Author: thetinyhousetravelers

While we did end up spending most of our time working on the property, we managed to squeeze in a few fun things to finish off our summer.

There is a ski resort nearby and in the summer, they host a hot air balloon festival called Balloons over Bellaire. We got there a little early and saved spots for our friend Beth and her husband and grandson to sit with us. Because of the wind, the balloons didn’t launch until a little later than scheduled and some ended up not launching at all. It was still a fun time to sit outside and chat with friends and enjoy the view from the resort.

We got to watch as the balloonists drove into the field to prepare for launch. We saw them spread out their balloons and turn on the burners to start inflating them. It was magical to watch the balloons come to life and rise up into the evening sky. Some of the balloons were so beautiful! One pilot doesn’t even use a basket – he just sits in a chair dangling from the balloon! I would be terrified.

We also spent most weekends in August and September visiting yard sales. Before we started traveling, John was all about the side-hustle and now that we have a storage unit nearby and will be spending several months here each year, he wanted to get back to it. One of his favorite things was buying items at yard sales, auctions and thrift shops and reselling them so he was really a happy to start up an eBay shop again. Every weekend, he would make a post on the community Facebook groups asking who was having sales for the weekend then he would map out a route to take us to all of the sales that day. We visited sales in Bellaire, Mancelona, Kalkaska, Charlevoix, and everywhere in between. John bought a lot of great merchandise for his online store AND we met some really nice people.

We also met a lot of really fun animals! Several houses had chickens, ducks, geese, and even turkeys! We saw dogs and cats, horses and cows. At one point we were even stuck in a “traffic jam” waiting for a parade of chickens and ducks to get out of our way. It felt like we were in a bad knock-knock joke waiting for the chicken to cross the road.

On the recommendation of one lady we met while shopping, we decided to head over to Lake Charlevoix to check out a restaurant called “The Landing” which is right next to the Ironton Ferry launch. Unfortunately, the wait list was pretty long so we didn’t end up having lunch there but they DID have an outdoor bar so we got a drink and sat along the dock watching the boats come and go and enjoying the view of the lake.

One pleasant surprise that happened this summer is that we learned that one of my friends has a family cabin about 15 minutes from the property that we bought! They are big hockey fans and came up to watch a tournament in Traverse City in September and we met them for dinner at Short’s in Bellaire one night. Everyone that we have met here has been very nice and we have made some new friends but sometimes it’s just nice to see a familiar face and hang out with people that you have history with.

We also took a day and rented a pontoon and just cruised around on Torch Lake. I absolutely LOVE all things water related and was so excited to get out in a boat for the day. We packed some snacks and drinks and took Harley with us, too.

We rented from Northaire Resort and Pontoon Rentals on Clam Lake and they made the experience very easy and stress-free. We picked up the boat around 9:30am and headed through Clam Lake over to Torch Lake. Torch Lake is the second largest inland lake in Michigan (behind Houghton Lake) and is 19 miles long with an average depth of 111ft. We did a leisurely lap of the lake and enjoyed checking out the other boats and the houses on the lakeshore. The water is so blue and beautiful and the day was absolutely perfect.

We tried to visit the sandbar at the south end of the lake but our depth finder didn’t work so we were too nervous to go into the shallow water and potentially damage the boat. We took a break for lunch at Dockside, a restaurant situated right on the water. We pulled up at the docks and secured the boat then we all hopped off for some grub. They have a grassy area where I was able to walk Harley while John went in to order food. We took advantage of their picnic tables to eat (I was afraid I would get seasick if I tried to eat a full meal while on the water) and then headed back out to do another lap of the lake before calling it a day.

We have been searching for a boat since we bought the property but haven’t had any luck so far. Every time we find something we like, someone beats us to it. Hopefully we can resume the boat search next spring and find something to use over the summer. There are so many gorgeous lakes near us and being on the water is definitely my happy place.

And with that, our time in the Bellaire/Mancelona area drew to a close. The campground where we were staying had let us know that they would be turning off the water on October 15th and we reached a point with the property where nothing else was really going to be getting done so we decided to leave on October 4th with the plan to travel a few hours south to the Holland area, spend one night, then continue on to Cedar Lake in Indiana the following day. We will be there for 2 weeks and will be visiting Chicago during that time followed by a week in Indianapolis, a week in Nashville, two weeks in Birmingham and ending up in Foley, Alabama for the winter. We have loved our time spent in Michigan but are SO EXCITED to get back on the road for a little bit so be sure to follow along for our travel adventures!

When we bought the property at the end of July, we knew that we had a lot of work to do. We also knew that we were NOT equipped to spend a winter up here quite yet. The tiny house is very well insulated and, while we try to avoid winter weather, we have seen temperatures drop to single digits and been perfectly comfortable. We have seen snow flurries a few times but have never experienced significant snowfall during our time on the road. Being from Ohio, we are used to getting a few good snowfalls a year with anywhere from 3-8 inches of snow. The average yearly snowfall in Mancelona, Michigan is around 130 inches and that is NOT something we were excited about.

This property is what is called “raw land”. There are no structures on the property and no existing utilities. We were very fortunate to find a piece of property with water and electric run along the road (and a paved road at that!) so we will be able to hook up to city water and electric with relative ease. We did have the option of hooking up to city water or drilling a well. Due to some areas of pollution in the area and the overall cost/convenience factors, we decided to go with city water. There are no existing gas or sewer services in our area. This means that we will need to put in a septic tank and use bottled gas.

Our first step was to have a city official come out and check our soil to tell us what kind of septic system we need to install. We were told that we needed a 1000 gallon septic tank with two 50ft leach fields. The next step was to start clearing trees. Our property has very dense tree cover so it was quite the chore to clear enough space for all of this but John worked hard at it over several days and we eventually cleared the area. One neighbor took some of the pine trees that we cut down for her goats so that helped tremendously. We also discovered that the city has an area where residents can dump trees, lawn cuttings and other similar items so we took several trailer loads over there as well.

Once we had the land cleared, it was time to start digging. John took a week off of work and rented an excavator to put in the trenches for the leach fields and the hole for the tank. The man that delivered the septic tank was really friendly and helped us get it into place and level.

We also got gravel delivered for the leach fields and I enjoyed digging through the rock piles while John worked on other projects. I found SO MANY Petoskey Stones (fossilized coral commonly found in this part of Michigan) and other cool rocks that I can’t wait to polish!

We also had to do some work in the culvert so we could put in a driveway. The property was originally surrounded by a ditch. We installed a drainage pipe and filled in a section that we can now drive over!

