Episode 59: April- June 2012

Highlights of the quarter:

• Vacation in Myrtle Beach;
• Birthdays and anniversary celebrations;
• Weekend trip to Scottsdale, Arizona;
• Nicole and Carol visit Midland;
• Weekend in Chicago with Deb’s dad.

Although we had a very mild winter this year, the seasonal change to spring was as beautiful as ever – there is something so majestic about the first sounds of birds chirping in the morning and the trees filling out with green leaves all over again.  Those sounds kicked off a busy spring for us. 

Spring has become synonymous with event season here in Midland.  We attended the local Chefs for Shelterhouse fundraising event where local chefs prepare stations of tasting dishes to raise money for a local women’s and children’s shelter.  This was our second time attending the event, and once again they did a great job.

We attended our first ever crawfish boil – a southern tradition that brings crawfish, friends, and some very large pots together.  The crawfish are put into a pot along with some potatoes, corn, and seasonings.  Once they are boiled and drained, the crawfish are dumped onto a large table where everyone jumps in to peel and eat.  We love food traditions!

I opened up a diversity event that Dow hosted in which we took a group to see the live play, Laramie Project, followed by a discussion with the actors and director.  The best part of the event was that, thanks to the generosity of some of our employees and the open mindedness of two local teachers, we were able to host 30 students from two local high schools at the play.  (I cannot think of a better way to teach children about the impact of bullying.)

We attended the gala unveiling of the new conductor of the Midland Symphony Orchestra.  The great unveiling was done very well – a blend of music and humor and a Q&A session with the Czech-born conductor, Bohuslav Rattay.

We spent a weekend in northern Michigan in the town of Petoskey with our friends, Ed and Michelle.  Neal and Ed took advantage of the warm April and played a round of golf while Michelle and I hiked, lunched, and explored the town.

For Easter weekend, we stayed in town, catching up with friends.  The culmination of the weekend was a fantastic Easter brunch at Ed and Michelle’s house, where Ed tested a new method for cooking a perfect egg in his latest kitchen gadget, a sous vide water bath.  Delicious.

In early May, Neal and I spent a long weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  We had planned this a while ago as an early wedding anniversary treat to ourselves.  While there, we discovered some great restaurants, hung out on the beautiful sandy beaches, and just relaxed for four days.  You can’t beat the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a nice little getaway.

The following weekend, we took yet another long weekend trip, this time to Scottsdale, Arizona.  Our friends, Steve and Kristie, recently bought their pre-retirement house in Scottsdale, and graciously invited us along with four other friends for an un-official housewarming weekend.  It turned out to be a great weekend.  After arriving late on Thursday night, we got caught up and explored Steve and Kristie’s beautiful house and the girls admired Kristie’s amazing design aesthetic.  The following day, the ladies headed to breakfast followed by a day at a spa, while the men spent a sweaty, grueling day mountain biking.  The men had better stories to share from their adventures – complete with the visual of Steve picking cactus prickles out of Neal’s leg after he and his bike tipped into a cactus bush.  Ouch!  That evening, we headed to an outdoor bar overlooking Camelback Mountain for a few pre-dinner drinks, and then went to dinner at Tarbell’s, where we had many more laughs, a discussion with the chef (a past winner of Iron Chef America), and had a chance meeting with the lead guitarist for the band, Gin Blossoms, who just happened to be having dinner there that night.  The following day we rented a car and a driver and were driven to the picturesque town of Sedona, where we celebrated Kristie’s birthday (complete with her favorite Dairy Queen ice-cream cake) and had a picnic at the foot of one of the mountains before heading off on a long hike.  The day ended back in Scottsdale with a fantastic culinary experience at The Mission – a Latin fusion restaurant that surpassed everyone’s expectations in taste, creativity, and overall dining experience.  We have Ed to thank for the restaurant find – it’s one that we highly recommend to others visiting the area.  The next morning we barely had time for breakfast together before we all headed back to the airport for our flights back to Michigan.  It was a great weekend – a perfect blend of great company, beautiful scenery, wonderful food, and relaxation.

