vacation

What a couple of weeks. In the midst of Lebanon preparations, got to enjoy what felt like a real summer. My nephew Tony came to Detroit for a few days and we hiked the Dequinder Pass, ate some of Detroit's finest offerings (Tomatoes Apizza, Priya, the taco trucks in Mexicantown), and caught the Dead Weather's amazing, loud, high energy concert. The band takes the stage to one of my favorite songs on the p.a. and then pretty much rocks through its entire catalogue. Not many indie bands have the musicianship of the Dead Weather, especially the vocal chops of Alison Mosshart. Great time.

Then, down to West Virginia to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. They rented a cabin and we enjoyed about five days of loads and loads of fun. Board games and huge family meals in the cabin, a ton of swimming and hiking, and a trivia game about life in 1960, when the happy couple married. My brother, sister, and I went together on a collaborative present (new stone steps for the front porch at their house), which was more of a hit than a comemmorative plate or something would have been. Despite losing electricity for half a day, the trip was just about perfect. Most days included a long hike in the morning, swimming through most of the afternoon, a visit to the gym in the everning, and a short walk in the evening, so it was kind of like "The Biggest Loser" but with lots of carbs in the cabin.

On the way from West Virginia to Columbus--where we were dropping off Tony at his University--we had a blowout on the highway. With six nieces and nephews on board. Luckily nobody was hurt. We were pulling off the freeway when the tire blew, thank God, but had we been going full speed...yikes. A quick change and a visit to Sears for a new tire had us back on the road. Lots of adventures, pictures, and memories.