"Another big piece of metal on the track..."

We tried on our redneck shoes tonight and hooted and hollered at a real honest to goodness demolition derby.  We went to the Chelsea Community Fair with Curtis, Mitch and Allison to grab dinner and a little bit of entertainment. Besides being taunted by the typical carnival hawkers, we had good pizza, great hotdogs and tasty pretzels with various pops, but we had to hurry to grab our seats in the stands before the 7:30 start of the Figure Eight Demolition Derby.  I must say, this pastime is way more entertaining than it should be.  Even the skeptics among us were laughing raucously by the 5th round.  Yes, the 5th round.  In fact, there were eight rounds and one finale, all of which were entertaining enough to keep us in the uncomfortable aluminum bleachers until nearly 10:00.  We saw smoke, blown tires, sparks and, yes, even fire.  Every time a bumper, or some other conspicuous car part would fall off, the announcer would blare a siren and make the cars stop mid-race so that the referees (is that what they're called?) could run on and retrieve it… “Hold up, hold up!  Another big piece of metal on the track!”  On the way out we stopped to say hello to the cows (they were lowing), the goats (they were eating their pens) and the sheep (they are really noisy), and we’ll call it a considerably enjoyable night.  One question remains…are demolition derbies endangered because the new cars are all fiberglass? What will we demolish in derbies twenty years from now?!?!?

Wine country in Oregon...

For one final full day we are a country apart.  Jon played the piano at church this morning then went to work for several hours before going home to clean because he's such a wonderful husband.  Cortney got up and had brunch with relatives before touring a couple of vineyards, and wineries for tastings.  Oregon is known for their Pinot Noir, a vibrant red that we both like a lot.  Though she didn't bring back any wine, she did bring back a pair of Reidel Burgundy glasses, which of course means we will have to find a good burgundy to try them out with.  Good thing we are going to a tasting here in Ann Arbor next week!  Mom H also got Jon a fantastic T-shirt, so that he wouldn't be left out.  It is a "wineocerous" shirt, sporting a rhinocerous enjoying the finer wines of life.  Something we would think he should wear to that tasting next week, if it wasn't a white shirt.  Ah well, maybe to the zoo instead!  Speaking of which, we haven't been to the zoo in several weeks, which means that a visit is overdue as soon as Cortney returns.

Still apart...

Cortney went to her family reunion today, Jon went to work.  Not really fair, is it?  In Portland the weather was warm and sunny while 50 or so Slaytons were reunited, or were meeting for the first time.  Cortney and her mom photographed each family and catalogued names of people they had just learned and didn't want to forget later.  There was a lot of good food, and there were lots of stories to share.  Family reunions, in general, are fantastic and intriguing.  It is difficult to wrap your mind around the idea that you are, if somewhat distantly, related to all of these people.  It's also neat to think about what actions your ancestors took that separated everyone - Cortney's great-grandmother moved her family from Wisconsin to Oregon when her grandmother was a teenager.  Lucky for us, her grandmother then moved back to Michigan to marry her grandfather, but much of the rest of the family remained on the west coast... and the rest is history.  If nothing else, our genealogy research has gotten a big kick this weekend!  And there's only two more days to go...

A desperate lengthening of days

Yesterday was our last vacation day. Woke up; eggs and cheese for breakfast; state park beach in the morning; read more book on the sand; heading for home.  Home?  Who ever wants to go home from vacation?  While laying on the beach we concocted a scheme to extend the trip a bit… and add one more national park to our belts before our annual pass runs out (next month).  After lunching on the deck with Lonnie we hit the road at 2:30 and headed for Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  It was a great stop and worth the extra time… we haven’t ever seen so much sand in one place.  And we got there as the day was waning, so everything was bathed in an evening shade of mystery.  We didn’t stay for sunset.  As it was we didn’t get home until one in the morning, and four plus hour drive felt like a real crawl.  Just as a note… Tim Horton’s is a good bet if you ever need coffee after midnight while on the road.

Wedding #2

Woo hoo!  Another day without being lost!  We got up early this morning and made it home by about noon thirty, which was good because then we got to take a nap before heading out for the second wedding of the weekend:  Kate and Alerk’s.  Once again, a fabulous wedding!  Alerk’s family is Indian and many of them wore traditional clothing and his cousins did a traditional dance after dinner.  Both ceremony and reception were held at the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, which is a wonderful house steeped in history.  It felt a little like The Great Gatsby; dancing in the ballroom and spilling out onto the terrace and towards the bar.  The only real difference?  The Indian techno music!