ah, well, i didn't get any farther north than ortonville. would have been nice, but not a big problem. so no camping, no scuba :-(
i did get to do a little bike riding, on paved trails and dirt trails. i think i've decided to dig up the couch potato in me. of course, it helps when people have hot tubs for you to soak in afterwards ;-)
nice to spend time at local beaches up there, kick back, play catch with various things, snorkel, whatever.
went on my first geocache hike. my brother's wife got a new gps, so she had to try it out immediately. now there's two gps's in that family. should make for some interesting outings ;-)
watched a farscape marathon on scifi. i don't have cable, so this was a treat. finally caught on to what was happening in that sequence of episodes.
went to a party hosted by a couple that joins us on the annual shanty creek ski trip. there's no place like an old hippies home ;-)
stopped at a favorite brewpub for dinner. they make a mocha java stout that i want a pipeline to.
how to fix a jeep ? jack in grey,
2x4's in brown, roll bar ends in black.something to whine about: i biffed the spare tire mounted on the back of my jeep when i backed into a phantom telephone pole at very low speed. resulted in a tailgate dented in a couple inches, and a couple slightly out of square back corners. but the tailgate has been overdue for replacement anyway, having rusted out the lower inch or two already. steel ones are under $100 in the catalogs, i think. the big problem is the slight pushing in of the corners that the tailgate mounts to. it's nearly unnoticeable, but is enough to pull the spare tire carrier in an inch or so, which will likely interfere with my hardtop. but i managed to straighten the tailgate out mostly. now i need to take a trip to the store for a hydraulic bottle jack and some 2x4's, see if i can rig a way of squaring out that stuff.
oh, and movies: saw return of the king, the brother bear commentary (hilarious), part of a recent peter pan remake (surprisingly good), and the best: escanaba in da moonlight (info at imdb). it's probably a matter of taste and mood, but it caught me at the right time. one of the funniest things i've seen. most of the michigan in-jokes in the movie are explained, but it might be best to see it with a native. i wasn't impressed with what i saw of miracle; overrated. the movie, not the event.
so that's about it. i never caught up to one brother and his family. they seem to be dodging us. not entirely fair, since they hosted easter, i guess (i didn't make it), but it seems more connected with obligation than desire.