Next, we had the water company come out and put in the box to hook us up to the water lines running down our street. From there, we hired another company to come out and run the water lines from the hookup to where the water meter will eventually be in John’s workshop. Because winters in Northern Michigan can be severe, water lines have to be buried 6 feet underground. We really wanted to keep a line of trees between the clearing and the road and digging the trenches for the water lines would have meant taking down a large number of trees . This company came out and used a machine to drill into the ground to a depth of 6 ft UNDERNEATH the existing trees. We were able to put the lines right where we wanted them without the effort of cutting down trees and digging a giant trench. We also installed an air line to blow out the water line in the winters when we will be gone from the property which should help prevent freezing. The workmen filled the giant hole left by the city and even smoothed out some areas that we had messed up digging- aside from there not being grass, you can’t even tell any work was done!

We also started clearing areas for two RV spots- one for our tiny house and one for friends or family that want to visit and have their own camper or RV.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to start construction on the workshop or put in electric just yet. We will be leaving Michigan on October 5th and will return in May to continue work. We need to build the shop for the water meter to go in and we still need to get electric run. We also hit a small snag with the septic tank (we misinterpreted the requirements for the permit) so we will have a little bit of work to do once we return in the spring but it is ALMOST completely done. After the septic is finalized and approved, we can put in the RV hookups and finish the parking spots and we will be ready to move the tiny house over there. From there, we can finish the shop and work on putting in a storage shed for the items that we have packed away. We still have a long way to go but we have come so far. I cannot believe the progress that we have made in just two short months!

UPDATE: Just before I logged on to post this entry we got the word -OUR SEPTIC HAS BEEN APPROVED! We just need to cover the trenches this evening before we head out of town tomorrow! Whoo-hoo!

After my birthday celebration, things slowed down for us for a little bit. We were still in Bellaire, Michigan at Chain O Lakes campground and were still balancing working on the new property and exploring new places.

We put up a trail cam on the property in hopes of spotting any wildlife living on our land. We watched the cameras for a few weeks but so far have only gotten footage of one deer. We have seen quite a few turkeys around the area as well but were only able to get pictures of one. Perhaps the weirdest animal “encounter” we have had came one day when John had to run out to the property for a few minutes to drop something off and found two people walking camels down the road! We have no idea where they came from or where they were going but camels were definitely not on the list of creatures we expected to encounter on back roads in Mancelona, Michigan.

The tiny house has also seen a fair bit of wildlife – including a squirrel who decided that our skylight was a great place for a nap. The cats were NOT amused and neither was John when a couple of them came flying across his keyboard (while he was working) to try to chase of the “intruder”.

During this time John was able to purchase a riding mower for the property and got to work mowing – for about 30 minutes before he broke one of the belts on the mower. It was purchased used and the belt was pretty weak from dry rot so we expected to have to replace it pretty early on. We managed to get our address assigned as well and we installed a mailbox although we later discovered that they won’t deliver mail there until there is a building on the site so at this time we are still unable to receive mail.

We also took Harley out several times and let her explore our new “home”. She loves managing all of the downed branches from the trees we are taking down and has earned the title of Branch Manager. She is very efficient and we are pleased with her supervision.

We had also gotten a storage unit near our property to hold our tools and my new Halloween decorations and decided now was a good time to make a trip back to Ohio to empty our storage unit there and move everything up here. We did a pretty good job downsizing but still had a few pieces of furniture and items I had inherited from friends and family that I wasn’t ready to part with but that wouldn’t fit in the tiny house so we opted to store them for later. We also had a lot of my Halloween decorations, some of John’s tools which he would need for building the workshop, and some books that John had been selling online. Now that we would be spending several months in one place each year, he was hoping to get back into the resale game to make a little money on the side so having these books where we could access them was definitely a good idea.

We decided NOT to take the entire house with us on this trip so the plan was for John, Harley and me to drive down to Ohio in the car, rent a U-Haul truck and load up the storage unit and then I would drive the car back while John drove the U-Haul. We thought trying to take the house would be too much stress on us and the cats and that would mean that I would either have to pull the house or drive the U-Haul and I did not have any desire to do either. I called my Grandma and she was kind enough to let us stay with her while we were in town.

We didn’t want to take too long but also didn’t want to kill ourselves between the drive and the loading and unloading so we planned to leave on Saturday, drive the 6 hours and 35 minutes to Grandma’s house (which turned into 8 hours with bathroom and gas breaks), and spend the night on Saturday evening. On Sunday, we picked up the U-Haul and drove to the storage unit where we spent a few hours loading up our belongings. We drove back to Grandma’s that evening and spent the night again so we wouldn’t be as tired for the drive home. We left around 8am on Monday morning and got home around 4:30 that afternoon. On Tuesday, John took a half day for us to unload the truck into our storage unit and then return the U-Haul to a location in Mancelona. We did manage to squeeze in visits with my parents, John’s mom and sister, and my aunt who had just had surgery while we were in town, too. It had been an insane 4 days and we were absolutely exhausted! I also managed to mess up my back while moving boxes and furniture so I spent the rest of the week on the couch with my heating pad.

We did take a day before we left for Ohio to visit a yard sale and we bought several things to use on the new property (some shovels and a rake) and a few things for John to resell – including a Playboy Magazine that was written in braille. It was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen and I had no idea such a thing existed. John listed it online before we left for Ohio and it had sold for over $200 by the time we got back. He is challenging himself to pay our monthly payment on the land completely with funds earned from side hustles so this was a pretty good start.

We also took a visit to Torch Lake. We have been to various spots on the lake during our time here and it never ceases to amaze me how clear and beautiful the water is. We were just out driving down random roads when we found a public access point that we hadn’t been to before. I was really glad we stumbled upon it and the best part is that it’s only about 15 minutes from our house and was completely deserted when we got there. Amazing.

After recovering from our trip to Ohio and moving all of our stuff to Michigan, we got back to work on the property. John rented an excavator and started pulling out stumps and leveling the area where his workshop and the tiny house will eventually go. I even took a turn working the machinery and had a ton of fun. Digging around has turned up so many rocks so I have been in heaven checking them all out while John tries not to bury me under huge scoops of dirt. I was convinced I was going to end up hurt but it was actually John who suffered a sprained ankle when he fell into a hole that he was digging. It’s pretty swollen so I think some rest is going to be in his future. Of course, my back is just starting to feel better so he HAS to get injured – we can’t both be functional at the same time!

I know a lot of our recent stuff has been about the property but hopefully we will be getting back to new adventures soon so stay tuned!

Instead of moving on up to the Upper Peninsula as we had planned, July 27th found us still camping at Chain O Lakes Campground in Bellaire, Michigan. One big change, however, was that we were now landowners! While I was really excited to purchase this property and start working on it, I was a little worried that we would be so focused on work that we would stop doing all of the fun, adventurous stuff that we were used to. The first few weeks definitely settled my worries and showed me that we could and would find a balance of work and play.

