Sunday, May 2, 2010

An out of town visit

As most people can attest to, I am not a morning person.  In truth, I hate mornings.  They make me tired and cranky.  And yet, yesterday I willingly removed myself from the warm confines of my blankets and pillows to go on a road trip to Holland, MI.  My sister-in-law lives up there and it's "Tulip Time".  Plus, we missed her at the birthday gathering in February and this was a great excuse to go see her. 

The tulips were beautiful and I really wish I had brought my camera.  I was a ditz (and tired) however, and I left the camera sitting at home on top of my desk.  I blame a lack of caffeine.  It was a great trip up there though.  We got there and had a cookout with my sister and brother-in-law, went and enjoyed "Tulip Time" and browsed the shops downtown.  I realized while I was there that Holland reminded me a great deal of a bigger St. Joseph, MI.  It seemed like the same quwaint, artsy shops that had high prices to take advantage of the tourist influx. 

At that point, I was greatly pleased that I had the advantage of growing up in a tourist town.  I know the city probably uses the money it gets from "Tulip Time" in a very similar fashion to St. Joe, but I also know when to pass on the prices.  Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of adorable, cute stuff there.  But there was also very little that I could not live without.  (Except for tea, because, really, who could live without tea.)

I know we're heading into the "Lake Michigan Shores" tourist season where people from "the big city" come in to visit and spend money.  We had the Blossomtime parade this weekend as well, an event I gladly missed.  Pretty soon the beaches will be crammed with people and the festivals will start.  This area is a great place to live, full of natural beauty and a wide variety of natural resources.  But that also means it brings in the tourists.  And I'm not a big fan of large groups of people.  They tend to be mean and stupid.  This is only the beginning of tourist time around here.  Soon the roads will be jammed with out of state plates, and I'll smile sweetly while inside I struggle to contain the festering rage they provoke. 

On the bright side, much of my time will be ensconced in classes and figuring out what's going on in my own life.  What we're doing, where we're going, and whether or not I'm going back to school for my Master's.  I want to go back, but I also don't.  Change makes me very nervous, very unsettled, and very unhappy.  Hell, I still prefer Christopher Eccleston as Doctor Who and it's been years since that changed.  We're on a completely new Doctor now and I'm still sorting out my feelings about that.  The stories are good, don't get me wrong.  But they've changed the intro, updated the music, changed the pacing, changed the Doctor, and even changed the Daleks.  How could they change the Daleks!

Bah...  Monday approaches and I'll start a new class for a new month and I still need to prepare my lecture notes for tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes! 

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