Jung Family Vacation in South Haven, Michigan, Day 2: South Haven Light, Racing the Rain, and Board Games

July 20, 2018

Nothing says weekend vacation breakfast quite like fancy donuts.

We didn’t have much planned, in terms of group activities… and were really playing things by ear. Stacey found out about South Haven Light, and it was quite close by… so we headed out there together.

I kept an eye on the weather app all morning, and we actually were in for some luck. The morning was gorgeous – clear, blue skies and lots of sun. We had some warnings about thunderstorms in the afternoon (along with damaging winds and hail). But that wasn’t slated until later on.

Around this time, Liz remarked to me how long it had been since we were near a body of water. This, despite living so close to the lake ourselves.

I found this rather unnerving.

There’s a catwalk that leads to the tower itself, though I’m still confused as to why such a thing was necessary.

Passageway.

Looking across, to a nearby pier.

We saw a lot of fun stuff, when we arrived near the lighthouse. There were two gentlemen who were fishing out there, and packing up their gear (including a huge fish he had caught earlier). Three young men arrived on their bikes, and one of them jumped off the edge (doing a flip). The coast guard had just come by, and either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

A ship, coming in to dock.

Given how strong the winds were, this thing was rocking back and forth a great deal, side to side, as it came in.

Walking around downtown South Haven, we split up wandered around a bit. Liz and I got some coffee, then met up with everyone else at “The Blueberry Store.”

Jahnu: “What do you think they sell in there?”
Me: “Probably apples.”

We went in to Clementine’s for lunch (love their domain name), and I felt compelled to order the onion rings. And super glad I did.

My dad executed a pro move, in terms of being sneaky. Within our family, as I assume is the case for many Asian families, people fight to get the bill. When we were kids, my sister and I were used by our parents to covertly pay for the family meal, whenever our relatives were in town. And of course, my uncles and aunts employed my cousins to try to do the same, everyone trying to “get the bill” first.

My dad ordered a soup and a salad for lunch. But as the waitress was walking away, he asked if he could look at the salad dressing again. Siting right next to me, he opened up the menu, and pointed and said to the waitress “Ranch. This one.”

I didn’t even realize what was going on, until Liz leaned over and said “Your dad just grabbed the bill.” Apparently, he had pulled out his credit card and showed the waitress, blocking the whole transaction from me using the menu. Liz said she saw my dad pointing, and the waitress nodding.

So sneaky!

Liz and I split off a little early after lunch, and headed out to the nearby Meijer to get some supplies. We had a few basic items to stock up on, as well as some ingredients for dinner.

The timing of the storm varied, throughout the day. At times, it was looking like 3 or 4PM, at other times around 1:30 PM.

Inside the entrance, about to head out to the car. Everyone is cautious about the rain, and waiting things out.

Back at the house, we broke out our new copy of Ticket to Ride. We seem to be getting on the board game train (see what I did there) late, and are about 10 years behind the rest of the world.

The rules were super confusing to me at first, what with the various colors of the cards, routes, and actual train pieces. But after playing through once, things got super clear and became much easier.

Jasmine ended up winning the game! And also got the longest route.

Cooking dinner.

Post dinner, even more games. Liz got introduced to Aggravation (which Stacey brought), and I broke out our new copy of Santorini.

We started “The Hobbit” rather late in the evening, after learning that the kids hadn’t yet seen it. We got pretty far, but had to stop given the lateness of the hour.