{"id":222,"date":"2013-03-11T17:21:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T21:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=222"},"modified":"2013-03-12T16:39:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T20:39:10","slug":"a-michigan-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"A Meditation on the Mitten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As I sit in the airport, waiting to fly back to my current home in Port Orange, I am filled with sadness for the friends that I am leaving behind. I love this state and I love the winter&#8230; Although I sometimes think I would rather just have a nice full on winter as opposed to the slushy pseudo winter we usually get in southwest Michigan, I still love it. I am also filled with excitement and joy as I remember the experiences of the last 10 days&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>It all started with Founders!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0397.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0397.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0397.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And a MUCH MISSED Red&#8217;s Rye.<\/p>\n<p>Then to a warm reception by the burger crew.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0378.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0378.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0378.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And off to Gabe&#8217;s for a few days where we did some bathroom work<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0387.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0387.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0387.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Played a totally sweet and lewd card game<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0388.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0388.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0388.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And had some excellent conversation.<\/p>\n<p>From there, I hooked up with D and BRobb for some sushi and beers in Lansing&#8230; Then to the Loo for some family time and, of course, the Blue Shamrock with Gav and Linz! I then hooked up with Josh, Les, and Emily for a few nights filled with bourbon and vinyl!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0391.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0391.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0391.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next on the list, J and I blasted up M37 to the beautiful gem of northern Michigan, Traverse City for great food,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0407.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0407.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0407.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>New and old friends reacquainted,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0418.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0418.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0418.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And massive fun at the outdoor wedding of my &#8220;cousin&#8221; Brian and his fantastic wife, Sarna.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0420.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0420.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wpid-IMAG0420.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From there I was able to sneak in a night with TBone, Eliza-B, and the super sweet Ivy where I was shocked by another <a href=\"http:\/\/sustainablygrounded.org\">Sustainably Grounded<\/a> spark&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I wrapped it all up with a night at the GTS home and their newest, cutest, little addition, Regan.<\/p>\n<p>The time flew by and I hardly had a chance to properly appreciate the amazing social circle of friends and family that I share in Michigan&#8230; all of whom I love with my whole heart.<br \/>\nThank you to all who offered me a couch, those who opened your life up for a brief yet meaningful moment to spend your hard earned time sharing it with me! I will see you all again very soon I hope, and look forward to the adventure that meeting creates!<br \/>\nBe well, my Michigan family&#8230;<br \/>\nSo much love,<br \/>\n-B<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I sit in the airport, waiting to fly back to my current home in Port Orange, I am filled with sadness for the friends that I am leaving behind. I love this state and I love the winter&#8230; Although I sometimes think I would rather just have a nice full on winter as opposed to the slushy pseudo winter&#8230;<span class=\"path-read-more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=222\" title=\"A Meditation on the Mitten\">  Read more &rarr; <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grand-rapids","category-places","category-trail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}