We've completed the southern part of our trip and have now embarked on the northern leg.  After leaving Kentucky, we headed for Michigan. 

Our first stop was in Kalamazoo where a long-awaited blogger meeting occurred.  I finally met Marguerite – Stitches of Violet!  She treated us to lunch and it was wonderful to finally meet her.  She and I have made a special connection via our blogs and I loved being able to spend time with her.

She brought me a skein of her favorite sock yarn from Slackford Studios and we brought her some Whidbey Coffee.  Our time was over all too quickly, but she did suggest that since hubby loves airplanes we visit Air Zoo in Kalamazoo.  What a great place!  We liked it so much that we went back the next day.  If you're ever in the area, it is a can't miss!

Lots and lots of relatives from Bill's side to visit here.  We've been spending time at Bill's cousin's house and are really appreciating her hospitality.  As it turned out, they were in New York when we arrived, but we had instructions to just go in and make ourselves at home, which we have done.  She left us a list of things to do until they returned.  At the top of the list was Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.  As it turned out, they were having a Dale Chihuly exhibit, which made us feel right at home!

They had a wonderful children's garden, which included a sculpture entitled "Mad Mom":

Hubby relaxed with a bear:

While Nana proved how very brave she was by petting a dragon:

We saw a really, really big horse:

And when we got tired, found a sweet couple willing to share their park bench with us:

This morning we went to a Farmers' Market and bought some bread and a freshly picked honey crisp apple.  I made my first yarn purchase of the trip – some Opal sock yarn at a cute store in Rockford.

Tonight is a big family reunion with some of Bill's favorite cousins.  Lots of old pictures will be brought out and old times relived.  All before my time, but I've got my knitting and will enjoy sitting in the background watching hubby have the time of his life!