Feliz Cumpleanos! Surprise!

This year for Chris' birthday (#30), I opted to steal him for a day and take him somewhere mysterious. Since the Sox were playing 5 games with the Yankees this weekend at Fenway, that was my initial plan. Unfortunately, it's the Sox v. the Yankees at Fenway, so there's no way I could afford tickets. Did anyone watch these games? It turned out to be FORTUNATE that we didn't go.

ANYWAY, Lisa suggested a much more affordable alternative a couple months ago, which was a great idea, especially considering the fact that it was a place he had never been and I knew he wanted to visit. The plotting began.

The plan was to leave on Friday night, his birthday, to complete the first leg of the journey, staying the night with my parents in Cadillac. He wouldn't know that 'til we got there, though. The plan got bumped up a day due to my dep cancelling and Chris' mom letting him have Friday off. So we left Thursday night, and I rushed around making phone calls so everyone was ready. I had promised to take my sister to the airport early early Friday morning, but she found someone who could take her instead, and blessed our earlier-than-planned departure.

So, Thursday night we head out. Chris has no idea where we're going. He's asking me questions about where we're staying. "Are we staying at a hotel?" "No." Panic creeps across his face. "We're not sleeping outside are we?" "No." "Will there be a bed?" "Yes." Now he's really confused. There were other questions, and my answers only added to the confusion, regarding whether I had used the "facilities" there and if he would be comfortable using the "facilities." Meanwhile, he tried to distract himself by joking about "our flight" and when we need to leave so we won't miss "our flight." (He said it made him feel better, though he knew we weren't actually going to Boston)

He slept part of the way, thoroughly confused, nervous and anxious. When we got really close to Cadillac, he guessed where we were going and I was able to ease his mind. He was still pretty nervous about where we were going the next day. Fortunately, he knows very little about this part of the state, so he didn't even know where to start guessing.

The next morning (his birthday) we left around 9:30 to an overcast sky. Once we got on the final highway there were billboards EVERYWHERE about ferries to Mackinac Island, downtown Petoskey, Grayling, and all sorts of other random things. He said he didn't dare guess at anything since he knows so little about what's up there, and I could have planned anything. When we were just outside Mackinac City, he started wondering out loud. "Are we going to an island?" "Maybe." I didn't spill the beans until we pulled into Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry parking lot. He was so excited! He'd never even seen the bridge or been to the island.

We spent a good part of the day on the Island, walking around, taking a few photos, eating lunch, getting ice cream and fudge. Chris texted his mom and dad, thanking them for having sex with each other. (If you know his parents, then their responses "My pleasure" and "The pleasure was all hers" should not surprise you.) Afterwards I took us back on the highway for a trip across the Straits over the Mackinac Bridge. We went over, stopped at the Bridgeview park and learned all about the making of the bridge, then came back.

All in all, it was a great trip, complete with pizza rolls and Bruce Campbell. Who could ask for more?!

(blogger won't let me upload any photos lately. hornswaggle.)