On the weekend of June 10th, Dante and I headed down to Indiana. He hadn’t been yet, and he just so happened to have his 5 day weekend so I suggested we go have a vacation.

Dante ended up needing to go to his brother’s graduation on Friday, and we didn’t leave until 10:30 PM. Even though Google maps insisted it would take a little over 7 hours from Dante’s home, we decided that the time Google estimated was too long and that we would do better. So we left at 10:30 PM EST and arrived at 2:30 AM CST. That’s 5 hours. We’re insane. In any case, we arrived at Jimmy’s and I was immediately jump hugged by Skyla. We wandered over to the fire pit, enjoyed some beers with the Downs clan. I had bought 3 random shirts off of woot to open together when I got to Indiana. One for me, one for Jimmy, and one for Skyla. I ended up getting the least cool shirt, but they were all great. We ended up staying until the sun rose, and then stayed up some more.

We stayed up after the sun rose and then proceeded to play some frisbee before we decided to retire for a few hours. Some sleep is better than no sleep after all. Dante ended up passing out on Skyla’s bed, Lori was up, Zack passed out in the bedroom, Eli claimed his own bed, the Dude went with his dad, and Skyla and I passed out on the couch.

After a few hours of rest, we woke up and while different people were getting ready for the day Dante, Jimmy, and I did a little bit of archery. Jimmy brought out the compound bows and we shot at a target. I refused to use a wristguard, which made it much harder to pull the bow back….or I’m just weak. In any event we shot some arrows at the target, and it was pretty fun. I want my own bow now.

Once everyone was ready, we headed to Angelo’s to get some food for lunch and breadsticks. The breadsticks were delicious and so was the pizza.

When we got back from Angelo’s Mama and Papa Downs were home and Mama Downs wanted to test out the jet ski! So everyone got ready for some water fun, and we headed down to the river. Dante and I have never been on a jet ski before and we were both blown away by how much fun it was. We are now inspired to get our own, and Dante also wants a boat. It was just a lot of fun on the water. I bought some toys to bring on the river next time we’re down and I can’t wait to go back in August and September.

After our watery adventure, we realized we were hungry and so we stopped by Old Hickory BBQ for some food. The mutton was as awesome as it was during the BBQ fest, and we brought the food home for consumption.

The next day was really rainy, but luckily I had brought Settlers of Catan. Jennifer had come over to hang out with us for most of the day as well. For brunch Dante and I made some chicken bacon waffles. I taught the Downs clan how to play and we entertained ourselves until the early afternoon. When the rain stopped we went outside and threw the frisbee around a bit. Skyla suggested we go to laser tag, which we couldn’t really get everyone ready for in time, so instead we all went bowling!

So I suck at bowling. This session was no different. But I had a lot of fun, and we all had a great time together.

After bowling, we did what we did most nights and sat around the fire eating marshmallows and drinking beer while talking. I loved it. After most people retired for the night, Skyla, Dante, and I watched Rock of Ages. Skyla and Dante promptly fell asleep while I worked on updating my blog and talking to Lori after the movie was over. I fell asleep with the computer in my lap until the next morning. We spent most of Monday just hanging out with Zack, Lori, Skyla, and the Dude while Jimmy worked. We watched the BBC version of Sherlock and just chilled out. It was pretty nice.

But all good things must come to an end, and so we had to leave. We left around 8, and planned on being home around 4 AM. But we also made a pit stop in Athens, OH to see Ellen at her digs. So our actual time of arrival in Michigan was around 7 AM. I drove home, showered got ready for work, and then went to work. Luckily I got a fair amount of sleep on the drive home.

As always I had a lot of fun, and it was nice being much more unplugged than I usually am. I always just enjoy hanging out with Jimmy and his family, around the fire, and just talking. I can’t wait until I go back and see them again.

-Evilmanta