John was, of course, very excited to start work on our land. This meant that he got to invest in some new toys including a giant pry bar, a new weed whacker, and a chainsaw. He was like a kid testing out all of the new tools and quickly started making progress on the property.

We had noticed a small clearing just off of the corner off our lot and thought that would be the perfect spot to put John’s woodshop and the hookups for the tiny house. This area is relatively flat, easily accessible from the road, and is close to the power poles and water lines that run across the front of the property. There are some trees in this area that will need to come down but they are all small pine trees (like the size of Christmas trees) and shouldn’t pose that big of a challenge – especially to a man with a new chainsaw to play with. We also met a neighbor who asked if she could have some of the pine trees that we cut down for her goats and we told her to take all that she wanted- a win for both of us!

We were working at the property one day when we met another couple, Chris and Denise, who had just purchased one of the larger lots just down the road from us. They seem really sweet and we are really excited to be “neighbors” with them going forward.

Our weekends started to take on a pattern – John would get up early and go work for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday before it got too hot for the day. This time has mostly been spent on the clearing- removing the tall weeds and cutting down trees. Then he comes home and showers and we grab lunch. We usually watch a movie or go out and explore for a while in the afternoons then we stop back by the property together in the evening to review what he has accomplished and to plan next steps. I am not super handy (plus we only have one saw and one weedeater) so I tend to stay home and do housework and errands while he works at the property. When we go together we plot out where buildings and utilities will go and mark trees that still need to come down or be trimmed. We have also spent these first few weeks speaking to an assortment of people with the government and with the local utility companies figuring out the process of installing water, electric and septic. Another project was to mark out where the driveway will be so that we can get an address assigned. Once we placed flags and spray painted the driveway area, we contacted the Post Office. They are supposed to send someone out in the next few weeks with a GPS unit to register the property and then assign the address. Then we can put in a mailbox and actually be able to receive mail! We have been using a mailing address in Florida for the last two years but have only actually been in the vicinity of it once. They throw away the junk and then forward anything we need to an address that we designate (which is usually John’s mom’s house then she forwards things to us as needed). This means that, while we do have an address, we don’t usually have a way of getting the items that are mailed to us for about 4-6 weeks after receiving the mail at the Florida facility if we happen to be somewhere that we can receive mail at all. Often, his mom just holds onto things for us until we pass through Ohio which may be months away.

We also discovered that there is a ranch in Mancelona that raises yaks! We were surprised to realize that neither of us had ever seen a yak in person and we were so excited to learn that the ranch was open to visitors on Mondays and Thursdays. Since John had been spending a lot of time working at the property, he decided to take a day off work to visit A Yak or 2 Ranch on Thursday August 1st.

The ranch began started out in 2016 with the original plan to just get a yak or two (hence the name of the ranch) as sort of a hobby type project and a healthy meat alternative for a family member who had recently suffered a heart attack. Apparently, yak meat is much healthier than red meat and the family thought that spending time raising and caring for the animals would be a fun motivator to get out and get moving. Pretty soon, that yak or two turned into the herd that they have today and now they are registered breeders with the World Heritage Yak Conservancy. Yak can be raised for meat, dairy, and their wool but this ranch seems to specialize in breeding although they do have a gift shop with a variety of yak products. The yaks are super friendly (except one who gets a little demanding about the treats!) and the family that runs it were the sweetest people and so knowledgeable about their animals.

For $10 per person, they drove us out into the pasture to meet the animals. Because it was just the two of us, we went out in a small 4 wheel drive cart. For larger groups they have wagons that they can use as well. We were given some treats for the animals and they sure did come running when they saw us! We ran out of treats quickly but several of the animals were content to hang out and let us pet them. We even got to see a baby that had been born earlier in the week. It was so adorable and we had so much fun.

On the recommendation of the folks at A Yak or 2, we drove over to Kalkaska to visit De Vor Dairy Farm & Creamery. Their farm is like something out of a story book and they have cows, chickens and goats ready to great guests just outside of their store. Inside, they sell a variety of dairy products and other items but the true treasures are the great wheels of Gouda. You can purchase the giant wheels for around $300 each but, sadly, tiny houses were not made for giant cheeses and we had to settle for some smaller packages. The owner was there to offer a sample that he was just cutting and it tasted so good we couldn’t even make any “cutting the cheese” jokes. We ended up buying some aged gouda, smoked bacon gouda and cherry gouda to take home. We also bought some goat feed for $1 each and went back outside to feed the goats before leaving. According to their website they offer a variety of farm experiences to enhance your visit- including cow cuddling which is definitely something I think I need in my life.

On Saturday, we celebrated my birthday…again. We had already done the “friends and family” celebration back in June when we were in Ohio and John had thrown me a surprise party. I really wasn’t expecting anything much…maybe going out for dinner or a trip to the beach. John had given me a Lego set at my birthday party and we had decided to cut down on spending so I definitely didn’t expect any more gifts. John had more surprises up his sleeve, though.

A week earlier, we had made a trip into Traverse City to buy some tools and John had picked up a gift for me that he had ordered from Home Depot a few weeks ago. He said that he had tried to get me one of the 12 foot tall skeletons that I have wanted for years but they sold out so he got me a headless skeleton on a ghostly horse instead. I was so surprised and excited! I helped load it in the truck, we finished our shopping and headed home. What an excellent surprise gift!

On my birthday, I woke up to John leaving to work on the property. I stayed home and took care of some housework, lounged around and talked on the phone and sat outside with Harley. John called to say he was done working and to get ready because he would take me out for breakfast. We went to a local place called The Hen’s Den in Mancelona and it was really good. We only had about a 10 minute wait and the food was good and affordable.

After breakfast, we decided to visit a few of the marijuana dispensaries in town. Recreation marijuana use is legal in Michigan and I have been known to take a gummy to help out with my anxiety and my knee/hip/back pain from time to time so we wanted to see what our area had to offer. A few weeks back, one of the camp hosts at our campground recommended going on your birthday because you get free stuff so we put off the visit until then. We visited two shops and spent less than $40- and ended up with more than I will probably use in the rest of my lifetime.

John mentioned at this point that he needed to stop at the storage unit we had rented nearby to hold our tools for the property. When we got there, he gave me the key and asked me to unlock and open the door for him. When that door rolled up and revealed a stack of Home Depot boxes, I thought I would pass out. Yes, Home Depot had sold out of many of their animatronics when John bought me my Knight Dullahan. But that was AFTER he ordered TWO of the 12 foot skeletons (one with the lightup eyes and one plain one) PLUS a 7ft tall Frankenstein. I was so blown away.

