First Vacation of the Summer

July 1, 2007

Yes, today is the official publication of The Serpent's Kiss, and I should be regailing you with tidbits of self-promotion, but I've been on vacation and I thought I'd talk about that instead. Tomorrow, BSP, I promise.

We went to Ludington, Michigan. Where is that? you ask. Well, hold up your left hand, fingers together, palm out. Now, start at your pinkie finger and work your way down the left side of your hand until you're about an inch from where your hand becomes your wrist. That's Ludington. And if you're totally confused, it's because you're not from Michigan. Every kindergartner in Michigan understands this is how you tell someone where you are in Michigan. (I live about half an inch below the crease between the thumb and index finger, maybe half an inch in from the right).

If you look at the photographs above, the one on the right is an aerial photograph of the harbor and downtown Ludington. This is on Lake Michigan, in case you didn't know. The harbor has two protective breakwalls. If you walk out on the bottom one, you see the lighthouse that is on the photo on the left. If you time it right (we didn't) you can even pay $2 a head to tour it. It's a great walk even though my 9-year-old gives me stress attacks in the process.

We also spent a chunk of Friday and Saturday out on the state park beach about 7 or 8 miles north of town. Fantastic beach, sand dunes, etc. Unfortunately, the weather, though very sunny, was probably about 67 degrees and the water was intolerably cold, so even wading was unbearable. Still, we had a great time.

So we ate at some great restaurants (James Street Brewery and the House of Flavors were the two best) and wandered around the marina and swam in the hotel pool and got sunburns even thought it wasn't warm enough to swim. And now I'm back and ready (more or less) to get back to work--until the next vacation.

Cheers,

Mark Terry