The Sausage Pad Lays Siege to St. Joseph, Pt. III

(contd.)

Morning of Day Three.  A healthy breakfast of sugary muffins, fruit, and orange juice.

Oh, and bacon.  Everyone insisted on bacon.

I can't eat this stuff anymore.  I look at this the wrong way and I suddenly gain five pounds.  I'm not happy about it at all.

Damon Loftis.  The Silver Fox.

Slowly waking up around the fire pit.

Now for some random shots around the campsite. . .

The Loftis tent.

Ours.

The Smith tent.

Smitty and Rita's.

One of the kids scrawled this across a picnic table bench in chalk.  Seemed fitting.

Abby had been asking me for the last day or so to spin her around on this throwback classic, which the KOA still had in operation at their playground.  You practically never see these things in operation anymore - you know, 'cause they're straight-up death traps - so I highly encouraged her to make the most out of it.  Zack's daughter, Brailey, came along as well.

I may have gone over the top a little bit with spinning her around and around, nonstop.  She complained I was going way too fast, but what she failed to realize was that was the only way you ride one of these things.  Abby didn't grow up in the '80s and it really shows.

Aaaaaaand she was nauseous for the next hour or so.  Grade A parenting, folks.

Most of the group decided that we'd spend some time shopping around St. Joseph today, with Zack and Damon's families opting instead to spend the day at the beach.  Before launching into full store-browsing mode, however, we decided to hit up Clementine's - a local staple - for lunch. 

Zack helps Damon put on his Vera Wang face mask.  Seriously.

 

Apparently this joint is famous for their onion rings.  We made it a point to eat our weight in fried awesomeness today.

We all hate face masks.

Waiting for food.

When we finally did get food, it was pretty damn good.  We all gorged ourselves, though, so it took a few hours of walking around downtown going in and out of shops for the food coma to subside.

After lunch, we found a decent parking spot downtown, a short walk from the shopping district.  Zack and Damon opted to head back to their respective families, with Smitty and Rita joining us for an afternoon shopping venture (both our kids were clamoring for it.)

This town reminds me a lot of Traverse City - very similar shopping area.

Um. . . . art?   And is the 'Keep Off' sign really necessary?  These chairs are, like, fifteen feet off the frickin' ground - if anyone can seriously climb up that brick wall like Spiderman, I feel they've earned the right to sit in those chairs.

Kris read 'wine' and immediately sprang into action.  It was only after I started weeding through all the pictures I took on this trip that I realized this winery is named after my middle school.

Smitty was still on a quest to find some kind of an umbrella or tent to shield his ginger ass from the intense sun whilst enjoying the local beaches, so we stopped into this general store-ish souvenir store first.  And no, Abby did not end up buying this hat. . . despite her valiant attempts.

Rita and Smitty, perusing wares.

 

After buying Smitty a beach tent, we soldiered on.

Shit like this practically demands you take a picture with it.

So this was a huge antique store, and, lie most antique stores, was pretty over-priced.  They had a pretty good selection of vinyl, however, and it was reasonably priced (between $6 and $10 for most LPs.)  By using the Discogs app on my phone, I was able to ascertain that they weren't priced based on their worth - the owner just guesstimated their value.  I ended up picking up five or six albums - by Yes, The Small Faces, Loggins & Messina, etc. - after realizing they were all worth $10 or more over what they were priced.  Not a bad bit of business if I do say so myself.

We tried to get Zack to come back and later and buy this hat, but he never got around to it.  Which is sad.

A pretty cool skate and surf shop.  If they would've had more skate merch and less surf merch, I could've dropped some money in this place.

A home decor store that Kris and Rita spent far too much time in.

Alayna and I waited outside for them.  You can tell we're having a blast.

 

Nyuck nyuck.

Planning our next move.

Kris' resting bitch face.

Pretty typical souvenir shop.  If you've been in one, you've been in them all.

I love classic architecture.

A couple kids, about to murder a poor animal.

A Historical Marker?  Don't mind if I do. . .

The Cannonball inspects a cannon.

The pizzeria must be destroyed. . . 

Is it possible to have too many pictures of cannons?  The answer, dear readers, is no.  No it is not.

Lakeside St. Joseph.

A splash zone of some sort.

(That's Smitty's new beach tent Alayna is holding.)

Abby and Cannonballs.

 

Re-organizing plunder while I take a ridiculous amount of pictures of my kids and a cannon.

We had a lady who was standing nearby take a picture of our group with this thing, not realizing at the time that she was on the phone.  She was on the phone, ordering pizza for her family, and SHE PUT THE PIZZA GUY ON PHONE TO TAKE THIS PICTURE.   Appreciate the hell out of this picture, folks.  That lady is my hero.

Back at camp, time to crack into Brother Washington. . .

Smith and Smitty attempt to fix Smitty's chair after Abby - of course it was Abby - broke the headrest off it.

The Cannonball, lost in her current book.

I think we're pretty set for firewood this weekend.

After dinner, we decided to all head up the road for another sunset session at the beach.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so the sunset pics aren't as dramatic as they could be, but - as you're about to see - I did manage to snap a few solid ones (including the mandatory 'boat driving through the sun's light, rippling off the waves' pic.)

The kids got back in the water, not caring if the temperature was falling into the low 70s.

Abby

The Cannonball

 

Smitty wrangles kids on the beach

Setting up shop for our brief hour-long visit.

Dads in the lake.

 

Zack rough-housed with the kids while throwing around a football with Damon, and he definitely felt it in the morning.  We're to that age now.

Ball loose.

Smitty makes a dramatic catch.

Hough girls.  Balancing the exposures of the sunset and the kids, and not having them back-lit, was a royal pain in the ass, let me assure you.

Trying out some settings with Kris and the girls.  A bunch of folks wanted pics of their families standing in front of the sunset, so I had to juggle some settings real quick and hope for the best.

 

The Houghs.

Farwell High School's finest, reliving their not-so-glorious days.

Zack, Renee, and a couple of their kids.

This one's the most accurate, I think.

The Loftis Clan.

Between takes.

Rita and Smitty.

We decided we should get a group picture, and began the long, ardous process of assembling all the kids together in a big group.  Once finished, Smitty flagged down a nearby mom for assistance.

Not bad for being taken on Kris' phone (my camera was too intimidating for her.)

Heading back to the cars.

Not sure what these giant metal things are, but they extended from the bluffs all the way into the lake, going out at least 50 - 100 feet.

Back at camp once again, the kids in bed, and the adults sitting around enjoying a quiet evening campfire.

- Brian