Griswold Family Vacation

It really wasn't a family vacation, more a business trip. I was asked to visit our environmental chamber company in Allegan, Michigan. They put me up in a quaint bed and breakfast so I thought, 'Hey, Jen and Oz might want to come along and enjoy the scenery and sights of Allegan and beautiful Lake Michigan'. We have never traveled with the kid, this was a new experience for us as was evident with our overloaded Rav4. We probably brought too much but we wanted to make sure Oz was happy. Our biggest fear was an unhappy Oz on the mapquested four and a half hour drive. Mapquest was wrong, it was more like five and a half, with an unexpected stop in Southbend Indiana. I couldn't decide which map site to use, mapquest had us going up US31 while google had us traveling I-69 and cutting across Michigan. I chose 31 because I spend a lot of time on I-69 and I am not fond of the cocaine highway. US-31 isn't bad, as long as you don't hit it at rush hour and don't mind Kokomo. Really there wasn't much of an issue with traffic, on this leg of the trip. We left Indy around 11:30 and got to Allegan shortly after 5. A nice little town, the bed and breakfast situated right in the heart. We decided to wander around a little after spending an hour hauling everything from the back of the vista cruiser to our second floor room. As we walked in the general direction of downtown, easily found due to the many "Welcome to Downtown Allegan" signs hanging from lamps, we strolled by a church and then an oddly barbed wired building which we fondly referred to as "the Yard". Yes, just down the street from our quaint inn could be found the county lock-up. Oz was not witness to any shankings, pity. Allegan shuts down around 7, so there was no place to eat besides the local pizza hut, so we decided to try a restaurant we passed on our trip in, the Grill House. Yes, you too can pay to grill your own steak. We grilled a steak, ate some delicious potatoes and had a few glasses of wine. Oz was adored by everyone who walked by and we liked it so much, we went back the next night. Allegan did not have much to keep Jen occupied but we were supposedly within spitting distance of several larger Michigan cities and my wife doesn't do well with directions, especially with a crying kid in the car. I had a cunning plan, brilliant on so many levels. We all know that Walmart is the downfall of civilization, but damn if they don't have a good selection of electronics at bargain basement prices. I finally own a GPS, a TomTom. I do a lot of driving for my job and I have been dieing to get one for months. Of course I had to spend the next two days in meetings so I wasn't going to enojy my new toy. It turns out Jen wasn't going to either. Poor Oz was diagnosed with dual ear infections on Monday and the poor guy was just not happy. So Jen was stuck in the Inn most of the day and unable to play with TomTom. Never fear, for we decided to rely on TomTom for our trip plans home. It turns out that is not always a good idea. TomTom decided that traveling across 94 to 65 south would save us an hour over traveling down US31. I like to get home fast, Jen wanted to get home, Oz wanted to get home. So we took 94. As we neared 65 I started to notice the signs. Signs that ominously mentioned road closings and detours, floods and other terrors. I had no choice, TomTom told me to keep going. Then it happened, as it always does when I drive to the NW side of Indiana. I hate the NW side of Indiana. Traffic sucks, the interstates are always torn up and I just hate it. I should have known better, but there we were in downtown Gary, murder capital of Indiana, surrounded by semi trucks and a wailing baby in the back seat. Did I mention TomTom kept yelling at me to get back on 94 which was under water. I wrestled with TomTom until it finally spit a way out of hell and we eventually made it home. Please enjoy this music montage of our first family road trip. No pictures of the road, just Oz in Allegan

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