Adventure Time!

What do we have here? Just two tired, puffy-faced idiots who just got back from their very first road trip together! Did we exhaust ourselves? Yes. Was it worth it? %10000.

Dave’s beautiful sister, and my sister-in-law, Emily, got married last Saturday! The wedding was held in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, a 9 hour drive from Detroit. Sadly, I have no photos from the drive out due to having my phone replaced. Basically just picture Dave and I stuffing ourselves with delicious tacos and snacks, and me begrudgingly setting up my new iPhone during said 9 hours.

…thanks, Apple.

We arrived late at night on Thursday, and Emily was so very kind and sweet and stayed up to wait for us. Speaking of kind and sweet, meet Thor!

The next morning everyone was up early, and I finally got to meet more of Dave’s family. It was a busy day, and everyone had running around to do before the rehearsal dinner. Dave was asked to officiate the wedding (he was NERVOUS), and since we did not have a million things to do like everyone else, we went exploring!

The first thing Dave took me to see was the Mississippi River! I have been to NOLA a few times, but have only flown over the river. Next, we wandered through the downtown area. Prairie du Chein is a very small, but adorable town. We immediately got coffees from the cutest cafe, Simply Cafe. Dave noticed that they mix their own spices for the dirty chai he ordered me, and it was fucking amazing. We then wandered through the little shops; a thrift store, a vintage shop, a shoe store that had loads of cute boots (I obviously wanted all of them), and made our way to a bar to get food.

We all stayed at the hotel that the wedding was in, and the rehearsal dinner was great, I got to meet so many family members! Dave and I wandered back out after a few drinks with everyone, and ended up at a little bar with live music going on (we are sluts for live music).

The next morning was the start of the big day! Dave was up stupid-early (again, nervous af), going over everything that needed to be done.

As you can imagine (you’ll have to because below are the only photos I took), the wedding was %100 beautiful! I absolutely loved Emily’s dress, the decorations, everything. I feel bad for not taking any photos, but, in my defense I was having a fantastic time with some pretty cool people. There are a few photos on Facebook, by the incredibly talented photographer, Mary Hampton (seriously, she SLAYED). Also, Dave did a fantastic job as the officiant. I love, and am so very proud of him.

Also, also, Oath-binder, Oracle of the Dawn and i cleaned up well.

We headed out early on Sunday morning, and everyone was up at the hotel having coffee and breakfast. I really loved meeting Dave’s family, and I was thankful that we were able to say good-bye to everyone.

Dave and I then headed back to MI, stopping for the night in Grand Rapids to meetup with some friends.

I have been to Grand Rapids a few times, but hadn’t been downtown in a minute. We ended up meeting our friends at Stella’s Lounge, which was really cute! Obviously, we love random-nerd decor, and this place nailed it. The food was pretty good, too! One of the bestest BLTs I have had, and I have consumed MANY.

We then checked into our hotel, and made our way out to peruse the local bars. We ended up spending most of the night at The Apartment Lounge, where they were hosting Showtunes Sunday Karaoke, and it was lit! There are many, many talented singers out there, I am not one of them, so we did not partake but did enjoy! We also made friends, who we then ran into again at The Grand Coney, which is an incredible experience at 3:30am, if you were wondering.

The next morning, we stopped to get caffeine, then headed to Lansing. We were on a mission to find a cool gaming shop, which we did, but not before a legit, accidental side-quest to the mall. Which ended up being a cool experience, because we stumbled across Schuler Books, an independent bookstore, and it was not only huge as hell, but also packed! It was really nice seeing not only a bookstore doing well, but one located in a mall. A what a wonderful, beautiful relic!

The Gaming Cantina was choc-full of all kinds of goodies! We left with two mystery bags; A D&D one for Dave, and a Stranger Things one for myself. We decided to eat our first meal of the day at 3:30pm, at Tavern 109, and to open said mystery bags…and also put together Legos, because I am literally twelve. The bartender was really excited, she likes Legos, so it was nice to meet another twelve year old in the wild.

Because a million hours in the car wasn’t enough, we decided to not take the freeway the rest of the way home, and to instead take Grand River all the way. We stopped once more at New Way Inn, a place that neither Dave or I had been in ages. There have been MANY a drunken nights spent there. Woof.

This was not only our first road trip together, it was also our first real vacation. We haven’t even taken our honeymoon yet, because we are living that entrepreneur life (A.K.A., always busy). So many thank-yous to Emily and Dylan for getting married, on the most beautiful Saturday in February in existence, and for Dave for driving the entire trip. I actually managed to only nod off three times, coloring books came in clutch!

We have a lot of big things coming up, and hopefully I will be able to share about some of them soon. I am forever grateful for this time with Dave, and his wonderful family <3

*I was not paid, nor asked to provide links. I just like supporting the little guys :)

Until next post!

📍Detroit, MI.

Sara Bellum