I'm actually not sorry that I missed writing for a while. My life has been terrible and wonderful and stressful and relaxing since then, and far too extreme to allow me to hop on a computer for anything. Let's see. Where to begin?
Friday the 7th:
Work was insane, with meetings all day, and an all-staff confab at the end of the day. I got nothing done, and couldn't use my computer because I hooked it up so it could be used to demo some software at the meeting. Friday night we performed Witness for the Prosecution and it seemed to go pretty well. I was really happy to get to perform with a clear head, without a runny nose and sore throat. I forget sometimes that I'm actually a capable actress when it's such an uphill battle just to keep from sneezing through a scene. It's so nice to be able to breathe!
Saturday the 8th:
I spent a busy morning and afternoon cleaning up the house and doing laundry in preparation for our trip up north. Then we bought the director's gift, and went to do the closing night of Witness. It seemed to go quite well, with a good turnout. At the end of the show, however, my nameless significant other fell on the stage to pretend he was dead. He always does this. It's in the script. We took our bows, and went out to mingle with the audience, and suddenly one of the actors came running up to me, "Wendy, you have to go to *insert his name here*. You have to see him. " This actor was in a panic, and I didn't know why, so I ran backstage to the dressing rooms. There is my anonymous significant other, ten shades of pale, clutching his side, and looking rather shocky. I had him in the car and on the way to the emergency room in less than five minutes. (I still don't know where most of my makeup and stuff is, because I didn't take time to pack.) It turns out that he fell on the stage and slid, and somehow managed to pick up a two-inch splinter of the stage, which poked through his tweed coat and shirt and undershirt, and lodged itself between his ribs. Only my nameless roommate could manage a splinter this elaborate. We were at the hospital until 4 in the morning while several different people tried to pull it out. It was so buried in there, and the end was broken off, that no one could see it to get ahold of it. Finally they called a surgeon, who cut it open and yanked it out, then decided that it had to be left open, not stitched shut, since it might still have "foreign bodies" in it.
Let me take this opportunity to inform the uninitiated. If you are ever impaled on an object, and it is lodged in your chest and won't come out, you should use the catch-phrase "foreign body" when you describe your symptoms. There really isn't another way to communicate the problem. My roommate tried again and again... but they kept trying to treat him for "abdominal pain". It took a long time for us to make it clear that there was something stuck in there that wouldn't come out.
Anyway, enough for the public service announcement. We had terrific doctors, and great nurses, and I escaped the crack dealer in the waiting room by staying with my unnamed roommate to watch the procedure. I won't get into the gory details. In order to understand the significance of this, you have to perceive that this was 4 a.m. on the day that we were supposed to leave for our vacation, less than 12 hours later. And we still weren't packed.
Sunday the 9th
It's Mother's Day! I got to bed around 5 in the morning, after getting my roommate's pain prescription and answering a hundred concerned messages on our answering machine. I set my alarm for 9 a.m., and dragged myself out at 10, to call everyone else, and start packing. My roommate and fellow traveller was pretty much out of it. He occasionally woke up enough to toss a pair of shorts into his crate, but otherwise spent the day on the couch. (Honestly, I wasn't going to let him do any lifting after what I had seen the night before, anyway.) He stirred to put his fishing gear in the car, too. We went to Rite Aid and equipped ourselves with $80 worth of medical supplies, since we would be caring for an open wound about a hundred miles from anywhere in a dirty camp with no source of purified water other than our little filters.
I got a lovely home-made card from my munchkin for Mother's day, with cut-out flowers on the front, and all sorts of nice thoughts inside. I gave her a hug, and then had to keep packing.
Apparently I was a little comatose too. I found out later that instead of packing my toothpaste and soap, I threw then in my dirty laundry hamper, and I still haven't found the film that I know I bought for my camera. All in all though, I think I did a respectable job packing. Lastly, I tossed my very uncomfortable roommate (who refused to admit he wasn't feeling so well) into the van, and we hit the road.
We picked up the other couple who were camping with us, and drove and drove and drove. I don't think my poor roommate was able to get comfortable that whole first day, but I guess when you consider that he was less than a day out of surgery, he was doing pretty well. He refused to take his pain medication because it was Vicadin, and that's a nasty drug that no one should ever be forced to take. We finally pulled into Straits State Park (Halfway to our final destination) at about 11 p.m., pitched our tent in the dark, and went to sleep. My roommate and I were so tired that we went to bed fully clothed, coats and all.
