Fudge This, Michigan!

As we write this, we're sitting in a hotel room in Oshkosh, WI, on our way to the Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Milwaukee. How did we get here? Well, some friends of ours got married in Thompsonville, MI at a super cool resort, and instead of going home we decided to hit up the UP (that's Upper Peninsula for all of you unaware).

We arrived in the UP Sunday night, crossing Mackinac Bridge (huge and amazing- see below), and stayed two nights in St. Ignace. We lucked out with location, as the ferry to Mackinac Island was right across the street from our hotel (which, by the way, was a bit old-school, but solid- note the key). 

When we stepped off the ferry Monday afternoon we were met with a barrage of people, bikes, people on bikes, and horse drawn carriages. We spent an hour walking the streets (street, rather) trying to find a place to eat. After settling on a spot, we sat down and weren't greeted or spoken to for 10 minutes. So, instead we left, and found a different spot (where, surprise surprise, another group that had left the aforementioned spot after no greeting, also sat).

The rest of our visit to Mackinac Island involved a trip up the hill to Fort Mackinac (quite a hike, but gorgeous views) and a carriage ride around the island with some super cheesy tour guides. The first guide indulged in only a few jokes, and otherwise entertained us (he also looked like Jake Gyllenhaal- a plus for KJ). Our second guide drove us through the State Park where we got to see Arch Rock. He seemed to enjoy his jokes a little too much for our liking.

And don't worry, we got some fudge. Orange pomegranate and sea salt caramel, as well as some other flavor we can't recall from Sanders. Note: The second photo is from a different fudge shop on the island- they've got something like 17 total!

On our return, we enjoyed dinner at our inn's restaurant where Chunk had a plank steak (apparently planks are HUGE in the UP).

So today we departed for Oshkosh, WI - a good break between there and Milwaukee. Of course we had to do some touristy things, so we stopped at Castle Rock, a cool and very high old-school lookout. Chunk loved it, KJ held on for dear life. 

We also checked out some scenic spots while traveling around the Northern coast of Lake Michigan. 

 We've enjoyed our mini road trip, and can't wait for the Song Festival. Hope to see you there!

Happy adventuring!

Give Me Your Schnitzel!

The other day we decided to trek over to the east side of Indy to check out the famous Heidelberg Haus. Not sure of what we were walking into, we were surprised by the kitschyness of it. Not that that's bad, but we felt like we were walking through our European grandmothers' basements. Note the decor below:

Since 1968, the Heidelberg Haus has been a fixture in the Indianapolis area, bringing authentic German cuisine and baked goods (as well as groceries, beer steins, and other fun German things) to the Midwest. So we took a seat and out waitress, dressed appropriately in beer maid garb, brought us a menu that basically laid out our choices of various sausages accompanied by rye bread and German potato salad.

The verdict? Delicious! We then checked out the pastry case (obviously), and took home a bevy of cookies and a slice of cake for each of us. All in all it was a good trip, minus the rude dude that barged his way in front of us at the pastry case after we'd waited patiently for almost 10 minutes. Guess some people can't wait for their sugar fix!

Happy adventuring!

Route 66: The Next Big Adventure?

Boy have we been hankerin' for a road trip, and as many of you know we want to go out West next. We're kind of in love with the idea of traveling Route 66 (we even got a book on it for Christmas). 

Has anyone been? Once we save up enough $$ you'll be sure to catch us getting out kicks, on Route 66. 


Happy adventuring!

Best Picture Show!

Saturday we took in AMC's Best Picture Show- read 5 of the Oscar nominated films all in one day! We didn't have the opportunity to do the full 9 in one day (not sure if we'd stay awake), but it was definitely cool. 

Not only did we use our Stubs Card (seriously, get one of these, loads of bonuses), but because we used it we got free $$ to spend! We got giant movie sized posters with all the nominees, fancy lanyards with passes, and KJ even won a free ticket for getting a trivia question right. Score!

We got to see:

 

•  Hugo 3D (which we'd seen, but it was even better the 2nd time around!)
• The Help (our favorite of the group!)
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Artist (really amazing to keep today's audience entertained through a silent film)
• Midnight in Paris (a bit unfinished for us)

It really didn't seem like we were at the movies for 12 hours, and we'd definitely do it again. With all of our movie going and our free screenings that we get time to time, we've now dubbed ourselves Cinefiles cinephiles as we feel we've crossed over some sort of imaginary movie-going line.

So catch a flick, and as always, happy adventuring!

Epic Romance on Valentine's Day

Thanks to Gofobo we got to see Titanic 3D on Valentine's Day for free! We'd forgotten how awesome that movie is, and they gave us some sweet Titanic swag (see below). We also read that Kate Winslet was a bit nervous about the re-release, but seriously there's nothing to worry about. Your acting is awesome and you look great! Kudos to you and Leo! 

Will you go see it when it's released April 4th? Happy adventuring!

You, Me & Charlie Going on an Adventure

Dianna Agron has a great new site called You, Me & Charlie, and we just happened to come across her love of adventuring and getting lost in this post. 

Hey Dianna, we'd love to go on an adventure with you!

Social Media Wanderlust

While perusing Mashable today, we came across this article with links to 5 companies inspiring wanderlust on YouTube. 

Image via here

What do you think? Happy adventuring!

A Pittsburgh Kind of New Year's Eve

To ring in 2012, we decided to take a trip to Pittsburgh to visit our friend K. We didn't know what to expect, but driving through the hills we sure were surprised. We drove through a tunnel (Liberty tunnel?), and we had been magically transported from a woodsy landscape to a bustling downtown. 

We got to drive through the downtown on our way to K's place, and it was great to see this city that we'd never been to.  A couple of things to note that we didn't expect:

1. The incline! We didn't get a chance to go up (but when we left we actually drove up the mountain/hill). Pretty cool.

2. Pittsburgh is a lot edgier than we thought it would be.

3. Their downtown highway system is complete nonsense, and we got lost when trying to leave. Even the GPS was lost. Hence us ending up on top of the city!

We rang in the New Year with good friends who'd also come to visit, so we didn't do much sightseeing. We did however get to check out some cool eateries and bars while there including Sharp Edge, Buffalo Blues and  Lucky's (?). Not quite sure if that was the name.

Good times, great friends. Thanks Pittsburgh! Happy adventuring!

The Amazing Race

Oh boy. We haven't updated in a long time! Our apologies. Not because we haven't gone on adventures (we have, be it small ones), but possibly out of life "getting in the way". What a horrible saying. Anyway, our apologies.

The good news is that instead of just talking about being on The Amazing Race, we submitted a video! Yay us! Now, hopefully they'll pick us. We'd post it here, but we're not sure of the rules on that. Wish us luck!