College Visit #6 - SVSU

Still a couple more visits, we took Nick the farthest north he's been into Michigan to Saginaw Valley State University. He had a free day from school since underclassmen were testing, so we used it for a campus visit. Beautiful campus on a perfect fall afternoon, their Engineering facility was a little smaller than others but sufficient, and dormitories with privacy were really the differentiator. (Of course they sell the campus with their dining options, which admittedly were impressive.) It's a smaller school of roughly 7,500 students, and a little newer, est. 1963, so nicer facilities in some respects. You can walk the entire campus from indoor walkways, which is nice in the winter. Their transfer program is more transparent, which helps with us living so close to MCCC. Ended with what felt like a hard sales push, but Nick and I feel it's worth consideration, a top-three pick so far.

We seem to be far along the application process now, having submitted applications to two schools, and already receiving an acceptance letter from WMU. We'll go into the winter still maneuvering all of the financial websites, but the picture is getting clearer, and Nick is clearly excited by the possibilities. In all, we've got lots of good options.

Also a first for both Brandi and Nick, we had lunch in Frankenmuth, to experience the famous chicken dinner. It did not disappoint. Then a nice walk outdoors for chocolate and cheese, and a long ride home.

A few pics here.

Summer 2024

I do appreciate that Nick seems unphased by peer pressure. His mother called him a loser for not going to Krepp's Apple Orchard with us, and he just shrugged it off with an 'OK' and wandered back up to his laptop. It's AI that gets him all worked up, just the mention of an AI tool and he starts cursing, which isn't good because it's going to be a part of his future, there's no avoiding it. If he can just figure out his left from his right, that will help.

We filled the summer with something nearly every weekend:
I saw some great classics at the Radwood car show at Hart Plaza one weekend with Donny, and a stop at Grandma Bob's pizza.
Railroad Camp wasn't what we expected, outdoors in the rain and the cold, so Nick cozied up with his mother at the Holiday Inn up the road. So much for roughing it.
Nick and I stopped into the Flags/Veteran's Car Show in Sylvania for a second year, and walked the show with Kim. The vehicles are getting familiar now from around the area.  Nick parked his Cavalier inside the show, next to a Boss 302. The photo is next to Kim's Hummer H1 with her and Eleannora.
We applied the blacktop sealer onto Grandpa's driveway, and got the pool covered with less than five minutes remaining in the summer (we pulled the cover and the leaves fell minutes later.)

Nick has a good parking spot in the SFS lot after doing our homework last year, he drives in about 3-4 days a week.
And I enjoyed a couple of afternoons with my office colleagues, one at Alan's house where I played in the sandbox with the kids, and the Tigers Game to watch Tarik Skubal pitch, one of the few losses for the team which ran off a 31-11 record to end the season, their best ball in a decade.

Nick and I are trying to get back into a workout routine, and started back to the YMCA at least one evening a week.  We're picking up my old routine again, although he runs while I swim.  Brandi has been walking, but pinched her shoulder or arm, and complained she now that she, 'can't pitch out of the dog pen.'

Pics here.

Senior Pictures Class of 2025

Senior pictures here from the photo shoot we did back in June, around the downtown Toledo area.  Nick wasn't thrilled with the process, but the results are pretty good.  He selected most of the outfits, and of course the vehicle was provided. We might need to do another round of these, we shall see.  Not sure what kids do with these anymore, other than a professional profile photo, they don't pass them around like the old days.

 

 

 

 

 

Link here to all of the photos.

Grand Canyon 2024

A short business trip and cheap flights led to a 6-day vacation for the three of us to Arizona, a trip on Brandi's bucket list.

Thursday was an easy flight with a little maneuvering around security and the Delta software mess nearly resolved. We landed early morning in Phoenix and checked into the Embassy downtown, grabbed a quick bite at Pino's Pizza and settled in.  So hot, 115 degrees, like sticking your face in an oven, walking a block for lunch was an effort.   Brandi and I had dinner at the famous Durant's with Cheri and Kristopher, outstanding meal, and prepared for our adventures.

Friday was a drive and rest day, we took a scenic route up to our hotel in Flagstaff, through Sedona for some shaved ice and amazing views of the mountainous topography. Forty-five minutes of winding roads thru the forest was awesome.

Saturday was up at 3:30 AM local time to spend 9 hours on a bus that day for 2.5 hours on the Colorado River.  The tour company was a bit of a cluster (A/C broken in the bus), busing us all over to accommodate others, but the raft time was memorable. A raft for twenty of us traveled a couple miles thru the canyon, plus a boxed turkey sandwich, with our guide Scooter from Ohio, where we saw wild horses and sheep, stopped along the shore to see some Indian hieroglyphics, and swam in the cool river (57 degrees).  The views were breathtaking. By the end of the day we were fried, found some lousy food and back to bed.  We also came away with a cool photo at sunrise along the road up to the airport where we started.

Sunday was a free day, Nick and toured around downtown Flagstaff, checked out several miles of Route 66 and the remaining neon, and he experienced his first In-n-Out burger. Brandi got her stop at the local Goodwill.

Monday was Nick's highlight, the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams, AZ up to Grand Canyon Village, where we wandered for three hours peering into the canyon from above. We had dinner at El Tovar, a 4-star restaurant in the village, my first time eating elk. Mostly pics and a cooler breeze further north, it was a 'now we can say we've seen it' day.  For the train itself, we travelled in the luxury domed car with a full bar and food, and despite some annoying 'entertainment', it was worth the trip. Photos of us standing on the back platform, in the parlor below our car, and enjoying some drinks tell the story.

Photos here in Flikr.

June 2024 + College Visits #4 & 5

On the run every week this month.
Brandi and I got our strawberry picking in earlier this year because of the heat, but the berries were not as impressive.
Nick and I traveled down to Cincinnati to see Noah for his HS graduation. High points of the trip were a stop at the Air Force Museum in Dayton (not our first time) and their D-Day movie which was cool, and a new pizza joint down a country road. He humored me with an evening ballgame of Dayton Dragons v Lansing Lugnuts. No downside to this trip... except maybe for Nick using all the towels in the hotel.

Pool opened this year on June 12, we had a good Wednesday morning with no wind. Nick's notes and photos matter now, as Grandpa is about done with this exercise after 53 years, next year I suspect we'll be opening it on our own. I did get a good video of me cleaning the cover like Brandi's rug guy on YouTube.

Our fourth college visit was Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. This school has moved into a solid second-place spot on Nick's list, with an impressive engineering facility nearby main campus. It was a bit of a drive through Ann Arbor traffic, and early in the morning, but the campus is nicer than the other MAC schools, more impressive than I expected. We had a good tour guide, and seeing the dyno was the highlight. We took the back roads home past Devil's Lake, which isn't as rural as it once was, with dinner in Blissfield at Lena's. This school will be a little tougher commute, but the program is solid for what he wants.

There was a fifth stop at University of Dayton, which I didn't attend, but Brandi and Nick came away unimpressed.  True to the Catholic tradition, this college is the only one that required visitors to pay for a tour.  The church never misses a chance to take in a buck.

Flikr photos here.