Up in Michigan

I am having a wonderful time up here in Houghton, Michigan with Jason.  For anyone who does not happen to know where on Earth Houghton is, I have put a map here on the right.  I am way up on the peninsula where the star is.  The flight up here was lovely.  As the plane left the Norfolk airport in Virginia, I had the opportunity to see the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on I-64 from above, which was really cool since I could see all the tiny cars disappear into the waters of the bay and then reappear at the opening of the tunnel on the other side.  It was pretty cool!  I nabbed this picture from their website.  From above I could also see the James River Bridge, and I even thought that I could make out the trees and buildings of Jefferson Lab before the sun slipped below the horizon.

Flying into Detroit was lovely.  The night was clear, and the lights of the city spread out all around in a glittering pattern of lines and swirls.  The moon was hanging low, close to the horizon, and I could see several other planes all circling around in the night sky.  The city looked just like the images of Coruscant from the Star Wars movies. 

While I was waiting for the plane that would take me to Marquette, where Jason would pick me up, I saw a cool-looking girl with a Virginia Tech sweatshirt on.  Curious, I questioned her and discovered that she was indeed from Virginia Tech, and she too was heading up to Michigan Tech (to visit her fiance).  It was pretty funny to meet another student from a Virginian college also heading to Houghton.  She and I passed the time laughing about stuff and chatting about our colleges.  We also saw another cool-looking girl, who I noticed had some really pretty shoes that had an intriguing pattern on them.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that the pattern was made of the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger.  Pretty and piratey; how can shoes get better than that?  She spent the flight knitting, which made me envious because I cannot knit at all, despite several attempts to learn.

The plane that took me to Marquette was tiny, but happily, the flight was short.  I was so happy to see Jason when I arrived at the airport!  He was obviously happy to see me too; the smile on his face and the big hug he gave me made all those miles worthwhile. :)

There was snow blanketing everything as we made the two-hour journey by car to Houghton.  The whole area is made up of hills and lakes.  Houghton is on one side of the river, and Hancock is on the other side.  On the right is my attempt at taking a night photograph of the town and the bridge.  On the left is a closer shot of the bridge.

There are lots of buildings labeled "The Finnish Whatever" all around here (Jason tells me that there are a lot of descendants of Finnish immigrants here), which of course made me think of my favorite Finn, Lars (for some pictures of Lars, check out this post).  Lars was at Jlab last week, so I had the delightful opportunity to have lunch with him and hang out with him for the better part of a week.  Now he is in sunny California, and I am in snowy and arctic Michigan hanging out with his countrymen and having snowball fights with Jason.  :)

Jason is teaching me to play racquetball, which I think must be the perfect sport after hockey.  It is so much fun to whack a ball really hard around in an enclosed space.  It is exactly what we all wanted to do as kids, but our mothers wouldn't let us.  :)  We are also having a great time in the snow and playing video games.  In fact, I think that I will get to doing that right now...  :)

Comments

[Jason]

Guilty as charged, I was grinning like an idiot when I saw you get off the plane. As for racquetball, let's play more! It was good having you out here, feel free to visit whenever you'd like. :)

[Sarah]

Okay. Sounds great to me! : )

[Tony Halaris]

Don’t be a Stranger

If the beach is the end of the ocean and the beginning of land
Why doesn’t the past be done and the future begin fresh?
If I am confident and not nervous or jealous of your success
Why do I feel amazed of your indifference?

If you find you are lonely but not alone
And the world appears friendlier than Not
and if you start each day with hope and in the zone
without fear, anger, disgust, contempt, but some purpose
And if you can see love in everything you touch
With hope that one day there will be a happy hello

And when you can make a difference
And if you can do this from your heart
Then you have grown to a new level my love

The name is not in the dictionary
Well defined is not!
But the world you live in feels strange
And all of us look stranger than not!