Category: vacation

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It is the year 2022 – A check-in

Wow, it’s been a while since my last blog entry. A lot has happened since the last one…let’s try to cover some of that.

Overhauling the house flooring

When I purchased this house back in 2016, I knew the flooring was eventually going to have to go. Initial pictures of the house when i found the listing showed that it had a somewhat dark brown stained hardwood flooring. When I toured the house, the current homeowner was trying to update it a bit, and decided to sand the flooring and overhaul it themselves with black stain. Upon taking ownership of the house, I literally had a weekend to seal it – the previous homeowner didn’t even get to that. In the end, its was a black hardwood floor….which would have looked OK if it had been done right, it wasn’t. So because of that, I knew I would eventually change out the flooring, and over the spring and summer of last year, I did just that. Ripped out the old and put down the new. I have a lot of photos of the process, but I’ll include just a few here.

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That camping life…

I grew up camping with my family, so it’s still something I’m interested in to this day. We started in a tent, but quickly moved to a travel trailer when I was a kid. Throughout my childhood up through my teenage years, we continued camping all over, but mainly in Michigan. The trailers came and went as my parents continued upgrading and ultimately moved to a 5th-wheel. One of our favorite places to go every year was the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City, MI. We would go over Labor Day with my grandparents (on my dad’s side). Even when I was older, and the family camping stopped, I managed to go to this campground with my grandparents the very last time they went. There are a lot of great memories there for sure. The picture below however, is not one of them. This is a picture of teenage me in my apparent self-described “badass” look, sitting outside with my grandparents, eating something while wearing an Outback coat. Cool huh? 😂

Teenage Jesse sitting and eating while wearing an Outback coat.
Teenage Jesse sitting and eating while wearing an Outback coat.
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Halloweekend

It’s been a little bit since I posted a blog entry, so it felt like a good time to do so. This past weekend, Meghan, Riley, my mom and I went to Sandusky, Ohio for a trip to Cedar Point. This wasn’t just any Cedar Point trip though, it was the first weekend of their “Halloweekend” event. If you haven’t been to one of these, Cedar Point goes all out with their Halloween decorations, from erecting graveyards of rides they no longer have, to renaming rides (such as Ocean Motion to Ocean Potion), everything seems to have a Halloween vibe.

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Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day was finally here, and that meant one thing, heading to Mackinaw City for the annual family vacation. We’ve been going there nearly every year since I was a baby. My family and I always used to go with my grandparents (dad’s side), and I’m glad it’s a tradition we’ve continued even after they have gone.

Meghan and I took Friday off from work, so after packing the car up, we headed north, but not without taking our pre-trip picture.

Meghan and I in the car ready to head to Mackinaw
Meghan and I in the car ready to head to Mackinaw

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Goodbye Wilmington…Hello Dulles and Chicago?

Saturday morning/afternoon was our last day in Wilmington. We slept in a bit, no gym that day, and then got up and headed to our favorite breakfast place, the Dixie Grill.

With food in our bellies, we headed back to the Airbnb to shower and pack up, since we had to be out of there by 11am. With the Airbnb in order, and our stuff all packed up, we headed to the parking garage to dump off our bags and then set off to explore some more of downtown. There was a farmers market going on along the cape, so we decided to check that out. There was one thing we noticed however, the heat was far more extreme than it had been the entire time we were there. It was almost 90, and the humidity felt like we were underwater. Not wanting to walk around in the heat, and not wanting to drive around in the gas hog that is the Expedition, we decided we were just going to go to the airport and hangout there for the rest of the day. In hindsight, not the best of ideas, but it seemed like a good one at the time.

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Wilmington Day 4

Day 4 was already upon us…man, the days were going fast. Being a big proponent of education, and having worked at two universities now, I always enjoy taking a tour of a campus if I’m in the area, and well, UNCW was right in our backyard. Oh and who could pass up getting a look at “Capeside High” from Dawson’s Creek?

When we got to campus, we were greeted with this fountain.

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Wilmington Day 3

Day 3 was here, and I wanted to take Meghan to the aquarium to see some sharks, and then dip our toes into the Atlantic. We drove about 30 mins south to Fort Fisher to the North Carolina Aquarium.

As we approached the door, Meghan spotted a dinosaur in need of a rider. She hopped on and proclaimed, “Onward my trustee steed!”

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Wilmington Day 2

Early on Day 2, we woke up and headed to the local Planet Fitness to get a workout in. Compared to ours in Lansing, this place was top-notch. The owner definitely takes pride in their business. Come on Lansing, get into the game.

With the workout in, we headed to breakfast at the Dixie Cafe. The inside was extremely colorful and the food was amazing.

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Wilmington, NC, we have arrived!

Early Tuesday morning, Meghan and I arrived at the Lansing airport, ready to start our North Carolina vacation. Can you tell we were tired?

We had a short flight at 6am to Chicago for about a 90 minute layover. It wasn’t bad though, we were able to grab a fantastic breakfast meal. Ok, well, it was just McDonalds, but at least it was filling. We also came across this dinosaur at the Chicago airport. We thought we had entered Jurassic Park.

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