Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Days 34 and 35: Family matters

Our second day in West Olive/Grand Haven was very relaxed. I woke up at the crack of noon and sat around the house for the better part of the day until my grandparents came home. It was great to see my grandfather out of the hospital bed, especially since he seemed so ill suited for it. Even though he had broken free, he was still tired from the hospital staff's constant poking and prodding the night before. Nonetheless we got the chance to talk for a while and catch up for a few hours and over a nice dinner we had at the house.

Not long after dinner the sun was starting to get lower in the sky. So Geries and I made a trip to the beach to catch the sunset. It had rained earlier, so we lowered our expectations, but it turned out to be just as spectacular as the view from the previous night. This night there was a small tuft of cloud in the distant west that slightly obscured the sun until moments before it touched the horizon. The backlight from the sun rimmed the blue-grey clouds in a rich gold, and the wisps of cloud on the horizon feathered the edges of the glowing orb as it steadily sunk beneath the waves.

Next we took a quick trip to downtown Grand Haven to experience some of the nightlife. We found a group of people crowded onto some bleachers facing the channel, so we decided to join them for a little while to see what was going on. As it turned out we had arrived just in time for the famous Grand Haven musical fountain show. Unfortunately the grandeur of the show was a little spoiled by the Bellagio fountain show in Vegas, but it was a nice diversion anyway. Tired from doing nothing all day, Geries and I just stopped long enough to get some ice cream before heading back to get to bed and prepare for our early start the next day.

I woke up around 6am to get ready and have some breakfast before heading to Detroit. The drive from Grand Haven wasn't a long one, but we had to get there around noon to catch my grandparents before leaving to go to my cousin Lauren's high school graduation party. I was fortunate in the timing of our trip (and delays) since we arrived right on the day of the party and I got to see almost all of my cousins from my mom's side for the first time in many years.

We spent the rest of the day hanging around with my uncles Gary and George and my cousins Matthew, Nick, Lauren, and Mike eating tons of food (including some special Romanian sausage links) and playing cornhole. Living so far away makes it difficult to see my family, so I enjoyed the opportunity to kick back with my cousins, uncles, and grandparents for a day.

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