Cousins - UP Vacation Part 3

#23 on my list is to spend some time with my cousins. I worked on this while in the UP. I think about 7 of us were there (including my siblings) so that enabled cousin time.  Most of my time was spent with Paul Jr. he's the cousin that is the same age as me so we were buddies growing up.  It was also good to spend some time with him as well as with Sara, Kelly, Tim, Colleen.  Anyhow here are a few of the "Cousins" pictures.  
Lunch - Thea & Paul and Rachel, and Kelly and Momo

Grandpa and Sara

Tim

Kelly and Paul and I grilling - I was the Cheese assistant.  Which is a super important role where one puts cheese on burgers.   I know impressive.  Kelly was just our entertainment.

Tim and Taylor (not a cousin)

Best of Life Videos July - July July July!

July's video is up!  Songs are "July July July" by Decemberists and "This is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan.   To view all the monthly videos you can click here.   You can also view the video here YouTube by clicking here.

#40 See the Sunrise - UP Vacation Part 1

#40 on my list this year was to see the Sunrise in the UP - usually I miss it for one reason or another.  So Thea, Mom and I said - let's do it day one so at least that way we can do a "take 2".  We decided the night before that the sandstone areas would be a good place to go since they are on the East side of the Keewanaw Peninsula. 

We get up at like 5:30. 

Toss on swim suits and clothes.

Drive like crazy people to the sandstone.  

It's like 25 minutes from our cabin it seems to take forever.

I'm terrified we missed the sunrise already.

We pass 7 deer I think it was.

We pick out a pullout spot.

The sky looks like this...

This is when I start to panic that we will miss it because of that tree bump out.  

Bummed we walk on the beach hoping to find a spot to see it.

And then what's this...

Huzzah!

We have not missed it! 

There's Mr. Sun.

I do a happy dance.

Snap a million pictures.

Video tape the rising sun.

So I run and take a dip in the water. 

Okay so I didn't run into that ice bath water.

I walked so I didn't freeze or slip on sandstone.

But the new swim team members - me and thea did go for a dip.

It was perfect and beautiful. 

Even better when we followed it with picking berries for 30 minutes that resulted in some good jam.

Ride a Train #6

So I rode my train #6 actually after the 4th of July but you know sometimes it takes a while to blog about things.  I took the train from Indy to Chicago which is rather inexpensive it was all of $19 for a one-way which is much cheaper than gas in my SUV and it too me right smack into the middle of the city, sadly there wasn't a train home when I needed it though the options for trains are few and far between and if you need to get somewhere at a special time you'll likely need to take the bus instead.   Several things to note about train travel from Indy  - 

• It's not fast it took something like 6 hours to get from Indy to Chicago driving it would have been 3
• Citizens of Indy don't know how trains work - literally they didn't know they could get on the train
• Union Terminal in Indy is in such a sad state for somethign that used to be a transport hub it's kind of depressing
• Random homeless people my pass out cold and fall hard next to you in the terminal (you won't know what to do)
• Amtrak smells of disenfectant
• They provide plugs in the trains
• The "conductor" (or so I call him)  is very knowledgeable
• Dining cars are not always open - so I could not get a cocktail at 7am :(
• Seats are comfortable & recline and not many people ride so you can have two!  (Better than coach on a plane)

Overall though  my train ride was fun it was kind of relaxing to be on a roadtrip and be able to paint my nails, chat on the phone, and nap.  I think I might like to take another train sometime as well, when I have lots of extra time - but I want it to come with a hop off hop on pass so I can get off at random places. 

Assateague Beach How I Love Thee (Jones and Co Family Vacay Part 6)

On my big 52 list I had visit new National Parks - #17 (now I just need to visit a second or third). Well when the opportunity presented itself on Family Vacay I jumped at the chance. And as it turns out Assateague Island's beaches are my favorite kind of beaches aka water + sand + a few people + beautiful scenery minus the commercialism. It was oh so lovely. And as an added bonus our cousins Stevie and Dylan were camping nearby and we got to have dinner and play in the waves with them. I would love to go back sometime and camp there too.  Anyhow some photos all taken with me iPhone...