Charlevoix, Part Un

We made it to Charlevoix yesterday in time to help plant the petunias along US 31. The city plants petunias along the stretch of US 31 that runs through Charlevoix. There is a non-profit group that raises money to by 28,000 petunias. People volunteer to come out and plant the flowers and then head downtown for a picnic. We always see them when we're up for Venetian, and when we come back in July this year, we'll get to check out the ones we planted!

After planting the flowers, we went downtown to check out the picnic. By that time though, it was cold and rainy so we decided that hot dogs weren't going to get it done. (Although, we did stop at Kilwins's for our free fudge sample.) So, we headed over to Boyne City to grab dinner at Red Mesa (excellent mex food). The food was really good, but I was a little tweaked that I had to pay .75 for extra cheese for my fajitas. I mean seriously, $15 for fajitas and drinks and then I have to pay .75 for 2 oz of extra cheese? Not impressed.

With the drive up from Frankenmeuth, the planting and big dinner, I was getting tired and ready for an early turn in. Then, the Bad Idea Bears showed up and suggested we head to the Weathervane for Awesome Coffee. Now, Awesome Coffee is a glass of bailey's and a host of other liquers with a splash of coffee that is then set on fire before being served. Good stuff. I'd try making that one at home, but I'm pretty sure I'd just end up burning the house down.

One other story from our trip up. We made it to Grayling and got off of 75. They're working on the roads there and we ended up in a detour. So, we asked Sara to find us an alternate route to Charlevoix. She sent us on a route that put us on some county roads that were in BAD shape. I mean, it looked like the Air Force had been dropping cluster bombs for weeks, only to be followed by the engineers patching all of the small holes with concrete. To say it was a bumpy ride would be an understatement. So, we're in the middle of nowhere, bouncing around on a questionably serviceable road and Susan begins to question whether or not we're ever gonna see civilization again. I told her we have to trust in Sara because she knows best, but if we hear banjo music, then it's time to lock the doors! Eventually, Sara got us to a good highway and on to Charlevoix. I think she is still a little hurt by Susan's lack of faith...