Monday. The first day of vacation. We made a massive expensive grocery run, and then drove another six hours to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. It was absolutely beautiful, and for the last hour of the drive we didn't see any cars at *all*. We were literally the only people out there other than the rangers. When I went in to register, I found out that we were the first registrants they had had this year. So we picked a beautiful campsite, off in the trees on top of a ledge. About 50 feet down from the ledge was an amazing little stream of crystal-clear water. The whole area was silent, except for the birds and the river, and I finally got to see the stars. There were no people for a hundred miles. I was in heaven. (And my roommate started to become more like himself.) It got very cold up there at night, and I quickly learned to sleep in all of my long-sleeved shirts, layered up, and long johns under my pajama pants under a pair of sweats. I also kept my hat on my head. If you've ever slept out in the cold, you understand!
Tuesday. No such explorations. We decided that we were all interested in seeing NoSuch Location, which is the ruins of an 1850's mining town, deep in the middle of the 60,000 acre park. We were blessed with gentle, sunny daytime weather, and a really great trail. There aren't any signs in the archeological preserve area, except at the trailhead, telling you what you are about to see. So we hiked in, and felt like we were the first people to discover the ruins. Ever. All that remains are the stone foundations, and some miscellaneous artifacts, like old rusty wagon wheels, some machinery parts, and a big stonework mine entrance. We were good kids and didn't climb down into the mine. It was incredible how fast the forsest had buried the settlement, though. It's only a hundred and fifty years later, and much of it is now under the hills. The foundations that remain are covered in lichens and mosses, and there are trees growing throughout that will someday break the buildings apart with their roots. I was awe-stricken by the power of mother nature.
Wednesday We decided to hike up to the Summit Peak Trail and see the view from the highest point in the Porkies. It was a long, uphill hike, with a lot of stairs, but the views were worth it. We could see for miles, and there wasn't a single manmade contraption visible to us at all. Lake Superior was a million shades of blue that day, and I think I got some great pictures. The hike back was even longer, because we decided to take a different trail. It was muddy, and had some steep slopes requiring some careful footwork. Amazingly, no one fell, but I think we hiked a couple miles straight down, and then a couple back up to the trailhead. You see, the Porkies are so big, that you can't just walk to the trailhead. The park is over 25 miles in length. So you drive to the trailhead, and hike out from your car, or you backpack, and keep your camp with you. In light of my roommate's condition, backpacking was out of the question, although he was feeling much better by the Summit Peak trip. I think it was probably a 6-mile day, all things considered, which is pretty good for as out of shape as we are. It also takes a lot of effort, because there is no level ground anywhere in the Porkies, and the slopes are not gentle, they're steep. And muddy. That night it frosted while we slept, and got very very very cold.
Thursday We tackled the Escarpment Trail and went to see the Lake of the Clouds. This was some steep climbing, but the views were gorgeous. We were really pleased at the rustic nature of the trails, throughout the park, and this was no exception. There were rockslides and mudslides and all sorts of challenges, and amazingly, we were allowed to hike right along the edge of the cliff without any sort of fence or barrier to block our view! (Hint: This is no place to take the kiddies.) I'd say we were a few hundred feet up a cliff. We were, of course, all very cautious, but I was proud of myself for not being freaked out about heights like I was as a kid. I actually leaned over the edge to take a picture straight down. (carefully, of course). The Lake of the Clouds is called that because on a calm day, you can see the sky reflected in it so clearly, you can't tell the difference. While we were there, it was windy so that water was a bit choppy, but you could still see the reflection fairly well. After this hike, though, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to town (About a half-hour away by car) and a real dinner. I had a pasty, which was wonderful. They don't mess around with their baking in the U.P... they mean it. This was a tiny little greasy spoon restaurant in a sleepy town which was mostly still closed down for the winter, and it was the best pasty I've ever had. The others enjoyed their dinners, too, though they didn't go for the regional foods.
