Morning all:

“The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children.” — King Edward VIII

Freezing! Freezing all night long; at least what little of it I had. After work Marcia and I drove an easy 450 miles to Gaylord, Michigan arriving here about one in the morning—so hello from our ice box at the local Quality Inn.

I might have to stop and head for the lobby for some coffee. It will all depend whether my fingers lock up from cold, otherwise I’ll wait.

The smoke-free room with a king-sized bed which I had on order proved to be elusive to get at one am. Finally the last remaining non-smoking room was found. Dutifully Marcia and I grabbed our stuff and following the prescribed trail trudged up the stairs to our room. I am not too fussy, but clean linens and the ‘party favors’ from the previous guests are not something I need to adjust to.

Back to the front desk we wandered. Apologies accepted, and off we were, this time to an upgraded room with a Jacuzzi—smoking. The free breakfast coupons we were given as a peace offering are a nice touch. I do so hope that the plates will have first been washed. Altogether though, not a bad deal for $73 through Orbitz.

The whole idea to drive as far as we did was not near as nutty as it would appear at first blush. We are now less than an hour from the YouPee (Michigander speak for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) and an easy jaunt to the cabin in Canada. We’re planning to be there around lunch time.

Modern technology is just great. During one stretch where Marcia drove I watched a beautifully made Australian movie, The Rabbit Proof Fence (don’t worry Netflix it’ll be in the mail shortly). At some point I put the movie on pause since Kirstin rang us up. Derek was still up and he and I had a great ten minute conversation; “Opa, you have a lot of stairs in your house…one, two, three, four, five…..nineteen, twenty.” Then Adrianne called. She and Tevita were attending a Cincinnati Pops with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert at Cincinnati’s outdoor concert venue. Adrianne, “here I’ll hold the phone up over my head—can you hear it?” I just love modern technology!

Make it a great week everyone. During our vacation I am going to follow the advise of Charles Shultz, creator of the Charlie Brown comic, and I’m only going to dread one day at a time.

I still don’t know why I just didn’t get up and kick the room’s A/C off.

Cheers,

Dirk