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After moving completely to the new apartment, I embarked on my “birthday trip” with my parents and a friend. It was about 7 pm when we finished moving and dinner. We drove through Toledo and Cleveland (both in Ohio) to our first stop in West Springfield, Pennsylvania.

The next morning, we woke up to quite beautiful scenery. The place we stayed was in a meadow like area. Our room opened to a beautiful field where we could see school buses driving down the road far away. We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel in West Springfield and drove through Erie (Pennsylvania), Buffalo (New York) to Old Fort Niagara. It overlooks Lake Ontario and played an important role in the struggles between France, England and USA. It is more than 300 years old.

After visiting the Fort, we were searching for a place to eat dinner.

We came to a small town called Youngstown. There were not very many people on the streets. After roaming around for a bit, we found a street with several restaurants and it was clear that this road is the “happening place” of Youngstown. After considering for a place to eat, we decided on “Apple Granny”. We decided to go inside.

I had never seen a restaurant with that many people. It was packed. We then knew that all of Youngstown was in this restaurant. Ironically for Youngstown, it was difficult to find people less than 60 years old.

After waiting quite some time, we were called inside. Food was good and we ate a lot. Afterwards, we headed to the American side of Niagara falls for the sunset.

Since my lease ends in May, I was looking for a new place to sublet this summer. I am uncertain on where life will take me next, career wise, so I decided to stay in Ann Arbor for the summer.

I found a sublet for a few months. My parents helped me move to the new place. I sold or gave away a lot of my belongings since I hate transporting things back and forth.

I bought my first microwave in Summer 2001. I didn’t know how to operate one, so I remember asking my roommate about it. Yes, it was simpler times.
When I moved to Michigan in 2003, I decided to ship the microwave. I am not sure why I did that, given my preference to traveling (and moving) light. However, it had a dent on the top while in transit. It worked well nonetheless.

I decided to give it away since my sublet place has a microwave. The last day of my move, I wanted to heat something, so I put the microwave. It didn’t work. It worked properly the previous day. Unsure if this was a temporary situation, and not having time to work on it, I kept it near our dumpster where people keep things they want to give away.

It was almost like it knew the time has come for us to part.

We went to the Shedd Aquarium next day. This was my second trip there. We went to a 4D show of Planet Earth. We were wondering what the fourth dimension was. The environment of the theatre was set so that it simulates the show. For example, when the whale exhales all the water out of its hole on the back, we would all get sprayed with water. When there are snakes on the ground, we would feel snakes on our legs. It was an amazing experience.

Near the aquarium.

The last day, we said goodbye to Samanthi (who left for Hawaii that day!) and drove back to Ann Arbor. There was a huge traffic jam on the highway that delayed our arrival time, but it was a fun trip.

We decided to go on a walking tour of Chicago. First, we took the train to the city, and then walked for at least five miles that day. We ate lunch at Noodles & Company and walked more. We went to the Millennium Park as well as the Navy Pier. Finally, dead tired, came back home, ate good food again and snoozed.

At the Millennium Park.

The next day, we woke up all well rested. The cabin was perfect. After breakfast, we started driving south on the shores of Lake Michigan. We drove past small towns of Onekama, Manistee and Ludington. These towns were located in very picturesque and secluded areas. Sometimes we would not see another vehicle or a person for ten or fifteen minutes. However, there were many beautiful cemeteries along the road. With no one seems to be around, have all of them passed away?

Around lunch time, we arrived in Holland. Their famous tulip festival ended a few days before we went. We walked to the central location where the festival would normally occur. It was very peaceful, unlike during the festival.

We ate lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant. It was pretty cheap and tasted fine. Then we proceeded to Chicago. We arrived during rush hour, but I asked GPS directions without highways. Because of that, we drove through the beautiful Lake Shore Drive. When we got near my friend Samanthi’s place, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the highway. It was a nightmare, but fortunately only lasted until the next exit, which was only a few minutes.

Samanthi lives in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. Very peaceful and beautiful. The only problem is their parking. Not that parking spaces don’t exist, there are plenty. But, the town requires parking permissions (free) before you park your car during night or day. There is a number to call for night parking, and another one for day parking, and a third of extended parking. It was quite confusing and like the parking permit operator told me “Maam, it’s not Oak Park if the parking is not confusing”.

Samanthi, being a great cook, had made a few dishes for dinner. We ate a lot and crashed.

We drove to Traverse City, and then to Sleeping Bear Dunes. The entire route was parallel to the Lake Michigan. Most of the time, we couldn’t see the Lake, but the surroundings were picturesque. Moreover, there were hardly any other vehicles on the road, so we drove for long periods at a time without seeing a vehicle or a person. Even a random dog was hard to find. Once we were driving on a road with trees on both sides, very calming. Suddenly, I saw a bunch of vehicles parked on the side. There were people around. I slowed down. Perhaps there was a deer doing hoola hoops and we need to buy tickets to see it? No, it was a restaurant on the road side. Apparently a busy one too. In the middle of nowhere.

Once we arrived at the Dunes, we were one of the six vehicles there. Once again it shows that the season hasn’t begun. We climbed a little bit of the Dunes, and decided to head to Frankfort, where we have reservations for overnight stay.

My parents climbing the fist portion of the Dunes.

After another scenic route, we arrived at the “motel” around 5 pm. I had reserved a “cabin” room. It was awesome. We had a full kitchen (nicer than the kitchen in my first apartment in Ann Arbor), living room, bathroom and a bedroom. My parents loved it, which is good. Since it is low season, we didn’t pay much either.

After settling down and befriending the owner’s two cats (I didn’t see the claimed third one), we headed out for dinner. There really isn’t much on “main street” of Frankfort, but for a small town, it was nice. Most places were closed at 6 pm on a Sunday during low season, but we found Dugby’s restaurant. It was on the expensive side (even for Ann Arbor) and only a couple of vegetarian entrees which were not so pricey. I had a potato soup (I thought I ate what tasted like ham, not sure though) and a veggie quesadilla. It was somewhat tasty.

The restaurant.

After dinner, we went to the Lake shore. We waited until 9 pm for the sunset. It was pretty cold towards the end, so we stayed in the car, and I would take dashes out to bravely click away some memories. Then we came back to the cabin and snoozed.

In front of the cabin.

We left Ann Arbor around 9 am. Drove to Charlevoix, which is about 4.5 hours north on the shores of Lake Michigan. It is a tiny dot on a map, but this is my second time visiting the town. There are no parking meters on the road, but there are parking spots. This is a town which sees seasonal visitors, but the season is just beginning. So, we didn’t see very many people. It is also located in the center between the equator and the north pole. Apparently that is important.

We were getting hungry and wanted to eat. Where we parked, there were plenty of shops which sell sweets, but not anything that serves lunch. We saw a Subway restaurant and decided to go. I was looking for more of a small town café, but there was none around and I didn’t want to drive further. The Subway was decorated close to what a gourmet restaurant would be. The cashier was very nice and asked about our journey. Their restrooms were way nicer than any of the university restrooms. I guess even the Subway is nicer in a small town.

My parents went to a sweets shop. They sell salt water taffies. There were a huge variety of taffies. Initially we just wanted to take a look. A minute later, my parents wanted to buy some. And they did.