Never Did No Wanderin' After All

I think I have too much to update to trust myself with paragraphs. I think bullet points will be much more efficient and far less prone to meandering.

• The flight up to the UP was pretty good. We ate at Fuddrucker's in the Detroit airport and got Marcie a Tigers t-shirt.
• When we got to the airport, we found that we had been upgraded (for free) to a 2006 Jeep Liberty. That's what I'm talking about.
• The drive to Houghton Beach/Hancock Beach from the airport was a bit confusing, but we made it.
• When we walked up to magnificent Lake Gerald, we were greeted as the Prodigal Children. Nate dove off the edge of the speedboat, and ran down the dock to embrace me. It was a wonderful inauguration to a great weekend.
• We got into said speedboat with my lovely wife, the Guises, the Vis, and the stars of the show, Grabs and Rochitaka. We swam, talked, laughed, floated, farted and embraced the environment.
• We ate a great meal, sauuuuuuuunaed, and were joined mid sauuuuuuna by Josh and Ginny. We were getting closer to fullness. We had reached a quarum, if you will.
  It continued to get better. We settled into the cabins, waxed existential, talked film and absurdity, and retired for the evening. Sevierville! Dollywood! Gatlinburg! Pigeon Forge! We had much goodness (and danger) ahead of us.
• Friday morning was the arrival of the Britch to much rejoicing and embracing and our first attempt at golf. This attempt was thwarted by God himself in the form of some hard core rain. It was just. God is always just.
• In lieu of golf, we headed to Hancock Beach/Houghton Beach. We had to try on our tuxes (far too much clothing for the weather conditions), but before we could do that, we had to visit the Steph the Britch, Steph the Moss, and my favorite Brit, Ush.
• Many ladies went to help decorate the reception hall during this process, which basically amounted to the spouses of the groomsmen doing way more work than the groomsmen themselves. But they were troopers, and had some great bonding time of their own (or so I tell myself).
• After trying on our smart tuxes and buying mercantile/mercenary socks, we moved onto loitering in downtown Hancock. We purchased the world's most good-natured pipe for Gustine. Man, that pipe handled itself with grace.
• Then it was off to Joe's Pizza for chili (cup or bowl?) and spudsters.
• By then it was high time to head back to the cabins to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Cherry coke was consumed in mass quantities.
• Afterwards, we piled into the ole Liberty and headed back to Hancock Beach/Houghton Beach to meet Bob-O and RyJo. Joshua rode with my 9 iron in his backside and I unleashed a thousand graves from mine.
• We purchased the Angry Bulldog (see picture) care kit for the bride-to-be.
• We met everyone back at the cabins for the bachelor's party. It was a great time, watching the stars, hearing and telling stories, consuming moderate amounts of libation and smoking cigars and pipes and celebrating Nate. I got to know Ushwin, Ric, Joel and Patrick, all while being able to continue to hang with some of my best friends. We retired late.
• The next morning was the attempt to play 9 holes. Some completed said task, others didn't. Here's a picture of Ushwin, the alleged novice to the sport of golf. He took us Yanks to school.
• While we golfed, once again, our spouses committed themselves to the task of work. They got the cabin all cleaned up so that we could just load it into the vehicles after we were done.
• We dropped the food and beverage, so generously donated to us by the Berger's, off at the cabin on Lake Gerald.
• From there, we went to the wedding. We got to see Znack and Bre and their lil' guy, Trevor, Fowler and Ridell and a bunch of wonderful people. Sweet. It was about a million degrees, but it was a beautiful ceremony that symbolized an infinitely more beautiful union of two of my favorite individuals. Amazing.
• After the wedding, there was eating, dancing, decorating, oddsmaking and celebrating at the Best Western of Houghton. The reception hall was air-conditioned. All praises to God for the provision of air-conditioning for us weary, tuxedoed souls.
• Josh's toast was very apropos, spot on.
• We continued to dance and enjoy. Eventually the party ended, and we got to see the happy couple off on their journey of life together. It was an honor and a joy. Aces.
  Marcie and I slept from 1am to 2:30 pm (THANK YOU, Guistines!), and then we headed back to the airport. Marcie drove so that I could get some shuteye. It wasn't very restful, as I was trying to stay awake so that Marcie wouldn't hit a deer. Thanks, Marcie. I love you.
• We made it to the airport after a few crazy twists, and flew back to Indy.
• I showered, loaded into a van with my youth group, and left for Knoxville, TN.

The Knoxville stuff is coming soon. For now, I'll say that CHIC was powerful, and a beautiful experience, both for myself and the youth.