Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet.......

......Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet.  That is just one of the many songs I put onto the mixed CD's I made for my Memorial Day Weekend trip up to the cottage.  I think the last mixed CD I made might have been in college but those were never any good.  I am really impressed with my country mix as well as the CD I titled Good and Random.

Country Mix

1 - Alright - Darius Rucker

2 - Whatever It Is - Zac Brown Band

3 - Where The Blacktop Ends - Keith Urban

4 - Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band

5- Play Something Country - Brooks and Dunn

6 - Toes - Zac Brown Band

7 - Redneck Yatch Club - Craig Morgan

8 - Knee Deep (ft Jimmy Buffet) - Zac Brown Band

9 - What Was I Thinkin - Dierks Bentley

10 - Come Back Song - Darius Rucker

11 - Free - Zac Brown Band

12 - Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson

13 - If You're Going Through Hell - Rodney Atkins

14 - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk - Trace Adkins

15 - I Don't Have to be Me Till Monday - Steve Azar

16 - Where The Boat Leaves From - Zac Brown Band

17 - Down on The Farm - Tim McGraw

Good & Random

1 - Black Betty - Ram Jam

2 - Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People

3 - Kids - MGMT

4 - Nothing to Worry About - Peter Bjorn and John

5 - Toto - Africa

6 - Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

7 - Rolling In The Deep - Adele

8 - Home - Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

9 - My Body - Young The Giant

10 - The Cave - Mumford & Sons

11 - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

12 - Young Blood - The Naked and Famous

13 - Call And Return - Hellogoodbye

14 - Psycho Killer - The Talking Heads

15 - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - The Flaming Lips

16 - Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip

17 - Bamboo - The Hard Lessons

This kept me jamming out on my five and half hours of driving.  Now I didn't drive straight through the whole way.  I made a stop in Grand Rapids to hang out with my friend Kristin who was in town for the weekend.  We hung out and caught up and went to dinner at Beltline Bar.  They have really good food but the best part of that place might be their website http://4gr8food.com/.  After dinner we went out to Beaners (Yes I still call it Beaner's and always will) http://www.beaners.com/ will still take you to the correct website so really there is no reason to change.  I had a delicious Iced Mocha Caramel before making a trip down to Meijer to stock up on a few things for the weekend.

I finally made it to the cottage around 1am after all my detours (which were so worth it).  Saturday was kind of  a work day.  There wasnt much to do but the weather was over cast and a little chilly so it worked.  Put the 3 boat lifts in the water and went to the Houghton Lake Art Fair.  I am not one for art fairs but I did spend a good chunck of change there.  I bought a really cool quarter with the Great Lakes cut out.

I also bought a Kubb set.  It is a great game that I am sure we will play a lot of at the cottage.  Yard games are big in my family.  We have Cornhole (which I finished building this weekend), Bocce Ball, and now Kubb.

Saturday night I continued my tradition of seeing every Pirates of the Caribbean at The Pines Theatre.  This is one of the coolest places ever to see a movie.  Click on the link and take a look at the pictures under the tour icon.  It looks just like an old hunting lodge except you watch movies there.  They have 1 screen and during peak tourist season they have 2 showings a night otherwise its just 1.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the lake just hanging out with the neighbors and doing little tasks to finish opening up the cottage and getting ready for summer!  The best part of the weekends are the bonfires with smores! 

I used to hate burnt marshmellows when I was kid and then through high school and college I would only eat them burnt.  I have gone full circle "almost".  I prefer non burnt marshmellows now but I will still eat them if they are burnt. 

Being able to go up north to the cottage has been a great way to stay relaxed through out life.  It is a perfect escape from city life our to an area where there is very little light polution so you can see the stars.  You can hear the sounds of the water rolling up over the shore and you can watch sunsets and sunrises over the water.  Yes, a boat might be required to see the sunsets from where our cottage is but there is nothing like a booze cruise on the pontoon with some wine that says the living is easy!  I can not wait till I get to go back next.  The only problem living in Chicago is that its 5.5 hours away and there are so many things to do in Chicago over the summer, but I think I make a perfect balance of doing all of it.

Prepping my Hobie for the season!