After recovering from my gifts, we headed up to Charlevoix to visit Fisherman’s Island State Park. On the way there, we stumbled across the pie pans that were used to bake the Cherry Pie that held the world’s record for biggest cherry pie from 1976 to 1987. Of course we had to stop and take photos at this weird, fun landmark.

Once we arrived at Fisherman’s Island State Park, we followed a short, sandy path from the parking area down to the blue waters of the beach and spent a few hours splashing around in the water and looking at rocks. The water was shallow for a long way out and John was able to walk out to a huge boulder and climb up on it to wave back at me. It looked like he was walking on water! John helped me find some really pretty rocks and fossils to add to my collection.

When our fingers got wrinkly and our shoulders were starting to get red, we drove home where John cooked me the best birthday dinner. We had steaks on the grill, corn on the cob, and fried green tomatoes with pickled onions and tangy dipping sauce. I knew that the tomatoes wouldn’t reheat well and everything was so good that I ate until I thought I would burst! Such an amazing end to a perfect day and an incredible start to my 40’s!

We also spent some time in the campground pool and went out to dinner with a new friend that I met in an online rock collectors group that lives nearby. John went with me to meet her and her husband and daughter in person (just to make sure they weren’t planning to murder me) and it seems like she is going to be a fun person to go rock hunting with! While I had started off with some worries about becoming permanently linked to a brand new place, I am definitely feeling more and more at home every day.

So it’s probably time to confess that we had been keeping a secret from our followers (and many of our friends and family) for a while now. After a year and a half of being on the road, we were still absolutely in love with traveling but we were beginning realize that having a homebase would be nice. We were entering our second summer and it confirmed a theory that we had been working on….we just don’t like traveling in the summer. Summer months are busier, campgrounds are crowded (and as a result noisier) and often more expensive, attractions have longer wait times, and people tend to be less friendly. We started thinking that it might be nice to have our own private retreat during the summer months.

We also had financial reasons for wanting to buy land…we were running out of money. I have always been completely honest on this blog and have been pretty transparent on our other social media sites so I’m not going to stop now. Traveling was much more expensive than we expected. A lot of it is 100% our fault with frivolous purchases like eating out, admission to zoos and museums and theme parks, our E-bikes, and entertainment like Broadway shows and dinner cruises. All of that is on top of paying for campsites, regular groceries and gas. Harley had that snake bite that she was hospitalized for back in January and then had a lump removed from her chest. Pandora sliced her tail open last summer in Maine which resulted in an emergency ER visit which then led to the discovery that her thyroid was not working properly and that she had advanced dental disease. We had to make vet visits every 6 weeks, then every 3 months, and now every 6 months to recheck her bloodwork and get medication refills. Then she had a dental cleaning and had some teeth pulled once she was healthy enough for that.

We also didn’t realize everything that we would need to be able to travel when we set out back in 2022. We didn’t take into account a portable gray water tank ($300), Star Link internet for when we can’t get Verizon or TMobile service ($450 for equipment and $150 per month), batteries for backup power/solar (around $3500 so far), an RV GPS so we don’t run into bridges ($500), a gazebo so we can be outside when the mosquitoes and biting flies are bad ($300), all new tires on the house and car ($1500), the axle repair ($2500), replacing our air conditioner after it fell off the house during our first move ($1500), a second jack to help lift and level the house ($600), redoing the entire living room because our design wasn’t really effective (around $1300) and the list goes on and on. Buying property (for the right price) would definitely help cut down on campground fees and give us a place to do our own repairs and regular maintenance. Building a shed on our own property and emptying our storage unit will save us an additional $120 per month.

We were also tired. Rushing around the country from state to state, campground to campground, and place to place is a lot of fun but is also kind of exhausting. We usually only have one to two weeks to explore an area before we move on so we feel like we have to keep full calendars and not waste a single moment. We hardly ever take “down days” to just lay around and rest.

Finally, we miss our hobbies. A lot of you probably have realized that I love Halloween and all things spooky….but most of my stuff is packed away in storage. I would also love to get into rock tumbling but there just isn’t room in the tiny house and it would be a giant mess to try to deal with when we move. And then there are John’s hobbies. It’s really hard to carry around tools for woodworking, 3D printing or laser cutting when you live in a tiny house and moving so often makes it impossible to keep machinery calibrated properly. Woodworking is also very loud sometimes-not ideal for campground life.

So, we made the decision back in the spring to start looking for land and John kept his eye on real estate listings. We hadn’t really decided on an area so we were considering several different states – we just needed somewhere with a decent sized yard, that was affordable, and that would allow us to have the tiny house AND our pit bull. Easy, right?

We actually took one of our days in Ohio to drive south to Kentucky to check out a few properties. We really liked one but it was kind of in the middle of nowhere. We visited a few that we could barely get the car down the dirt road to the property- there was no chance for pulling the tiny house in there. And one we couldn’t even find and gave up.

We also started checking out properties as soon as we got to Michigan. We made little evening or afternoon drives to check out bits of land here and there. We even took a drive to Cheboygan to view an old church. It was a beautiful building and was only listed at $40k (and we thought we could get it for less) but would have required SO MUCH work to even make it livable. Plus there was no yard and nowhere to park the tiny house.

Finally, just about 10 minutes from our campground in Bellaire, Michigan, we found a spot that we both loved. It is a beautiful 4.4 acre wooded lot on the corner of a paved road and a dirt road. There is municipal water and electric run along the road at one side of the property so it will be cheaper and easier to run those utilities at this property than at any other we checked out. We will have to install a septic tank, however, before we can move there. And my favorite part – other than the requirement for septic/sewer- there are NO zoning laws. Living in Johnstown for 10 years was enough for me. I never want anyone to be able to tell me what I can and can’t do on or to my own property for as long as I live.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we are within 45 minutes of dozens of beaches.

We closed on July 24th in Traverse City and are so excited to start working. We have a lot of trees to clear and a ton of stuff to do before we build anything but we are determined. We probably won’t finish everything this summer so we plan to stay at Chain O Lakes campground for the rest of the season this year and get as much done on the property as possible. In October (when the campground shuts off the water and closes for the year), we will head south to spend the winter. At this point, we are looking at Mobile, Alabama again as we really enjoyed ourselves last year and think that we can stay there pretty affordably. We are going to be paying for campsites AND making our $400 per month payment on the land so that is going to make finances a little strained but we will figure it out. We will return in the spring to finish whatever doesn’t get done this year and hopefully be able to move the tiny house onto our own land next summer.

We will probably slow down a little over the next few years to save money, fix up our property, and rest but at this time we don’t plan to completely stop traveling at any point so we hope that anyone reading this will continue to follow along on our adventures. And even if we aren’t exploring a new state every few weeks – there are a ton of things to see and do in our new home state of Michigan that we are excited to check out. And of course, we can’t wait to share updates on our property with you!