Later in May, my girlfriend from Australia, Nicole, visited us during her three-week-long adventure in the U.S.  Nicole spent four days with us, and along with relaxing, we showed her some of the best sights in Michigan.  We took a road trip north to show her the amazing and expansive sight of Lake Michigan, which included a stop in Traverse City.  She also got to travel south and explore one of our favorite towns, Ann Arbor.  I was so happy she was able to make the trip to see us, meet some of our friends, and spend some time with us in our home.  There is nothing like hanging out with great friends.

The final weekend in May was the Memorial Day holiday, and after all our travels in the month, we chose to spend the long weekend at home.  To celebrate my birthday, Neal planned a day of surprises.  We started with a picnic on the beach at Lake Huron, and ended with a fantastic surprise birthday dinner with 10 of our friends at a new restaurant, Camille’s on the River, in Mount Pleasant.  I could not have had a better birthday!

The Memorial Day weekend did have one piece of bad news.  Neal had been training for the past two months for a long, multi-day bike ride (300 miles in total) in June.  Unfortunately, over the weekend he managed to injure his left hamstring (we later found out that he partially tore it.)  The bad part of the story is that the injury came just two weeks before the 300-mile bike ride was to begin.  Needless to say, he was crushed that he was unable to ride.  We still made the most of it and spent a weekend in Holland, Michigan where the ride was supposed to end.  Our friends, Ed and Michelle, pushed ahead and did the ride, and we cheered them on to the finish line.  The good news is that after a few weeks of physical therapy, Neal was back in the saddle and training again for the next big ride – and the donations many of you sent in (thank you!) still went to a great cause – finding a cure for MS. 

June was a busy month for both of us at work, but we still managed to get in a number of adventures.  We met my dad for a weekend in Chicago, as he was on his way through to St. Louis for work.  Dad was a good sport in our culinary adventures.  We had a sensational tasting menu at Sprout, a restaurant from an up and coming chef that was recently featured in a televised cooking competition (Top Chef) that we enjoy watching.  We also had a nice dinner at Graham Elliot, another well-known restaurant in Chicago, but not as good as Sprout in our opinion.  There was a mandatory trip to the Apple and Garmin stores where Dad helped stimulate the U.S. economy, a stroll through a local art fair, a boat trip along the Chicago river to admire the downtown architecture, a walk through Lincoln Park Zoo, and a spontaneous Segway tour of Chicago’s downtown lakeshore.  The highlight of the trip may have been the Segway tour – it was a great way to see the city from a new vantage point, and the Segways are just plain fun to ride.

We had a low-key celebration for Neal’s birthday – just the way he wanted it to be.  He and I enjoyed dinner at a local restaurant to celebrate the evening itself, and we spent the remainder of his birthday weekend catching up with friends at a farewell party for some friends who are being transferred for a few years to Brazil and an evening with friends at their lake house on Sanford Lake.

The final adventure of the quarter came when my sister, Carol, visited us for a few days.  We were so excited to have her see where we live and spend a few days with us.  She and I took the mandatory road trip to see Lake Michigan and spent the afternoon hanging out in Traverse City.  Carol was able to meet some of our friends, and she even had the chance to explore some of the town.  Then, the three of us took a road trip to Chicago for the weekend.  That trip was partly out of necessity, as Carol was scheduled to fly back to Denmark out of Chicago, but also a great excuse for her to get one more city in on her maiden voyage to the US.  Once again, some great culinary adventures awaited – we went to the hip restaurant/lounge, Hub 51, on our first night.  On the second night, we treated ourselves to quite a dining experience at Moto, a restaurant known for its wacky and inventive approach to food.  We sat in the kitchen, which looked more like a laboratory, and watched as chemistry and food collided through a sensational 10-course tasting menu (highly recommended).  The rest of the weekend was spent walking and exploring the sights of downtown Chicago and the nearby suburbs.  Given the great experience we had with Dad, we decided to once again take a Segway tour of downtime, but this time we did a tour that focused on architectural highlights of the city.  It was so wonderful to spend time with Carol, and a great way to end the busy month of June.

The summer is now well and truly here, and we’re looking forward to the many adventures to come.  We hope you are having some great adventures of your own, too.  Until next time, take care!