Friday We went waterfall-hunting. We were also really hoping to see some bears (from a distance of course) before we had to leave... but had no luck on that front. The waterfalls, however, were lovely. I stuck my feet in the water, and it was ice-cold, but clear, and clean-feeling. The rocks in the rivers up there are also incredible. It's hard to find any two of them that are even remotely similar, and many of them have mineral deposits in them that are visible to the naked eye. (For anyone who doesn't know, the U.P. is a great source of copper, and iron ore.) The boys enjoyed skipping rocks, and I enjoyed looking through them for treasures. I didn't keep any though, since I wouldn't want to alter the experience for the next hiker. The trail by the riverbed was funny too, with some major erosion problems. In one place, a huge tree had fallen across a ravine, and rather than move it, they hammered some planks on it to help people cross the ravine. It was like hiking on a balance beam, but it got us there. The waterfalls were intricate and powerful all at once. The complexity of the rock formations under all that churning water must be extreme, but none of us were quite up for the chilly dip it would take to find out. After that, we checked out, I bought a long-sleeved shirt (because I had slept in all of my shirts) and we drove back to the Straits. We had decided that a day at Mackinac would help condition us for the shock of our arrival in civilization on Sunday.
Saturday We hopped on a boat and went to Mackinac Island for a while. It was neat to see the Fort (I don't remember actually doing that before) and the fudge was good as always. We had a bit of a hard time deciding what to do, since we didn't want to spend too much money, and Mackinac can be a ridiculously expensive place to be. By the time we decided to take a carriage tour of the island, it was too late to buy tickets. So we gave up and shopped for a while until the next boat. I bought a pretty dress that I can wear for formal-ish spring and summer events. It's an odd thing to buy on the Island, but they really do have a nice dress shop there, with good prices, believe it or not. I also got a really interesting book, which is the diary of a woman in the old west. I'll tell you about it after I read it. We hopped a boat back to Mackinac City, and went off in search of steaks. We found this great restaurant in a place called "Mackinac Crossing" which is basically a tourist mall. The restaurant was called (I think) the Depot, and the food there was spectacular. The bill was huge, but it was worth every penny. Their staff was excellent, and their jukebox well-stocked. While we were there, we decided to go see a movie. They talked me into seeing "The Mummy", promising me that it would be more funny than scary. Well, I don't know about that, because I had my eyes covered most of the time. But according to my companions, it was hilarious. Hmm.
Sunday We broke camp and drove home. It was a long and tiring drive which gave me a monstrous headache. I think it was the climate changes. The weather at the Straits and in the U.P. had been sunny, but cool, and it had sprinkled in the middle of the night on a couple of occasions, but the air was dry. In Lansing, though, it was muggy and hot, and nasty. It was icky. I unpacked the van, with some help from the roommate, and it mostly all got piled up in the living room to be dealt with. All of our clothes, and the tents, and sleeping bags and pillows, and my van smell of "Eau De Camping", an odd combination of woodsmoke, sweat, and Deep Woods Off. We have more laundry to do than I have ever seen. I didn't know we owned this much stuff that was washable. We threw up our hands in despair and went to bed, having not accomplished much, but knowing we had to work in the morning.
Monday I got back to work. Not until noon, but I made it. I was so sleepy, and headachy and miserable! At work, I discovered that things had gone smoothly in my absence and my desk wasn't piled up at all. It was great. After work roomie and I avoided the mess at the house by eating out and then going to see Midsummer Night's Dream which was a great movie. Then we went to bed.
Tuesday was another work day. After that, I really tried to get some stuff at the house cleaned up, but the phone rang incessantly, and like the dolt that I am, I answered it. I think I got a little laundry in, and got the kitchen cleaned up, and moved the mountain of clothes to the basement. Then I went to the grocery store and blew a ton of money so we wouldn't have to eat out again for a while. We had some wine. We went to bed. So far, a very productive week.
Today I am still in catch-up mode. Work is okay, although there is a major routing problem happening on the State network, and I am answering a hundred emails about it, but I don't have access to fix it, so I'm stuck. Tonight I'm back to cleaning the house, and trying to get the smell of woodsmoke out of my hair for the umpteenth time. I have to call a guy and set up a time to audition for a new play, which I'm pretty excited about, since it's Shakespeare. We shall see, eh?
For now, though, I have to go.
