This past weekend I went on a new adventure, not too far from home, to celebrate my bestfriend’s birthday. We stayed in a super nice cabin that had a lake view covered in snow about 20 minutes away from Traverse City, MI.
Our three day weekend began on:
Friday, January 11th
After a two and a half hour ride filled with singin and rappin, snackin and nappin, we finally arrived to our home for the weekend. Once everyone was situated we all went to Walmart to get some food and drinks so we could get our weekend started. Our plans for the night were to go to glow bowling and laser tag; so before we went, we played a few drinking games, ate some nachos then headed out.
Birthday Girl
We played a few games of bowling, and then headed back for laser tag. While we were waiting to go in, I asked a group of people who just walked up, “What do y’all do for fun up here?” The adventurous part of me was hoping to hear back at least three different options, but instead I got one response from the awkward group saying, “This is pretty much it, we always just come here.” I laughed in my head then asked, “So this… This is it?” And when everyone gave genuine nods of agreement, I nodded my head and walked away, I don’t even remember if I said thank you or not because I was in utter confusion.
However, this situation was so amusing to me because it made me think of when I lived in Lansing. A town that looks like it’s still in 2002 with nothin really to do; no good restaurants and not enough cool and quirky new places to discover. Then it led me to think of the bigger picture about how the metro Detroit area and Grand Rapids are the two most poppin spots in the state because they hold character in people and places.
Saturday, January 12th
On Saturday, around 10:30/11 in the morning, everyone was up ready to feast on a home cooked meal. We had eggs, grits, biscuits, sausage, bacon, cinnamon rolls, hash browns, turkey bacon and I can’t forget to mention, mimosas. The plan was to get ready to go skiing after we ate, but it took us quite some time to get ready, especially considering I had caught the itis and needed a nap asap.
For those of you who don't know, the phrase "the itis," was derived from the black culture indicating that our bodies were starting to feel exhausted, drowsy or sleepy after eating a fulfilling meal.
When I woke up from my nap, which was probably about an hour long, i started getting ready along with everyone else. After layering my body up in clothing, but before putting on my snowsuit and coat, I decided to use my new, Fenty Beauty Highlighter ~ Hu$tla Baby, that I just got as a Christmas gift. Since I didn’t bring my full makeup bag, I applied the highlighter to my face with my finger and blended it in a circular motion. When I was finished, I glossed my lips up then noticed that I was pulling off my natural, college-girl glow. This glow consisted of: wispy lashes, lip gloss and highlight on my cheeks. Super cute and super simple.
At Mt. Holiday, we checked in a geared up with skiing equipment. None of us had gone skiing before, so this was really a step out on faith experience. While others were still putting on their boots and checking in, some of us headed out to get started. Before and of us started walking in our skiis, one of our friends slowly started sliding down the hill we were standing by. I don’t know if it was the cold, the fear of going after her or a little bit of both, but we all just stood there and watched asking if she was okay on her way to the bottom.
And this is when it began. From the time our friend slid down the hill until the time we left, we all kept having “fuck it” moments. When we just had to put whatever feelings we had to the side and just go for it. So, monkey see, money do. The rest of us already out there tried making our way down the hill, and ended up laid out on the bottom. So the sweetest little boy walked up to us and suggested we start on a smaller hill called, “Peter Rabbit.” We made our way over there and it was a bunch more of little kids.
The rest of our friends had finally made it outside, and we all started prattling on this small hill. This became the funniest experience because we all were struggling at first getting the hang of it. We would have to hold on to a rope that pulled us to the top of the hill and then go back down on our own. Because we were all getting used to the skiis and learning how to use our body in a different way, most of us fell going up the hill (even while holding on to the rope) and coming down the hill (which was the funniest part).
It was so challenging learning how to control our feet and legs to make us go a certain way, slow down or stop. And in the midst of us all learning from trial and error, there we six and seven year old kids out there doing better than us.
So enough of the kiddie hill, and on to the big kid stuff. The tallest mountain there. You would think we would get a little practice on all the hills before making it to the big one, but once again we were all having a “fuck it” moment. Before I got ready to ride the lift up the to the top of the hill, I asked the guy working if I could just ride it all the way around, but he said no. So I really didn’t have a choice especially since a huge line had formed behind me and my bestfriend had already hopped on.
When we reached the topped we heavily debated on how we would go down, and after waiting and waiting, we finally just went. Stepping out on faith, hoping to not get hurt, we flew down the hill tumbling and rolling until gravity permitted us to stop. People riding the lift up screamed down asking if we were okay, so I held up one of my skis that came off and yelled back, “I’m good! I made it down!.”
And that was it. We went out with a bang and wobbled back inside so we could go eat and definitely have a drink after that experience.
Sunday, January 13th
Even though we all stayed up till three in the morning, somehow we managed to be up and ready to leave around 9:30a that same morning. It was a bitter sweet morning, but a nice end to my weekend trip.
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