The M&M Trip - Minnesota and Michigan

This is the first post in a series documenting a two week trip to the states of Minnesota and Michigan back in the summer of 2015.  Alan had already escaped the workforce, but I was still working full time, so we had to be content with an expedition that would fit within my two weeks of vacation.  Our son Ryan was working full time and had aged out of traveling with us on a regular basis.  Our daughter, Kyra, was 16 and out of school on summer vacation, so she joined us on a whirlwind tour of these two states.

How do you pick a vacation destination?  Do you follow a tradition that has been in your family for generations and go to a beloved cabin in the mountains or cottage by the sea?  Do you have a prioritized list of future vacation spots and just go down the list in order?  Do you base vacations on the location of family members or friends you wish to visit across the country or around the globe?  Do you tape a map to the wall and throw a dart at it?

Little Free Libraries

I grew up in a middle class home in a city of about 25,000 people.  My Dad was a machine operator on a railroad; my Mom stayed at home to raise my older brother and me until I started school.  After that, she worked part time in the local school district so that she’d be home when my brother and I were.  There wasn’t much discretionary income left after their paychecks were divvied up to pay the bills, but our lives were rich in all of the ways that mattered.