Back from vacation

We're back! Actually, we got back three days ago, but we had some unexpected (but very welcome) houseguests who just left today - more on that later - so things are just getting back in order. Luckily, I have today off, so I'm catching up on laundry and errands before it's back to the grind.

Aside from driving through two blizzards and the world's creepiest fog, it was an excellent week. Since I'm Jewish, Christmas isn't a big deal to me - I look forward more to the relaxation than the holiday. And there was plenty of relaxation - it's not hard to relax when your entire small town shuts down the week of Christmas. :) But I still made out pretty well with the gifts. We got lots of stuff for our kitchen, Brad got me a video iPod, a yoga mat and a pedicure kit, and I got him a BluRay player, which is kind of like a gift to myself, too (once I can figure out how to turn the damn thing on).

I've been to the U.P. about a dozen times since meeting Brad, but I've never been anywhere else but his hometown of Negaunee and the surrounding areas. Well, it turns out that Brad's coworker Jason, who grew up in Houghton/Hancock (which is two hours NORTH of Marquette, if you can believe that) was also going to be home and also looking for entertainment. On Friday we took a jaunt up to Copper Country and let Jason be our tour guide. This is one of the northernmost points in the U.S. and was a copper mining hotbed in the 1800s, so these towns have some really interesting history. And lots of stores that sell saltwater taffy. You know the type. Despite having to trudge through about a foot of snow, we had a great time - and it was cool to see yet another undiscovered part of this bizarre state of mine.

Here we are at the Keeweenaw Brewing Company at the end of our tour. Thanks, Jason, for being an awesome tour guide!



We got home on Saturday night and immediately headed out to watch UFC with a group of people, including Amy, who was in town from Connecticut. 20 minutes into the fight, we got the call that our poor friends Al and Emily were STILL stranded at the Detroit airport. They'd been trying to get to the U.P. from Boston since Thursday with no success. Knowing well how hopeless it feels to be stranded at an airport, we picked them up and brought them home to stay with us for two nights until they could get a flight back to Boston. Sadly, they never made it home for Christmas - but selfishly, WE had a great time!

This will probably be my last post for about a week and a half. This Saturday I'm traveling to Florida for a work conference (don't get too excited - I'm helping run the conference, so it's definitely no beach vacation pour moi) and won't be back until the following Thursday. After that, though, I should have some exciting updates for you - I promise! - so stay tuned!