The day before....

Stress. One word that always describes the day before any adventure....and excitement of course.
Going over checklists at least 15 times to make sure that nothing extremely important is forgotten (like the laptop I'm currently typing on). Trying to make sure every one's stuff will fit into the car, that we have enough food, maps and have a great sense of which roads we will be taking.
My goal for this blog is to update whenever we stop at a hotel, or every night if I can.
The first stop should be somewhere around Oklahoma City, unless we're feeling wild and want to drive to Amarillo,TX or Albuquerque, NM.
We will be leaving East Lansing around 4am to start the drive, which means I will be putting myself to bed somewhere around 7pm....THAT'S gunna be weird....
For now, I say ta-ta for now, and I will be writing a post as soon as we reach our next destination!!!
Road Trip 2012!!! Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions about our trip!!! I would love for this to be interactive!!

Summer is over...

One last week on Mackinac island and the weather was fabulous....for one day. It was 70 and sunny, so  me and the roommates (and John;)) took advantage and went for another hike to find some caves...
the leaves were changing and I was able to get a few great shots of the trees.

Marquette Park

On the way to Mission Point

Mission Point Fall Leaves

Notebook we found hiking, some genius wrote this ;)

Downtown and Mackinac Bridge

The last week on Mackinac island was nuts. The island filled up with people for the Halloween party, and let me tell you, I have never seen such creative, awesome costumes!!!

Then the island died, and I mean DIED. 90% of the businesses shut down, streets emptied, and we shut the doors on the Summer Season at Horn's Bar. After 2 days of scrubbing on our hands and knees, we clocked out and said goodbye. The last night was spent doing last minute packing and hanging out waiting to hear if we would even be ABLE to leave!



Leaving Mackinac Island was a bit tricky....We hadn't thought that Hurricane Sandy would affect the people on the island. The winds started picking up on Monday and the weather channel warned of high winds and massive swells in the Great Lakes. Luckily the storm was a bit delayed with winds and swells turning out much smaller than predicted, allowing us to leave the island Wednesday morning.

With a few days at home, I am trying to organize my life mentally and physically. I had to remind myself that I wasn't rushing to get back to the island and had a little more time to go through my things and repack before heading on another Incredible Adventure....The Road Trip. Before THAT happens, we have this weekend when Michigan State University plays Nebraska. My new friends Zack and Greg will be coming down to go to the game, and friends will be coming from all over to get together and tailgate and hangout before we leave!

Our road trip map.

Here's an idea of the road trip Kara, Katie and I will be taking. We will be going from November 5th-November19th ish.... All things are subject to change;)


View Larger Map

Places I've been in 2011 and 2012!

Here's a quick recap of some of the places I've been and things I've seen over the last 2 years. Mostly just pictures and captions. Enjoy!

In 2011 I went to the Dave Matthews Band Caravan concert in Chicago with a bunch of great friends:)

DMB concert!

Aspen, Co.

Miles, Dan and Katie. Jumping for the sky. Aspen, Co.

Benn and I on the slope at Snowmass Village.

In March of 2012 went to Aspen, Colorado to visit my friends Benn and Jessica. With my other friends Dan, Katie and my Boyfriend Miles.

Cristal and I on St. Patricks Day.

I spent St. Patricks Day in Mount Pleasant, Michigan at my first college I attended Central Michigan University. With my friend Cristal and Miles!

Miles and I at Pink Pony.

Summer of 2012 I moved to Mackinac Island with my boyfriend Miles, Katie, Dan and Megan!

Sunset Traverse City, Mi.

Miles downtown Traverse City.

Summer of 2012 my friends from the Island and I took a trip to Traverse City for a few days. We also made a stop at the Sleeping Bear Dunes!

Sleeping Bear Dunes, overlooking Glen Arbor, Mi.

Piers Gorge, Norway, Mi.

Summer of 2011- Dan, Miles and I took an adventure in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Marquette, Mi.

Munising Falls, Munising, Mi.

Pictured Rocks, Munising, Mi.

 One of my best friends since elementary school got married to an amazing man this summer! Congratulations Tessa and Oren Ziv!:)

Tessa looking beautiful at her wedding!

 This fall I went to my very first NFL football game to see my favorite team play! Go Green Bay Packers!!!

Miles and I at the Packers vs Bears game. Green Bay, Wi.

These are just a few of my travels over the last 2 years, there's much more to come this fall/winter!

...and I'm back.

I have a problem starting something, and then finishing it...and I'm still trying to figure out if age is really related to learning new tricks. On that note, I'm back to the blog. 

Arch Rock, Mackinac Island, Mi.

The past 6 months I have been living on Mackinac

Island working at a bar. It has been an experience...to 

say the least. I am at the point where everything about 

this place is driving me insane (island fever is real), and I cannot hear the same musicians play the same songs, 

and the "DJ" play the same play list on his Pandora station ever again. So I sit here trying to cling to the amazing things that I saw and took part of.

Overlooking Lake Huron, Mackinac Island, Mi.

View from Sunset Rock, Mackinac Island, Mi.

Fort Holmes, Mackinac Island, Mi.

