Vacation!

Tomorrow morning my family and I leave for Escanaba, Michigan for our annual summer vacation. And when I say "morning", I mean 3 A.M. tomorrow morning. That part I'm not really excited about; I'm the kind of person that actually has to be in a bed in order to sleep, so I imagine I'm going to be very tired for most of our trek up North. But despite the impending exhaustion as well as the discomfort of sitting inside a car for who knows how many hours, I'm very excited to get this day over with and get in that car tomorrow morning, because I love Escanaba.

If you don't already know, the state of Michigan has an Upper and Lower part to it, and Escanaba falls in the Upper part of the state. It's a small town, even smaller than Junction City. It's the town my mom grew up in, the place where my grandparents live. We try to go up there every few years during the summer, and every time we go it feels as if our time there disappears before it even starts. I seriously hope it doesn't happen like that this time around, as it's been 3 years since I've been up there.

Out of all the places our family goes on vacation(we even went to Disney World once), Escanaba has always been my favorite place to go. That's probably because it never feels like some place that's foreign; the sights and sounds of Escanaba have been so engraved into my memory that it feels like home every time I go there. I love being with my grandparents because they're always so happy to see us all and are eager to spend time with us. I also love the weather there. In Junction City it seems like there's been this never-ending streak of blistering hot weather, and up in Escanaba the high is somewhere in the mid-80s! It's gonna be so great to get a break from unbearable Kansas weather.

However, our visit to the Upper Peninsula will be marked with one sad event. My great-grandmother, Kitty, passed away in December, and due to intense snow storms going on during the time, we were unable to make it up there for her funeral. So while we're in Michigan we will be visiting her grave. I'm not really sure how it's going to go; I've never known a world without her, and she's the first big family member that I've lost. I just know it's going to be a sad occasion for us all.

I'm also really excited for this vacation because our time there will pretty much take up the rest of July. By time we return to Kansas and get settled back into normal life, only 2 weeks will remain of this seemingly unending summer and we'll all return to school. I'm looking forward to getting the year started and getting back on schedule. But of course, there are some drawbacks that will come with going back to school: homework (mounds of it, I'm sure), waking up early, and the departure of my older sister Elizabeth as she leaves for college...

But these are topics for another post. Right now I'll revel in the fact that in a few short hours we'll be leaving for a vacation I'm sure will make my summer!

Make sure to get some sleep for me tonight, my faithful followers, because I know I won't be getting any. :)