Number of Miles Driven: 362

States Driven Through: Ontario, Michigan 

Hours Driven: ~6.25 hours


We got an early start and packed up the campsite efficiently. We sent the kids to the playground while we loaded everything up and they ran into Olivia and Connor again. Andrew really wanted maple syrup so we bought some at the park store on the way out and we were on the road by 9:15 am.  The drive to Kalamazoo was fairly nondescript. We crossed the boarder at Blue Water Bridge and took the north route to Kalamazoo. At the border, the patrolman asked Michael “Citizenship?” and he said “Yes” to which the patrolman flatly responded “Yes is not a country.”

There was a smoke warning from the Canadian wildfires and the drive was certainly “foggy.” At first we thought it was smog from Detroit, but the further we drove from Detroit the more we realized it was smoke from the fires.

We played a round of Shotgun – Carolyn’s been requesting nonstop – and that was a lot of fun. One of the questions was “Who would you want to be stranded on an island with?” Carolyn immediately said Dani as did Andrew. Dani said “Carolyn” and Matthew had his pointed at Carolyn. When I commented that I was surprised Matthew picked Carolyn, he said “Oh, I thought you said who would I want to be stranded on an island.” It gave everyone a good laugh and Carolyn was a good sport about it. 

We also played a couple of rounds of family road trip trivia – the first round was sports (me and Michael tied for the win) and the second round was Little Mermaid trivia. Michael confidently said he was an expert at Little Mermaid, but Carolyn was up for the challenge. Sure enough, Michael won, but Carolyn was a close second and everyone else was a couple of points behind them.

We stopped in Ann Arbor for a quick tour through Michigan's campus. There was SO much construction but we explored the quad and went to the M Den for some gear. Andrew bought a hockey puck and decided that's what he would start collecting. I bought myself at hat, Dani got yellow (or maize?) and blue pom-pom scrunchie and Carolyn bought a Michigan key chain. Of course, we sought out the Psychology building and it was top-of-the-line. I'm used to Davie Hall, so anything would be better, but this was state of the art. We drove by the Big House, but scaffolding was all around it because construction, so we didn't get a great view. 



Andrew was so afraid we'd get in trouble for writing on the board in the classroom, so Michael wrote "Andrew was here" on the top board

Checking out the Psychology Bldg Lecture Hall


We found the ONLY parking spot that could hold both the van and the uhaul at the top level of the parking deck. Michael was quite proud :-)

On the way out of Ann Arbor, we stopped by Homes Brewery because they had some top rated sours and beers, but then we continued on to the Franks' house and arrived at 5:35 after grabbing Michael's favorite - Qdoba.  It was so good to see old friends who we hadn’t seen in a long time. The kids (especially Dani) immediately hit it off with their girls (Riley – 7, Harper – 4 [almost 5], and Casey – 2). 

I don't remember if that's Riley or Harper being the Olaf Queen

Andy showed us the basement and the kids were in heaven. There was a gymnastic bar, gymnastics rings, trampoline, swinging hammock, foam pit, etc – so that kept them entertained for most of the night. Dani preferred to try on every single princess dress they had, and she, Riley, and Harper put on a show for everyone.

We spent the evening catching up with Andy. Brianna had a work trip and wouldn’t be home until the next day. We were pleased to hear the move to NC was still on the table. We called it an early night because Casey hadn’t been sleeping well; however, we stayed up another hour or so taking advantage of the wifi to finish off a little bit of work – I still needed to post grades because my secure connection hadn’t been working with my hotspot.