If I can tell anyone things they need to do while spending time on this island, it would be to GET OFF MAIN STREET! 

People don't realize that 90% of the island is State park and National Forest. There are more than 50 miles of hiking paths open for exploring. Bring a map with you and explore the trails! The bike around the island is amazing, especially in the summer when the water is crystal clear and the view of Mackinaw Bridge is fantastic. Catch a sunset from the high schools swing set, and a sunrise from Fort Holmes. Take a picnic break in Soldiers Garden. Find the small bench that overlooks the highway and catch an amazing view, or watch a man golf from his front yard. This island is so much more than bars, and tourist trap stores. These are the things I will hold on to.

Sunset from British Landing, Mackinac Island, Mi.

Sunset Anchor, Arnold Line Ferry Dock overlooking the Marina
Mackinac Island, Mi.

Mackinaw Bridge, Mackinac Island, Mi.

Summer is coming!

Summer is approaching fast! I've spent the last few weekends in East Tawas, Mi helping run the Great Lakes Kiteboarding shop. I've met alot of really cool new people and all of them I would now call great friends. We spend our time kiteboarding, camping, singing around campfires, trying to get kicked out of local bars, and mingling with the townies. These new friends have changed my life for the better...they bring humor, grace, fearlessness and a certain type of love people are only so often lucky to find. I appreciate them for all that they are:) I started kiting again and I'm up and riding! I'm really stoked to be improving quickly and can't wait to see where I will be once July hits. I'll try to remember to post more throughout the summer updating you on news and adventures!:)

New York City

Day 1- After waking up at 3:30am and my friend Jacek drove me to the airport, I spent the whole day traveling to NYC. Spirit Airlines is probably the worst I've ever been on, with barely any leg room and flight attendants complaining about what little benefits they receive. Once arriving to Laguardia I watched as Jamaicans poured by with their hearty accents, and a lady with a shopping cart laughing and talking about Donald Trump kept me entertained. The shuttle arrived and I finally got to the apartment on York Ave we were staying at. I waited around for a while, napping on and off for Judith to arrive.

After she arrived we got bundled up and walked around for a while looking at stores and for a snack, we got caught up and began talking and catching up for almost two hours! That being so, we were late getting to Annie's place in Hells Kitchen. We started the night at Crash Mansion with food and drinks and a Comedy Central fundraiser show! The crazy girl from Flight of the Conchords was there....she is just as crazy in real life. If I'm not mistaken, she was wearing a yellow jumpsuit. The night followed with a stop at The Village Lantern, and then some other club that played old school music. By about 3am our feet were tired and we finally went to bed.

(The view from our apartment)

Day 2- We woke up at a decent hour and began one of our longest walking days, after stopping for coffee we started walking west towards Central Park. It was a little warmer than the day before, but the clouds and wind gave us pink cheeks and ears in only a few minutes. We walked around the park and got pictures of the beautiful scenery. Around 2 we realized we were hungry and couldn't feel our toes, so we headed down towards the Rockafeller Center for a salad bar lunch! After that the real shopping began, we walked into Sephora and didn't come out for atleast an hour:) We walked through a ton of shops and found ourselves at Grand Central station around 5:30, there were so many people we just stopped and watched as everyone hurried to their different destinations without bumping into eachother. After Judith found some German chocolates we decided it was time to start heading back to the apartment for another night out. After getting back to the apartment around 7pm, we had been walking for about...8 hours. So we hung out and talked for a while, then threw ourselves together to catch some wicked bands at Crash again. BM Linx was the best out of them. We were hit on by a few guys, a group of them all named James from Australia. Hilarious. It was a long fun night, and we didn't leave the bar until almost 5am.

(Central Park benches, and Angels of the Water Fountain)

Day 3- We slept in until almost noon and woke to our legs on fire from walking so much, and a headache from the night before. Although we were exhausted, we got ourselves together and found the closest coffee shop to begin our next long day of walking. We walked west again and took a stroll down Lexington Ave, on our trek we decided to turn down a random side street and found ourselves in a small group of people. Instead of asking them to move, we made our way across the street and then stopped when we realized the mess of people were Paparazzi outside of The Kabbalah center. By process of

(Judith and I in Grand Central Station)

elimination we waited around until Madonna and her daughter left and got into one of their 3 black escalades. All I have to say is that all that yoga isn't doing her well. She needs a tan, and some whole foods. Her daughter was adorable though! Laughing off that whole situation we continued our journey down south to Soho, NYU, and covered most of the Lower East Side. Around 5pm we decided we should probably start heading back to the apartment because we had an early morning and we were exhausted. By the time we got back, Judith got a phone call and I knew from the look on her face she had received her Green Card. Our idea of staying in was cancelled and we headed back to the Lower East Side to celebrate our last night in NYC and Judiths Green Card! Finally we got back to the apartment only to have our bitch of a neighbor bang on the walls because we were "talking too loud". We called it a night, and woke up only a few hours later to hop on yet another plane, bus, car to get back to our homes.

It was an amazing trip and it was so good getting to see faces I haven't seen in years, catching up with Judith, and seeing Annie again! I hope to get back to the city again soon when it is not so cold:)

(Judith, Annie and I in a Photobooth)