We were now half-way through our planned one month stay in Bellaire, Michigan and were falling in love with the area. The beaches were amazing, there were lots of trees and woods all around us, and the people were all so nice. The little town that we were staying in has the cutest downtown area! It seems very “in the middle of nowhere” but Bellaire has a handful of really good local restaurants, a bank, post office, library, supermarket, hardware store, tattoo parlor, and even a bowling alley! There is also a small movie theater that has two screens and does one showing on weeknights at 6:45 with additional options on the weekend. We treated ourselves to a night out to see Deadpool & Wolverine (one of the few movies we have seen in theaters since we hit the road back in 2022).

By this time, our cherries had been eaten from the first picking trip and we decided to try another farm for raspberries! We visited King Orchards for their U-Pick raspberries. They also have a farm store that sells products made from their crops and has a little bar where you can order their ciders. We did a flight of four and they were all really good. The staff were all so friendly and we felt immediately welcome there. We can’t wait to go again once some of their other crops come in season!

John has been told that he needs to start using some of his vacation days so we decided to take a day and head up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We loaded up Harley in the car and headed north across the Mackinac Bridge. The drive was really nice and, although it was about an hour and a half to get to Mackinaw City, it felt like no time when we started to see the bridge looming ahead through our windshield.

We found took the first exit after the bridge and found a little park overlooking the bridge and the straits. We hopped out to give Harley a stretch (and to stretch a little ourselves) and got some nice pictures of the bridge in the distance.

From there, we noticed a restaurant called Sposito’s across the street that was advertising Pasties. Eating a “UP Pasty” was one of the things on our summer bucket list and we were pretty hungry and ready for lunch so we made a stop. For those unaware, a Pasty is a pastry that was originally invented in Cornwall England but became a popular staple in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the 1800’s. These pastries (often filled with meat, potatoes and other vegetables) have a flaky crust that is folded over the filling and sealed on the sides. It was a popular food for miners and other laborers because they were easily carried to work and could be reheated on a shovel or over an open flame on a fire or a lantern. You can find a ton of restaurants that sell them hot and ready to heat or frozen for you to cook at home later all throughout the UP.

They had several picnic tables outside so Harley and I chose a spot to sit while John got our order. We ended up with a Meat Pasty, a Vegetable Pasty, and a Traverse City Cherry Pasty for dessert. They were all REALLY good although John’s favorite was the vegetable and mine was the cherry. Harley sampled the veggie and the meat and seemed to enjoy both.

After lunch, we drove to nearby Castle Rock because who doesn’t love strenuous activity after eating a ton of meat, veggies and dough? Castle Rock, located just outside of St. Ignace, is a large rock formation that offers incredible views of the surrounding areas. There are about 170 stairs and one narrow ramp that guests can take to reach the top. Admission is just $1 per person and leashed pets are welcome so all three of us made the climb (although Harley and I had to stop for several breaks along the way!). The concrete stairs are very uneven and awkward but the view at the top was INCREDIBLE.

After descending the stairs at Castle Rock (and huffing and puffing the whole climb up and back), John decided that he had not subjected Harley and me to enough torture…I mean “fresh air and exercise”…so he drove us to one of the trails in the Hiawatha National Forest. The trails looked to be old blacktop roads so they were pretty easy to walk on and we thought we would go the couple of miles the lakeshore but when we saw how exhausted poor Harley was, we decided to just do the mile long loop and head back to the car. I was pretty grateful for the shorter trail, too. Harley and I were both pretty quiet on the ride home (probably John’s goal!).

During this time, our campground spent a weekend celebrating “Christmas in July”. On Friday night, they had a musician playing live at the communal area near the pool. They built a huge fire and the nicest man ever named Larry serenaded us for a few hours, taking requests and telling “dad jokes”. On Saturday evening, Santa came to visit the park! He rode around the campground on a hay wagon and then did photos with the kids after. A few of the campers decorated for Christmas and we had a few of our decorations with us so we put them up as well. We always love when the campgrounds have different events and themed weekends!

We were very fortunate to meet some lovely people around town in Bellaire and at our campground. A new friend recommended that we attend the Flywheeler’s Festival and flea market at the Antique Flywheeler’s Club in nearby Boyne Falls. According to Wikipedia, a flywheel is a mechanical device that uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy, a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. I don’t understand most of that but we got to see lots of tractors, some old cars, and some cool machinery. They had a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, a craft barn, and so much more and were giving all sorts of historical demonstrations on milling, weaving, blacksmithing, etc. We had a really fun time! Our great purchase of the day was an armadillo made from scrap metal. (I got to see my first live armadillos in the wild over the winter in Florida and, although I know that many people consider them a nuisance, I am absolutely tickled by them every time I see one!)

Our last great adventure of the month was the Antrim County Fair. Much like the Cherry Festival, this even was much smaller than we were expecting but it was still really fun to walk around and see the animals. There was one shelter/barn with a few cows, a few hogs, sheep and goats; and another with chickens, ducks, and rabbits. They had one craft tent and a building with the contest winners (photography, baking, etc). There weren’t any rides or food but it was a nice way to spend about an hour and it was only about a 15 minute drive from the campground. Plus, any time we get to see animals is a win.

And that closes out the month that we were supposed to stay in Bellaire. Of course, true to form, we made a wild deviation from the plan and decided to buy land in the nearby town of Mancelona which changed our plans (and our lives) quite drastically….but more on that next time!

We pulled into Chain O Lakes Campground in Bellaire, Michigan on Saturday June 29th after a pleasant and uneventful drive. The campground was really cute and had a beautiful pool that we were really excited about. The sites were a little small but were easy to get into, had full hookup, and had lots of shade so we were feeling pretty good!

Then, Sunday night, I started to feel sick. I had a scratchy throat that just would not stop. That turned into a runny/stuffy nose and an earache. I thought at the time that it was just a sinus infection but I’m glad we insisted on keeping our distance from other campers because I firmly believe now that I had COVID. I developed a cough a few days in that STILL hasn’t quite gone away almost a month later and it has taken me a really long time to fully bounce back. Not the best start to our stay in Bellaire. I spent most of the first week resting and recuperating at home. If this was COVID, I didn’t get as sick as I had the previous two times and never got a fever or headache.

Once I was feeling a little bit better, we did take a day and visit the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. After having attended several fairs and festivals on our travels, we had some pretty high expectations and were actually a little disappointed at the size of the festival. There were no arts and crafts vendors (it turns out they only have an arts fair one of the days of the festival and we had missed that) and only a few food options. They had one large tent with various cherry products inside and a few vendors with fresh cherries but I had been hoping for lots of cherry flavored items to sample. There were several carnival rides and games but we weren’t really into those. We got a piece of cherry pie and decided to leave to see what else Traverse City had to offer. It had taken us longer to park and walk to the festival than it did to see everything there was to see there!

