Bronwyn Green

 

My stress levels, so far this year, have been a bit on the high side, so I really, really needed this year’s writing retreat. Honestly, I think we’ve all been in super high stress mode. We all needed this break.

I didn’t get as much written as I would have liked, but I did get some written on my current story (and I’ve been writing ever since I got back) and planning progress was made on two super seekrit projects.

But more importantly than any of those things, I feel recharged and able to tackle the rest of the year. Many of the stressors in my life are still in play, but I feel better able to deal with them now that I’ve had a bit of a break.

So, I usually drive the first leg of the trip, and this is what was waiting for me when I opened the door to Jen’s car.

Yep. It’s Samantha. You may remember Jen’s heartwarming story of how she got Samantha. And you may also remember what we did to Samantha. Well, technically, Samantha got into all this trouble on her own because she’s made of evil. We just documented it. 

But anyway, I opened up the driver’s side door, and there was Samantha. Waiting to cause trouble.

The drive was fun – but how can you not have fun when you’re in a car with Jenny Trout, Kayleigh Jones, and Kellie St. James? We sang along to a Disney songs, 80s songs and  the entire Hamilton musical from beginning to end.

In Munising, (a quaint little town on the southern coast of Lake Superior that features several Lake Superior boat tours, my favorite pottery shop, and a Bigfoot statue that’s chained up so he can’t escape) we stopped at Wagner Falls.

Which was, as you can see, really pretty. And we also spotted a faery tree on the way out of the woods.

Near Christmas, (another tiny little Lake Superior coast town) Jen took us through Murder Woods (not its actual name but it looks like a great place to hide multiple bodies) to get to one of the most insanely gorgeous spots I’ve ever seen. And Michigan’s U.P. is full of insanely gorgeous spots.

Murder Woods was a barely a road. I mean, it was probably an old logging road in the early 1800s. And it’s so rutted and narrow that only one car can get through at a time going about 7 mph. If that. But…it was totally worth it! Look at this place!

Look at this gorgeousness! Despite the jolting trek through Murder Woods, it was completely and utterly worth it.

This was our view once we finally got to the house where we stay every year.

We were all so happy to see Norris and Jess. It had been two years since we’d seen Norris and nine and a half months since we’d seen Jess. And we all ended up with sore cheeks and stomachs from all the hysterical laughter.

See that monkey creeping over the top of the laptop? That’s Bobo. He was stalking me all week. I finally had to get a restraining order against him.

This was the night of the full moon.

A little sunset/cloudporn.

No trip to Calumet would be complete without a trip to our favorite yarn store, Camelot Dyeworks. And I, of course, got new yarn, and I’ve vowed to actually learn to make socks. In fact, I started them three fucking times on the way home. But I will persevere!

Oh…and while we were out to lunch one day, Samantha had a bit of a mishap involving the oven. It seems that Gee (the little rainbow guy) was just about done with Samantha’s shit.

And here’s our group shot from our last night there when we went out to supper. (From left to right: Kellie St. James, Jenny Trout (please note the jackalope on her shirt – Jess Jarman’s 3 year old niece named it “Satan”), Kayleigh Jones, Jess Jarman, me and Kris Norris is in the front.)

The week went by too fast – as usual. And I can’t wait to go up there, again.

Only 346 Days: 19 Hours: 27 Minutes: 13 Seconds.

SIGH