Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Higgins Lake Vacation

Well, I just got back from a week long trip at Higgins Lake. Higgins Lake is up north, just about 10 minutes south of Grayling, MI and near Houghton Lake. Higgins lake is so beautiful and clear. It is the 6th most beautiful lake in the world, according to National Geographic. Glen Lake in Michigan being #1, and Torch Lake in Michigan being #3. Some areas of the lake have that light green Caribbean look to it.

The group consisted of me, Keith, Amanda, Jason, Dusten and Dana. Matt came a couple nights, and he left the jet skis for us all week! So awesome! We had a bit of rain and overcast on the first two days, but the next 5 days were pretty hot and sunny. I was even able to get in some open water swim practice for an upcoming tri that I want to do. The house was great! It was an old 1960ish 2 story cottage with a cozy feel to it inside. We enjoyed the large sun room with picnic table inside to eat and of course played dominoes. Other activities were throwing the football, Frisbees, bag toss and rock band at night. We enjoyed camp fires on only 2 nights because the evenings were windy. The sunsets were gorgeous, something you see out of a movie.

There were 2 downfalls, one, the swim beach area was kind of rocky, we had to swim far out to get out of most of the rocks, and 2, I got swimmers itch. Swimmers itch is found in Higgins Lake and other Michigan inland lakes. It happens when people feed the ducks, they poop and then the snails take that in, then these parasites leave the snails and then can penetrate the skin. You are suppose to get out of the water every 20 minutes and towel dry off. I did leave the water, even soaped up and rinsed at the outdoor shower every time, because we were aware of this. But unfortunately, the little damn parasites protruded into my skin, and on Thursday I noticed I had little bumps (like mosquito bites) all over my legs, about 100 between both legs. Keith and Amanda have just found a few. Here is a link on the life cycle of swimmers itch.















Sunday, April 19, 2009

5 Days til Florida!

Its 5 days until a Daytona Beach, Florida vacation with the family. We are going back to the resort that we use to stay at when growing up during many Spring Breaks, the Sun Viking Inn.

I have 2 more pounds to lose until we leave on Thursday and will reach my 5% goal from Weight Watchers. Its going to be close!! I have been eating the Weight Watcher veggie soup last week, and that helped lose 2.2 this past week. I will need to keep up with my Triathlon Training in Florida, so hope to maybe do some open water swims in the ocean, although I don't want to swim into any jelly fish or sharks. I can already picture myself running on the beach down to the pier and back in the mornings!

I have just finished registering for the May 9 Fifth Third River Bank run 5k, the Seahorse Challenge Tri on 5/31, and have rented my wetsuit and purchased anti-chaffing cream. Its complete! I am pretty much all set, but will need to purchase new running shoes this week at Gazelle's as mine have been getting old.

I am also thinking of doing the Reeds Lake Run 10k on 6/27.

So far my summer schedule is looking like this:
5/9 - 5/3 River Bank Run - 5k
5/31 - Seahorse Challenge - Sprint Triathlon
6/20-6/21 - NSA Potterville Softball Tournament
6/27 - Reeds Lake Run - 10k
7/11 - Kalamazoo Softball Tournament
7/24-7/25 - ASA State Softball Tournament - Grand Rapids
8/23 - NSA State Softball Tournament - Potterville
9/12 - Reeds Lake Triathlon

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Smoky Mountains
























Mom, Dad and I flew out from DTW to visit Ryan in Tennessee on October 10. We had a 4 day weekend and visited the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. We rented a cabin, went hiking and even saw a black bear! We had a great time and here are some pics and video of bear.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Vacation at Long Lake July 19-26

Vacation at Long Lake up in Traverse City, Michigan was a memorable one! A group of 8 of us vacationed at a cozy red cabin on the beautiful pristine lake. Activities included kayaking, paddleboat, water volleyball, frisbee, bag toss, Rockband, and renting a Wave Runner. It also rained a couple days, but there wasn't any boredom at the cottage, Rock band and Wii kept us busy, as well as a trip to the brand new Turtle Creek Casino (in which I won $17, woo hoo!) We ate out at Boone's Inn that offered some great steak and seafood. Otherwise, Keith served up his famous beer-can chicken and ribs, along with other grill favorites. Here are a few pics of the vacation! Click on the picture for a larger one.