurely drive through the Leelenau peninsula, toward a week of relaxation, becoming one with the forest and with the clear waters of Lake Michigan.

Bullshit.

Day one: Car breaks down 14 miles from the campsite. AAA has a cow because I can't pinpoint the EXACT crossroad of where we are (it's Northern Michigan...there are no crossroads!). Nice man in pick-up stops to help us, but makes some random comment to Jax about impregnating her - according to this mechanical genius, we're "totally screwed." Thanks, asshat. Van's Garage comes to the rescue, though Leland has been out of power all day long. We explain that we have a campsite to stay at, but we just need to get there. He tows us to Northport (8 miles south of our campsite) where we meet Steve, the head (and only) mechanic in town. Turns out all of northern Leelenau County is out of power, so he can't even look at it until tomorrow after he gets caught up. We unload the station wagon, load up Steve's pickup truck, and he drops us off at the campsite. By now, it's about 7pm.

Oh, and the night raged on. We have a pretty descent with no real waterproofing. So, of course, it rains...and rains...and rains. And our tarp is in the station wagon. Shit. We take every blanket and towel we have to protect all of our clothing and essential goods. There is a leak in the top of the tent, so we strategically place towels in the middle of the tent, protecting our sleeping bags. We range from anger to laughter, anger to laughter. We're stuck in the tent for about an hour. We get out, start to build a ranging campfire, almost ready to enjoy some sizzle brats, and more fucking rain. The embers raged on, and we ended up with a decent fire, which we bred for one purpose only - s'more, ya'll. Only the campfire light is glowing at our site, and we hear a rustle. Jax sprints off, swearing and chasing some unknown assailant. Not 10 feet from us, our arch enemy, The Raccoon, stole our ENTIRE BAG OF MARSHMELLOWS. We had to beg the campsite across from us for marshmellows. They took much pity on us, and we were entrusted with an entire cup of marshmellows (they were so generous that three days later, we got 3 huge bundles of their leftover firewood. Karma points.). Well, the 'coon came back in the middle of the night and took our hamburger buns. No marshmellows, no possibility of hamburgers. And most of our possessions soaking wet. And we're only on Day Two.

*Deep sigh and banging head against my desk.* But, nay, am I to let one day of HELL bring down this vacation? Of course not. Jax's uncle came and took us to town where we regrouped and bought more buns, more mallows and Coronas. We got the car back on Wednesday, and it was smooth sailing from there on out. The highlights: tiny town gallery/boutique shopping, six mile dune hike to Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes, campfire acoustic jams, tasty Coronas by the fire, awesome scenic drives (where you can see sky for miles...I didn't know we had that much sky!), biking around the perimeter of Mackinac Island and spending an entire day there, starting a great book (Our Band Could Be Your Life), playing with Jax's Dad's new puppy on the beach. Now, THAT's what I call a vacation.

First day back at work...busy, but always difficult. I have to catch up on all the hot blogs. I'm pretty far behind the times. Good be be back, though I could do without the traffic and the waking up early, but that's why this is 'reality.'

I'm happy that Hefron took LCS home, though my heart did have a sweet spot for Gary. Other than that, I didn't miss the news, or media, or politics. Man, Thoreau and Emerson really knew how to get down.

Time to watch women's gymnastics...I'm an Olympic fool! Hope to see you all soon...I'm feeling very anti-social since being out of the loop.