Thursday continued…

After our visit to the cyber-café, we loaded up the car (we didn’t buy anything, just loaded our butts in there!) and headed towards Grand Haven State Park. There is a campground right on the beach. I think you must have to make reservations years in advance. It only has electric, but imagine going to sleep with the sound of the waves lulling you into oblivion. I am going to try to get reservations for next year there.

We parked at the day use beach and pulled out our camp chairs. We sat on the sandy beach soaking up the sun and people watching for quite a while. The sun was warm but the breeze off the lake made it just perfect. My tummy started to growl so we decided to go get some lunch. We stopped at Butch’s Beach Burritos a Grand Haven icon. Really good burritos and they hit the spot. I was starving and I almost ate the whole super burrito! After filling out tanks, we drove to Spring Lake to visit another RV park that Paulie and grandpa had found on an earlier excursion. It is right on the canal…it leads from an inland lake to the big lake. The only problem is they don’t allow pets. Hmmm. That can be arranged. We drove a little into the town trying to find the pie shop Gay Leezer had told us about. We didn’t find it, but since we needed coffee, we stopped at a local mart called the Orchard market. Such a nice little store! We didn’t grab a cart and by the time we had picked up not only the coffee, but some cheese and crackers, blueberries, cherries, paper plates and of course some lovely donuts for breakfast! Went in for coffee…spent $32. Oh well, we probably won’t have dinner since we had such a late lunch so this stuff would be “dinner”.

Back at the rig, grandpa hit the couch, I hit the bed and Paulie watched some TV. After a short nap, we had some cheese and crackers and of course, our cocktail of the month, a bloody mary. About 8, grandpa decided to take Pepi the fat taco dog to the beach. We gave them a head start, then followed in the car. By the time we had gotten there, grandpa had already thrown the terrified fatty into the lake. Poor dog. He only got back to shore when he was caught in the next big wave. His legs are so short and his body so fat, he can’t swim! We sat and watched the sun go down. Each sunset seems to be different, different cloud formations, and colors of the sky. I took some more photos so go to the yahoo photos page and look under the album “another sunset over the big lake”.

You can access it here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rocketmom1985/my_photos

After the sun set, it started to get cool. Back at the rig, we started a campfire and sat around it for a good long while. It was so beautiful…stars shinning and a half moon up in the sky. I couldn’t keep my eyes open much longer so we headed inside. It was a very nice day…

Later

Dee

Friday

We were up around 9…seems to be habit now. We are going on a sailboat on the big lake this afternoon with Sue. She had won this trip at a silent auction earlier this spring. I am hoping I won’t get sick…I am planning on taking my Meniere’s meds before and during the trip. This should be a great afternoon. I promise to take lots of pix if I can hold my head up.

later.
Dee

Friday continued…

We had a wonderful day on the sailboat. It was a 36 ft sloop, which is a type of sailboat I guess. We set out about 2:15 from the Muskegon Lake Harbor, and headed out to the big lake. Remember I told you that the big lake is Lake Michigan…but it’s not the Lake Michigan I remember as a kid in Chicago…this is entirely different on the western shore. The wind was just perfect, the sun was warm and I guess I remember Joel, our captain telling us the wind was at ten knots? I should pay more attention and it’s not like I can’t hear these tidbits…with my new hearing contraption, I can hear a lot! I felt queasy a couple of times however I kept my eyes on the horizon and it would pass. I took a bunch of valium before we got on and that really helped. We sailed about four miles out into the big lake. It was so quiet on the water in a sailboat; in a motorboat all you can hear is the engine. In this sloop, all we heard was the gentle lapping of the water on sides of the boat. I have never been on a sailboat and I just loved it. The cabin below was really beautiful. All that wonderful polished wood. The boat can actually sleep 8. The bedroom is in the front. There is a u shaped dining booth, and a small galley in the center of the boat. I am sorry I didn’t get pictures of it but I kinda felt funny asking to take photos of someone’s boat especially the private living area. Joel and Kay were wonderful and would have gladly let me, but one thing (in addition to being hesitant to ask) was that the steps to the living quarters were actually a ladder. I don’t do well with ladders. I was lucky that I was able to get my butt ON the boat much less down a ladder to see the interior. We had just the perfect day. I would do that again in a heart beat. I never realized how neat a big sailboat with living quarters can be. We finally headed to shore about 5 and we would be treated to a bratwurst supper. Once docked, I made a mad dash to the bathroom. I didn’t have any wobbly legs so I really was booking along that pier. Well, as fast I could book that is. Sue had called the girls and Larry to meet us to dine. Joel cooked the brats on a gas grill that attached to the back rail. It was really neat. Kay had made a delish coleslaw made with dill and truly wonderful potato salad. Of course, my eyes being bigger than my tummy thought I could eat a whole brat on a bun, and both salads. Then Kay brought out some frozen frango chocolate cups and lemon cups. I passed. I couldn’t eat another bite. Then Kay served a delicious coffee that was Gevalia cinnamon which hit the spot. We all raved and raved about our day and were sorry to see it end.

