Day 51. Ann Arbor, rest day

What a great day. I had never been to Ann Arbor, and since giving up my prejudice against small cities I have really grown to love some. University towns, with their bookstores and bike lanes, definitely rank near the top, and Ann Arbor has a whole dang river running through it to boot.

I woke up fairly early and drank coffee on our deck, read some Nora Ephron (our room had a great book collection), and watched the bold and well-fed red squirrels dart around the various decks adorning the house, each with umbrellas for shade and decorated with whimsical art and plants.

When Andrew woke up, we had breakfast in the equally charmingly-appointed kitchen/dining area. The owner was apparently an antiques dealer at some point (among other careers—she also wrote a book on time management for women and one on inn-keeping), and there was so much to look at. Emily once described my style as tending toward something like “artsy eclectic maximalism,” and I think this house exemplified the aesthetic, with an emphasis on rainbows and vintage toys.

After breakfast, we spent a couple of hours on the less fun aspect of the trip: logistics. Andrew has been graciously carrying the weight of our house and pets and plants (which are apparently flourishing under his care!), and while I have been free-birding it, he has patiently waited for me to get to a point where I can pick a firm end date. Today was that day: there were plane tickets to be bought and accommodations and car rental reservations to be made.

As thing were turning out, my end date was looking to be a Monday, not ideal for Andrew’s work schedule. So we spent some time splitting up longer—and mountainous—days in the east and adjusting the spreadsheet until we had a Bar Harbor arrival date of Friday, August 19. That in place, we dealt with the other items with dispatch and liberated ourselves into the beautiful afternoon.

Our first stop, foolishly, was a used bookstore. Dawn Treader (“Is that some kind of religious or sci fi bookstore? Let’s just pop in and see.”) turned out to be an excellent bookstore, and we left sometime later sufficiently burdened to necessitate an immediate return trip to our place to drop off our bounty.

We wandered around the Main Street neighborhood, checking out murals and shops and stocking up on snacks (some of us).

Worn out by our touristing, we stopped into brewery for drinks and some truffle fries.

That revived us enough to get us back to the b&b, where we lounged for a bit before heading back out for dinner.

Does it look like all we did was eat and drink delicious things? That is not inaccurate, and it was GREAT.

Sated and beyond, we made our way back to the place for the night. Because Andrew will be my sag wagon for the next couple of days, I’ll be riding without panniers, which feels a little weird. But as I said to him, the only reason to ride with them would be sheer cussedness, so I’m taking advantage. This means tomorrow, already on the short end, will hopefully be a bit faster, and I can get a later start in the morning. Lap of luxury.