We opted to head to The Village at Grand Traverse Commons for a bite to eat and a little shopping. This building used to be a mental hospital but was closed down many years ago. It was eventually renovated and turned into a series of office spaces, doctors offices, restaurants and shops. We had lunch at Red Spire Brunch House located in the basement and decided to try to make time to come back for an official tour one day in the future.

I was feeling much better but we still wanted to take things slow so we made a day trip to the town of Gaylord to do a little shopping (they are the closest Walmart to us and we needed some groceries). Gaylord is an adorable little Alpine themed town that has everything from the big stores (Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot) to a cute little downtown with small souvenir shops and book stores. They also (for some reason that I have not been able to ascertain) have a herd of elk that is managed by their city and housed near the Elk’s Lodge in town. We drove over and got to see several of their animals through the fence. They were REALLY into some of the long grass that was growing along the fence so we picked a few pieces that were outside of their reach and fed them through the fence and they absolutely loved it. Such a weird, random experience!

If anyone follows our social media, you know that we did end up buying some property here near our current campsite (more on that in a later post). You may not know, however, that we had been looking at various properties and keeping our eyes on real estate listings for a few months. During this time, John had his eye on a dilapidated church in Cheboygan so we took a day to drive over and check it out in person. We were REALLY interested in it (and it was priced right at $40k) but, after seeing the building in person and realizing the insane amount of work that would need to be done, we decided to pass. It was a beautiful building that had many of the stained glass windows still intact and a lot of its original woodwork and fixtures inside in addition to a belltower. There was significant water damage, though, from several leaks and the sanctuary was full of animal droppings and mold. John has always wanted to live in a church or school or other neat building but this one just wasn’t going to work for us. We could have easily afforded the building itself but it would have needed at least $100k in repairs to even make a portion of it livable and there was NO yard and nowhere to park the tiny house. We were really disappointed but ultimately had to pass.

After spending some time in the musty, moldy church we decided we needed some fresh air so we visited Harbor View Lavender Farm for some lavender and cherry picking. The farm is located on a peninsula north of Traverse City and had beautiful rolling fields with Grand Traverse Bay off in the distance. The air smelled faintly of lavender all throughout the property and there were fat little bees calmly buzzing about. We had a wonderful time walking among the plants and trees and brought home a bunch of lavender and a pint of cherries.

We also took some time to visit some beaches! After leaving the lavender farm, we drove on up the peninsula to the Old Mission Point Lighthouse and walked down to the beach there. The water was warm and blue and there was a sandbar that led WAY out into the water but only got about as deep as our thighs. Growing up in Ohio, I never had any idea that such gorgeous beaches were only a state away!

We also took time during these first few weeks to visit beaches at Barnes Park, Petoskey, Grand Traverse Lighthouse, Christmas Cove (all on Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse or Little Traverse Bays). These beaches were all wonderful for rock hunting and for cooling off on the hot afternoons. The Grand Traverse Lighthouse even had a little museum with artifacts from various shipwrecks and a little remote control diving machine in a tank that visitors could try to operate. We have now taken to carrying out swimsuits and a beach bag in the car because spontaneous beach visits just seem to happen to us!

We took time to visit the Willow Day Use Area on Lake Bellaire with Harley, too. A lot of the beaches are not dog friendly but this one is and it is hardly ever busy. We took Harley on a little car ride then stopped at the park to let her run around in the grass and check out the water. She isn’t really a water lover but I keep taking her in hopes that one day she will decide to jump in! I know it will probably never happen but a girl can dream, right?

Leaving our friends and family in Ohio was hard but we were excited to get back to new adventures on the road after a month of sitting still. Leaving Ohio was made easier by the fact that we were on our way to Lexington, Michigan which is just about a 45 minute drive north of the offices in Port Huron where two of John’s bosses work! And while we were in town, another of his managers was coming to visit. John had met all of them in person before but I hadn’t so we were really excited for this visit.

John had also booked a campsite at Sanilac County Lexington Park right on Lake Huron. We could walk to the end of the drive and down a set of stairs and be on the beach. There was a bridge over stream that we could cross to enter the Day Use area of the park. Dogs weren’t allowed on the beach but there were picnic tables and grassy areas overlooking the water and Harley really enjoyed taking walks through the park and sitting and watching the water. It was paradise….except for the total lack of internet service!

We have service through T-Mobile, Verizon and Starlink but couldn’t get a signal with any of them that was strong enough for us to watch television or for John to work. Thankfully, the whole point of this stop was to see his work people so he was able to commute to the office in Port Huron everyday and use one of the open desks there. His bosses were so nice! They took him out to lunch several times during our two week stay and took us both out to dinner twice. It was so sweet of them and so amazing to have faces and personalities to put to the conversations I sometimes overhear while John is on conference calls. One of the men even went so far as to say that I was much more normal than he expected for someone married to John to be. I didn’t correct him but I think he definitely needs to get to know me better!

John and I also explored the Port Huron area ourselves and had lunch at The Raven Cafe – an Edgar Allan Poe themed restaurant! I have always loved Poe’s stories – so much that I named my boy cat Poe after him. The decor was super cool and a little creepy – the restaurant was full of bookshelves and little nods to Poe’s stories. The food was decent (once we got it) but our experience with the service was absolutely dreadful. We still recommend checking it out if you are in the area and a fan of Poe or just spooky stuff in general- maybe your experience will be better than ours.

We spent some beautiful, peaceful evenings on the beach and John got a sneak peak at what the rest of our summer was going to look like as I carried home pockets full of rocks each visit. Michigan is known for its gorgeous rocks and fossils and visitors are actually encouraged to collect rocks from many of the state parks and public beaches (up to 25 lbs per year, per person). I am ALWAYS picking up cool rocks and sea shells wherever we go and one of my big “bucket list” items for this summer was to find a special rock called a Petoskey Stone. These aren’t really rocks but are actually fossilized coral. Michigan has several fossilized corals that can be found on the lakeshores but true “Petoskey Stones” are a specific species of ancient coral called Hexagonaria percarinata. These fossils are between 382 and 393 MILLION years old. When dry, they look just like a regular piece of gravel. When they are wet, you can see the hexagon pattern of the coral hidden in the rock! It’s like a magic trick!

Anyway, most of these rocks are found in the area of Petoskey (hence the name) and around Lake Michigan. I met a fellow rock-hound at the beach in Lexington and told her I hoped to find a Petoskey stone once we got over to that area of Michigan and she handed me one that she had just found in the lake. She said she had plenty of her own and that meeting me just after finding that was totally meant to be. I also picked up a few other cool rocks and stones there but not too many really caught my eye.