Saturday

I was so tired last night I just shut down the computer and didn’t even finish my thoughts.

We got up at the usual time, around nine and the first thing I did after making coffee and the sofa bed was pop that strawberry rhubarb pie I started yesterday into the oven. I had gotten the stuff at the farmers market the other day, and the strawberries were going bad. They are the last batch of the season for the home grown variety. I made the pie up and then wrapped it well and put it in the freezer yesterday morning as we didn’t have time for it to cook before we left for the sailboat. I only had one refrigerator pie crust left so I had to make the same crunch topping. I hope it will help the rhubarb as far as sweetness goes. We shall see.

I am not sure what the day holds for us. Our laundry basket is overflowing once again so I am sure we will need to make a run to the wash-a-teria.
I love that name, wash-a-teria. I don’t even know if it’s a real word or name or not, it just makes me giggle. I really need a pedicure and manicure but I don’t think I will be able to sneak that in without you-know-who-has-the-$ finding out. We have been invited to the annual Margarita Party next Saturday here at the campground. We need to purchase some supplies for this and also some margarita glasses, preferably plastic. They had a bunch of them at Younkers where we got our newest palm tree. They should be like 80% off by now!

The rig next to ours is getting a new roof today. Maybe Paulie can have one of those worker guys climb up atop our motorhome and look at the antenna area where the water came through during that nor’easter we survived out east.

Well, I am gonna go check on the pie. This little oven sure does heat up the rig…plus it sucks when it comes to baking anything. Next time I get the convection combo and where the oven is, get more storage space.

Later

Dee

Saturday Afternoon…

After the pie was done, I cleaned the galley and Paulie vacuumed the floors. We changed into our beach attire and packed a cooler with water bottles and ice. We then headed down to the beach. It was wonderful. I have a hard time walking in the sugar-type sand with my knees and of course my wonderful hip, but I made it down all 60 steps and down close to the water. The wind was cool off the water and was forming small whitecaps that lapped the sand. There were quite a few sun bathers, and swimmers already there when we arrived. There were several folks in kayaks and wind surfers about also. After about an hour, Paulie and grandpa decided to take a walk. I stayed firmly planted in my chair, lathered with sunscreen and hiding under a sunhat. After a while, perhaps an hour, I knew that my sickenly white skin had had enough sun, so I put on my shirt and covered my legs with a beach towel. As I was leaning over to cover up my tootsies (nothing is more miserable than sun burnt feet!) I suddenly toppled right over face first into the sand. My camp chair wasn’t firmly placed in the sand when I leaned forward. A sand sandwich is really gross. Five hours later I am still gritting the stuff outta my teeth. There was a kid making a sand castle right in front of me at the water’s edge and the little shit witnessed the whole thing…laughing so hard and pointing his wicked little pudgy finger at me in glee. Yep, witnessed by a pre-pubescent pudge muffin who will now tell all his other grubby friends about the goofy lady who fell face first into the sand at the beach. Aaarrrrgggghhhh…infamy.

We got back to the rig about four and we had some cheese and crackers along with a nice refreshing cocktail. Paul started to make dinner while grandpa and I both fell asleep where we sat. That “sea” air takes it outta ya! We had steak, salad and corn on the cob which was delish. We shall have my strawberry rhubarb pie (sans calories of course…) later. I am thinking of asking Paulie to take me up to Barnes and Noble so I can get the blog downloaded. We didn’t do laundry today, so I guess we can do that in the morning. I am putting the sailboating pix and the beach pix up at yahoo.

Here’s the addy:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rocketmom1985/my_photos

Not too many good ones…I seem to be enjoying what is going on and forgetting to snap anything. And I refuse to give the camera to Paulie…he has such a talent for making me look really awful.

Later

Dee