St. Joe

Happy Canada Day!

(Just had to get that in there before I continued my vacation story)

Max and I drove from Chicago, Illinois to Michigan City, Indiana to St. Joseph, Michigan in alot less time than I thought we would. So we stopped in Michigan City for a little outlet shopping. I picked up a few cute tops at Ann Taylor and Max (finally) bought himself a new pair of sunglasses.

And that mitten I was knitting in Chicago?



I finished it on the way to St. Joe, so now the pair is done. And I also started the second pair while I was there. Here's as far as I made it:



Because I also started this:



Any guesses? Yep, it's a hat. Plus I was distracted by the view:



On Thursday night Max and I had dinner at Shu's and walked down to Silver Beach. Then we went to Dairy Korner. I had the pina colada flurry - same thing I used to order in highschool. Max had the Oreo cookie flurry.

Friday morning we stuffed ourselves at breakfast and chatted with the two older couples staying at the inn with us. Then Max and I went to the beach at Tiscornia Park. Since we were there pretty early, there were very few other people there. Probably only a few dozen. We walked down the pier to the lighthouse and then set up at the end of the public section of the beach - it was like we had the place to ourselves. We played in the water (after taking some time to adjust to the colder temperature of the water), picked up seashells, and skipped rocks on the water.



For dinner we went over to the Rimes' for a BBQ. We brought cherries from Nye's Apple Barn and well as some knitted goodies. Paul and his wife were there, as well as another highschool friend, Alycia. It was really great catching up with everyone and it was a really fun evening.



On Saturday Max drove us out to the yarn store in Benton Harbor, Ivelise's Yarn Shop. I lucked out! They're having a sale and it started on Saturday. We strolled along the downtown shops in St. Joe, picked up some books for the plane at Forever Books, and had dinner at the Bistro at the Boulevard Inn. After dinner we walked along the bluff and watched the sunset. A great way to end our trip.



On Sunday we woke up early and walked down to the beach. It was cool out because it had rained the night before but it was sunny and clear. After our last look at the water, we went back to the Inn for breakfast.

The few days we spent in St. Joe was a great way to offset the crazy busyness of my trip to Chicago. Almost the complete opposite in every way... quiet, relaxing, and low-key. Not as much has changed in 12 year as I thought it would but that's what made it so great to go back. Got to share a lot of stories with Max and he was able to visit the location of where they happened. It was a great trip for the both of us.