To get me away from the beaches and rocks, John took a day off and we drove to the town of Frankenmuth. It was a really cute little town that looks like its straight out of the Alps. We walked around the downtown area and visited a ton of little shops including a cheese shop and the Woolen Mill. We also grabbed some lunch at Zehnder’s which is famous for their fried chicken dinners. I got the chicken and John got the sausage lunch and it was pretty good. The best part was the chicken seasoning that they had on each table – we bought a bottle of it to take home with us! It is seriously delicious on almost everything.

The other big attraction in Frankenmuth is Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. This store has been in business since 1945 and in its current location since 1977. The current store covers 2.2 acres and they claim to be the largest Christmas store in the world. They have amazing Christmas decoration displays all around and they have just about any ornament you could think of! The store is divided into sections like sports, pets, western, beach, hobbies, snowmen, and so many more to help you find what you are looking for. They also sell Christmas trees, lights, nativity sets, Halloween and Christmas village pieces, souvenirs and more. We had a great time looking at everything and left with a few ornaments for ourselves and some fun gifts for friends and family.

In keeping with the “rocks” theme, we also took a day to visit Sanilac Petroglyphs State Park. The glyphs were carved by Native Americans over a period ranging from 300 to 1400 years ago. The site was used as an important meeting place for settling disputes and observing ceremonies for many groups in the area including the Hopewell, Huron, Ojibwe, and Ottawa tribes. The area was eventually abandoned and the glyphs were covered over by foliage in time. Then, after major forest fires in 1871 and 1881, the glyphs were rediscovered. The site has been vandalized over the years and has suffered damage from exposure to the elements but a few of the original carvings can still be seen today. The area is now a state park and is being protected and preserved for future generations all while teaching us about the past.

The park also offers hiking trails so we brought Harley along and hiked the 1.25 mile trail along the Cass River. We enjoyed some really lovely views of the river and spent some time relaxing in nature during our nice, leisurely stroll.

John and I had also just gotten our passports renewed so we HAD to test those out by taking a little driver over the Canadian border to Windsor. We spent quite a bit of time getting through traffic in the tunnel just to visit a comic shop on the other side and turn right around and come back. We did get randomly selected by customs for a scan of our vehicle but everyone was polite and we got through it quickly.

Afterwards, we tried to visit Mom’s Spaghetti, a restaurant in Detroit named for a line in the song “Lose Yourself” by rapper Eminem. Unfortunately, we found them closed when we arrived due to unexpected issues.

I was really bummed (I LOVE Eminem) until we ate lunch at Loui’s – a highly rated restaurant in the Detroit area. We ordered the Detroit style pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, and their antipasti salad. This restaurant is just a little hole in the wall but the food was INCREDIBLE. Definitely a place we will visit again if we find ourselves back in the area. Or maybe we make a trip to the area on purpose just to eat there!

Aside from a few Farmer’s markets and local restaurants (which I forgot to take photos at), we mostly spent our two weeks hanging out at the campground. We met some really nice people there and spent a few evenings just sitting at the house or around the campfire chatting with new friends. We hated to leave our little slice of paradise but we were MORE than ready to make our way to our next destination (Bellaire, Michigan) and to hopefully have internet service again! (Two weeks without being able to watch television really took a toll on my sanity. I think this is the longest I have gone without watching at least one episode of “The Office” since the pandemic!).

It took until our last week in Ohio to visit one of my favorite places – Butternut Farm Wildcat Sanctuary! I had volunteered there for several years (time blurs over the years but I think it was around 6 or 7 years that I had been involved there when we left town to start traveling), and still keep in touch with the owner, Rick, fairly often. I LOVE hearing from Rick every few weeks and getting updates on how he is doing and how the animals are doing. Due to his age and recent health problems, he is no longer taking new animals in at the sanctuary but he still cares for three bobcats and several domestic cats. When I originally started there he had 5 bobcats, 2 African servals, 3 mountain lions, a fox, a wolf and around a dozen domestic cats. Over the years that I volunteered there he also took in ducks, opossums, and one very psychotic albino squirrel.

Every week, I would go out at least once to help clean cages and feed the animals. John also spent a good amount of time and energy helping to build and maintain pens and do other general maintenance. It will always hold an extremely special place in my heart. Some of you may be aware of the horrible time we had while we lived in Johnstown- difficulties with neighbors and a HUGE battle with the city to build our tiny house- so Butternut was my island of peace and acceptance in a sea of angry and intolerant jerks who did their best to make our lives miserable.

While we had a LOT of fun during our month in our home state of Ohio, I think my favorite thing was the “Father’s Day Cookout” with John’s family. At least, that’s what I was told it was. I should have been suspicious when John said that he had worked out all of the details with the family ahead of time and that I didn’t need to make any food to take because everyone agreed to just pitch in money and have it catered from a local BBQ place. I should have been more suspicious when John suddenly “had to go in to work for a system update” on that Sunday morning and asked me to just meet him at the park at the time of the picnic – oh, and could I just stop and pick up a few bags of ice on the way? Yes, it would make me a few minutes late but that was okay, no one would mind.

I still didn’t suspect anything when I pulled up (although I did notice a Ford Bronco in the parking lot and thought to myself, hmm….I had just ridden in Megan’s Bronco the week before and this one looked just like hers!).

John met me at the car and helped me carry the ice to the shelter. That’s when I noticed a big “Happy Birthday” Banner and a large crowd that included not only his entire family but parents, my grandma, my aunt Penny and cousin Penelope, and SO MANY FRIENDS.

Full disclosure- it wasn’t actually my birthday yet which made the surprise even more surprising. But John knew that I was sad about turning 40 later this summer and not being near any friends or family to celebrate with so he sneaked and snooked and snorked around and had been working with my friends Liz and Marge to coordinate this thing for MONTHS.

And those two ladies (who I never suspected of lying to me or hiding anything) did SUCH an amazing job of keeping me off the scent – they both deserve freaking Oscars for their performances. Marge casually consoled me when I said that I was sad that I wasn’t going to see too many of my “zoo family” while I was in town over breakfast the previous week and Liz had given me my birthday gifts and given me a teary hug goodbye at dinner the previous night all the while knowing that she was coming to my party the very next day. Damn sneaky liars, ha!

