Bay Valley Hotel and Resort Bay City

"Muck Fichigan" is one of my first memories of Columbus, Ohio and arriving at Ohio State. The whole campus is littered with shirts, posters, signs, etc that all say Muck Fichigan. As a die hard sports fan, I quickly embraced this slogan of my newly adopted 2nd favorite college sports team, the Buckeyes. Back in the gold ol' U of F, we hate a lot of schools. The traditional 3 are Tennessee, Florida State, and Georgia. But up in Big 10 ...

... no big crowds a lot of times we had entire boats to ourselves. So if you are worried about Argentina in August don't be because it was very much enjoyable.

One other random thing. Don't change money in the airport! The rates are usually horrible. The nice thing about Argentina is that they have a standard rate. This was refreshing for us because in Peru you could go to one spot and the rate would be completely different three doors down. The ...

... which we had not had for quite a while...well since we left
MN. It was really good and it did not even come to the price of one
dinner at that place in Frankenmuth so we had change left over.

It was a good thing we had change left over as we lost Day's pillow
today. Well we did not lose it we mistakenly left it at the last motel
this morning and took one of their pillows. Hope they don't charge us
for it. But we were able to find a very good replacement at this ...

Bay city baby! We made it. The first 30 miles it was overcast which 
was nice cuz I got a lil burnt yesterday. Then after Midland we hit 
the farmland and it started raining. The rain wasn't too bad but the 
wind was pretty strong. I threw on some rainy day music to help the 
time pass. A lil Ray Lamontagne and then some Regina Spektor. It was 
nice riding in the rain.

Now we are getting free food at some weekly bay front festival thing. 
Yay free food!

... was very yummy. Maybe it was cause we were so hungry, or maybe it really was that good. We wandered around during the festival. Watched the glockenspiel. Danced the polka and chicken dance. And then decided that we were going to Bronner’s. Bronner’s is a HUGE Christmas store. Super huge. I don’t know how long we wandered, but I went from ...

... but equally exciting, and while nothing like Lewis and Clark or other great explorers of the past, for me, this is probably the most audacious undertaking of my life up to this point. I have no clue exactly where I will be at this time one month from now, but I do know that wherever it is will become part of an experience that will greatly impact my life. And this is only the beginning.

July 15, 2008 Michigan, USA After 20 months of travel we have finally come home. We are exhausted but had a wonderful time. Thanks for following along. We hope to complete this blog later with some financial summary so you can see how much a trip like this actually costs. If you are interested in that sort of thing check back in a few months. In the meantime we're going to take a long nap.

... I need to look up more adjectives to describe hills--rolling, nestled, springy...etc. are going to get old fast in this place] Apparently (i'm citing Lonely Planet here), Ireland has two distinct personalities. I feel like every city I read about in LP is described in this way. At the same time, I'm excited to discover what these distinct attributes consist of--something like old versus new, I suspect. I love that. Speaking of ...

... t know if that's better or worse. Real Alcazar - This is the palace of Seville. They are worth the €5 entry fee. The tile work and tapestries are amazing. The Moorish palace is breathtaking. Wander through the gardens. You could spend hours. I want to live there. J Casa Baratillo/Casa Chari - Calle Pavía, 12. Tiny little place run by Chari. The paella and sangria are great. She will have you sign her book. If you can take something small that you can attach in the book. While ...

... up a sand dune, however, going down a sand dune makes it all worth it. We would run as fast as we could towards the edge where we would leap as high as we could into the air. The soft sand was there to catch us and we continued jumping the rest of the way down. On the other side of the dune, we caught our breath on the shore of Lake Michigan. We were able to see in the distance to our left the tall buildings of Chicago waiting for us. Laughter ever after, Love Dave & Jenn