My sister is a Badass.

Effing fearless. My sister is so kick ass, you have no idea.

Riding a four wheeler (ATV for islanders) is like riding a bike- you never forget how, but you remember precisely how terrifying it was learning how to do it the first time if you haven't been on one in a while. Now throw the fact that my sister is the definition of badass-afraid-of-nothing-speed-demon and she's in the lead, and you have one white knuckle re-acquaintance with your ride like you have nothing to lose skills.






But, it resulted in gorgeous photos of our sledding hill and the places we roamed around in as kids.

Woohoo!!!

And what is a trip up north without hotdogs and marshmallows I ask you?

Steve Fryling, Builder of Fire, God Among Men. 

No seriously. This happened earlier in the day.

Oh, yeah, I might have jarred my ankle while zipping around on the 4wheeler, so Dad got me an ice pack. Which was really one of those cold eye cover things but who cares, it smelled like lavender and felt good. We need a new first aid kit up here though, there aren't any tensor bandages I discovered...

I love them so. 

After dinner it was off to the beach to watch the sun set over lake Michigan. It continues to amaze me how diverse and beautiful my home landscape is. 

A happy family!

And then the sun did this amazing thing where it set into the mist layer above the water, and we sat in silence, watching the slow and beautiful disappearing act. 

I had such peace in my heart. Nothing mattered but being where I was, as I was, who I was. And even that didn't matter, in the fading light of day on the edge of a bottomless lake and an endless sky. It was enough simply to witness and to be. 

The ride back in the Jeep was hella cold tho. 

Goodnight everyone. More adventure tomorrow!

Billy Joel and the Wine Tastings

Forget water torture- you want to break someone, cover them in bug bites. I swear to god I am going to go mad. Stark raving mad. 

I tried to go for a walk this morning. These are the two pictures I took before the deer flies sent me running for the house. The one above is the play cabin my grandfather built for us when I was little. It's so tight and dry in there we could have slept in it if we had wanted to. I think we did one night. It was long enough ago I don't remember clearly. 

The way is clear, the light is good, I have no fear nor no one should...

This morning we...did nothing. Nothing.

It.

Was.

GLORIOUS.

And you all know how incapable I generally am of lazing about and doing nothing. Well guess what people, TODAY I DID. 

Until about 1:00, when we all piled into the car to go wine tasting!

All of the places in this area are this cute. I love it.

Our first stop was Boathouse Vineyards in Leland,which was bright, sunny, and beautifully appointed. Our friendly if a little awkward sommelier was attentive and informative, and we had a great time tasting and testing delicious wines. I found a winner I liked here called "Knot too sweet", a medium white. 

Dorks. But very classy and sophisticated dorks. 

I killed off one of the bottles, and the sommelier gave me the cork as a souvenir. 

Note to friends- as it turns out, I don't much like reds, but I like medium sweet whites and roses. 

Next we went to a really cool little thrift shop where mom and I picked up some fun clothes, and then we moseyed on to a really stunning winery, stable and inn called Black Star Farms.

Gorgeous, no? The inside was too. 

Hmm, how many have you had Leigh?
So many.

I wasn't as impressed with the wines there, but we had a lot of fun and ate just a silly amount of oyster crackers. We did have one more stop to make on the way home though...

And there was pie. 

Beautiful, glorious pie. 

And some Catan, which mom won handily twice much to the bafflement of my father and I who almost gave up on logic, reason, tactic and strategy as ways to win at games. Seriously, the woman has all the luck.

And now I will hunker down on the couch to get some shut eye while the world trundles on around me. Unfortunately, we're here too early for the Leonid shower, but the stars out here in the woods away from the world are even brighter and more stunning than I remember them. They make me think of late night walks in Shawnigan Lake, re-learning the constellations on a quiet road. There is a skylight above my bed in the loft- I fall asleep watching the celestial dance above my head, and think my deep thoughts. 

Until the morrow. 

Calomine, Calomine, Calomine lotion...

Bloody buggering hell.

I am covered, head to toe, in bug bites. I am a miserable squirming 5 feet of itch, bumps, and scratch. And the best part is, we don't know why. The Cabin gets used by a lot of different branches of the family, some who make long journeys that involve hotel rooms to get here. So in case it's bedbugs, Leigh is ditching her nice comfy bed tonight for the couch. Damn and blast.

But yesterday!

Yesterday we were the water Frylings. The morning started out with a proper Sunday breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon with coffee and all the fixings. Then I managed to get most of the blog post from the day before dealt with while everyone was off the wifi, and we packed up to go to Leelenau! 

We travel in style. 

Top down, open road y'all!

Leelenau isn't so much a tourist trap as a historical tourist catch-and-release program. If you wanted a picture perfect coastal Michigan town, this is it. I only took pictures of the historic district, but the houses and shops are really beautiful too. If we go back this week I'll take some of those. 

Historic Fishtown! Two hundred years old and still fishy.

Who's the guy in the obnoxious shirt blocking my-- oh, hi dad.

The Fryling Womyn. 

This is a Duckboat! It goes on the road AND in the lake!

After bopping around town and enjoying the old familiar sights, we went out to the swimming point. The water was perfect, clear as a bell, the sand soft and warm. 

Perfect.

Danielle, my sister, has a really cool little waterproof camera thing- she took the rest of the pictures you'll see. 

MERMAID!

Mer MAN!

After our swim we went home, had some tasty brats for lunch (br-ah-ts as in the sausage, not small ill mannered children) and re-packed for our next adventure, kayaking on Crystal River. 

It was a very Lord of the Rings type of kayak trip, with little sun,spooky dead trees and silence. Except for the crashing sounds of mom getting stuck in an embankment, or dad picking a fight with a tree. 

Afterward, we feasted on turkey sandwiches in the park for dinner before packing it in and going back to Cedar for ice cream before calling it a night. Which I didn't do til much much later, since inspiration struck and I got further on a chapter I'm writing, and caught up with some friends. But all in all, a fun filled, packed day of awesome. 

Michigan cherry trees in the evening light.