John really did think of everything, too. We had two giant BBQ trays and several sides from Hank’s BBQ in Columbus, SO MANY DESSERTS, sodas and water, balloons and so many people that I love with all of my heart. And, because he knows me so well he made sure that I was completely comfortable- I don’t even know if anyone attending the party realized what he had done so I will share it here and let you all know about my weird, neurotic insecurities. You see, I HATE to open gifts in front of people. I almost always love any gift that I receive and I am ALWAYS extremely grateful that anyone would think enough of me to get me any kind of gift – but I always feel awkward opening gifts and expressing my emotions about said gifts if people are around. So John just corralled gifts on a table then carried them to the car after the party without ever mentioning opening them and redirecting anyone that wanted me to open them during the actual event. I also don’t like to be the center of attention, contrary to what some people may think. That means that I really don’t enjoy the moment that everyone gathers around to sing “Happy Birthday” to me so John just cut the cake and started passing it out before anyone realized what was happening. Not having to stress about the awkward social parts really let me relax and talk to people without that anxiety hanging over me and I honestly think everyone had a great time. I know I really did.

When we got home after the party, John and I sat quietly and opened gifts and cards. As I opened everything, he took photos and kept track of the gifts so I could make sure to thank everyone. I ended up with some gift cards and cash, a few Lego sets, a beach bag, lots of candy, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and tons of amazing memories.

On our last night in town, we had dinner with my parents and two of my favorite humans on earth – my cousins Marley and Joey. They hadn’t been able to come to my birthday party so Joey had baked me a cake and they got me the cutest card. We had pizza and just hung out all evening.

When we decided to head to Ohio a week earlier than planned, that gave us 4 weeks to spend with friends and family. I thought that would be enough time but somehow it all flew by so quickly. We managed to squeeze in so much stuff and we were exhausted but our emotional batteries were definitely recharged after receiving so much love and sharing so many smiles with the people that matter most to us! It was sad to leave everyone again but it was time to head off to our next stop (and our 26th state)- Lexington, Michigan.

Oh, and don’t think the humans were the only ones who were showered with love and affection. Harley received SO MANY new toys from John’s mom and sister and my parents. She also got to visit my Grandma’s house and get lots of love and attention there (which is hilarious because my Grandma pretends to not like animals but she had Harley snuggled up to her on the couch and certainly wasn’t complaining). My mom and dad also got Miss Harley a brand new bed for outdoors. Usually she sits in a lawn chair but as she is getting older and having more trouble with her hip, it’s getting harder for her to jump up on furniture as easily so this new bed is absolutely perfect for her. The cats received several bags of treats as well, so don’t think they were left out either. EVERYONE was appropriately spoiled.

While we were able to turn things around and enjoy our stay in West Virginia more than we had expected, we were still struggling with our mental and emotional health after the wheel bearing incident and were frankly just exhausted and cranky. After some fancy finagling we had secured a campsite at our next stop (Pastimes Park in Plain City, Ohio) a week earlier than originally scheduled. We woke up on the morning of Sunday May 19th excited to leave Jim’s Campground in Milton, West Virginia behind and head for “home”.

We were incredibly nervous about the trip (we obviously still didn’t have much faith in the axle repair for the tiny house) and I had my eyes glued to the tiny house for the entire drive. Even though the move went smoothly, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders when we crossed the Ohio border and every mile we drove closer to “home” I found myself feeling better and better. We pulled into the campground and were able to get settled pretty quickly. We spent our first evening back hanging out with my parents and my Grandma and eating Donato’s Pizza, a childhood favorite.

We had updated everyone as to our plans of coming back early and, between plans with loved ones and doctor/vet appointments, we had a pretty full calendar. We use an app that shares information between John’s phone and mine that lets us see one calendar that we can both add things to and it has been a lifesaver many times. These next 4 weeks were absolutely no exception.

The first week, I had dinner with my friend Donna (who I had met when we owned our bookstore back in 2013) at Red Oak Pub in Newark. We also hung out at my cousin Heather’s house and got to spend time with her husband, Obie, and her two girls. We met up with John’s best friend, Megan, and her wife, Andrea, for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Huli Huli in Powell-they have AMAZING cocktails and delicious lobster rolls.

John and I also managed to squeeze in a trip to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for a special night-time event called “Unextinct” which uses projected light shows to display extinct and endangered animals in a really creative way. They had also put up several amazing pieces of art in the tunnel connecting the two halves of the zoo and lit them with blacklights. We even got to pet an echidna- she was so sweet!

I served as a docent at the zoo from 2013 until 2019 and was employed there from 2014 to 2020 and made countless trips there throughout my entire childhood. Some of the best friends I have ever had in my life were people that I had met there-coworkers who became like family to me.

Our second week in town included even more friends and family time, in addition to some vet visits for the critters. We cooked out with my parents, had John’s uncle and his girlfriend over to the campground for a picnic and I got to meet my friends Liz and Jesse for sushi at a cool restaurant where you pick your food off of a conveyor belt that runs next to all of the tables and a robot server brings your drinks.

My sister-in-law Cassie took me out for a fun “Sister Day”. We played games at a huge arcade (Scene 75 at Tuttle Crossing Mall) including putt putt, ski ball, carnival style games and more for hours. It felt just like being a kid again.

Our visit also happened to coincide with the birthday of my cousin Alex’s youngest daughter. We got to see my aunt, uncle, grandma, and a ton of cousins! John absolutely exhausted himself playing softball with the kids.

John’s aunt Michelle and uncle William and his grandparents came to camp with us for a few days, too. We hung out around the campfire each night and went out to dinner with them twice (once at The Grainery and once at Der Dutchman, both in Plain City).

I got to have a couple breakfast dates with friends Denise and Marge and my cousin Heather, and went Top Golfing with our friend Chris (who we have known for SOOO LONG – he was even a groomsman in our wedding!). We also finally got to have “Christmas” with John’s mom and sister (instead of sending gifts in the mail we just wait until we are back in town).

We were very fortunate to be in town during the Columbus Arts Festival as well. This is a yearly event in downtown Columbus that we really enjoyed for several years that we lived in the area. They shut down a section of downtown and have several streets that are lined with art and craft vendors, food trucks, and more. We always go and have a blast picking out new artwork to decorate our home. We limited ourselves to prints only this time instead of originals because we are trying to cut costs. We ended up getting several pieces for ourselves and a few for gifts, too. We also got to eat at one of our favorite Columbus area festival food stands, Island Noodles, and I got a Pina Colada sno-cone from Kona Ice (my favorite summertime treat).

They also had several music stages setup and we arrived just in time to see our vet, Dr. Thompson, perform with her tap group! We also found the booth for the soap business that is owned by our friend Austi and her husband Ryan. Austi had gone home with their son but we bought a few bars of soap from her husband and chatted for a while.

And that’s how we filled out first three weeks at “home”. The time definitely FLEW by so quickly. We hadn’t been up to much of our typical adventuring but it had been wonderful to be surrounded by people that we love and to revisit places that we special to us. We found ourselves with only a week left in town and still so much to try to fit in!