Still Wedding Season

So, like I mentioned before, it is apparently wedding season. According to my tally, I'm up to five this summer. Liz and I have been to three weddings, in three states, in three weeks.  The latest...

Oklahoma - I got the pleasure of watching my youngest sister walk down the aisle... from a bridesmaid's point of view. Unfortunate circumstances resulted in me being called to action, three hours prior to the wedding, as a bridesmaid. It was a great perspective to watch my little sister get married from. I know, always a bridesmaid. Never a bride...

North Carolina - As a plus-one to Liz's coworker's wedding, I got the pleasure of being mancandy for an evening. The wedding involved two Hispanic families from Queens. So. Much. Fun. The dance moves of a fifteen-year-old inspired me to want to take dance lessons. Okay, if we are going to be honest, a six-year-old had more fluid moves than me.

All of that being said, one of my favorite weddings, held in Brimley, Michigan, involved a Scandanavian bride and a beach.

Michigan - In short, Liz's mom handmade the arbor. It was transported down the beach and planted in the sand. Mrs. Fabry then officiated the wedding from underneath the arbor that she had made. The bride (from Michigan) stood to the left with Michigan land jutting out on the horizon behind her. The groom (from Canada) stood on the right with Canadian land jutting out on the horizon behind him. All the while I was shoeless with my feet in the sand. It was beautiful.

The wedding photographer’s awesome shots can be found here. 

Lake Superior & The U.P.

Tourism officials generated the slogan "Say Yes to Michigan" in 1982 to fuel a state promotional campaign. Yooper residents (residents of the Upper Peninsula) put a more northern spin on the catchphrase, of course, transforming it into "Say Yah to Da U.P., Eh!" For a week, I became a Yooper, saying "yah" to the absolute beauty that is the U.P.

I had never been to the U.P. during the summer, but only visiting last Christmas. The average water temperature of Lake Superior is 40ºF, so I imagined it not being swimmable. I was wrong. Everyday was a shoeless, backyard-beach day, filled with sunshine, saunas and a pure as-you-please pace.

Lake Superior still blows my mind. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by area, and holds 10% of the world's surface fresh water. To give a vague perspective (take a look at the map above) we were beachfront in Brimley. Now, do you see the point with the Bay Mills dot? It looks like it is pointing to Brimley State Park. The tip of that jutting land is on the horizon when standing on the beach in Brimley. Canada is across the bay as well. Lake Superior is HUGE.

It was a perfect getaway spent with m'lady, her family, and a beautiful beach. Say Yah to da U.P. indeed... "eh!"