Thursday, June 20, 2013

Grand Rapids & Rogers City, Michigan, United States

After Flat Kelly's lost weeks in Canada, she was shipped back to the United States for a grand tour! And her first stop was Grand Rapids, Michigan with the always awesome Nicole. Keep on reading for Nicole's account of their time together!


Flat Kelly was very busy from the moment she arrived in Grand Rapids! She arrived and went straight for celebratory drinks to celebrate Nicole's sister Jessica's new job.



Then, we didn't do anything for a couple of days, but then there was the New Found Glory Concert




Then it was Memorial Day weekend and not a lot happened. Nicole had a lot going on at work, and it was raining and cold, and yeah. We watched a lot of tv. There aren't any pictures of that, but we watched a lot of Hoarding: Buried Alive. For Kelly's final weekend in Michigan, we headed up north (almost to the Mackinac Bridge, but not quite.) We attended my soon to be cousin Amy's bridal shower, and had a pretty good time. Rogers City, Michigan is famous for a few things. 1st up: Shipwrecks. Rogers City sits directly on Lake Huron and is the home of the world's largest limestone quarry. The shower was at a restaurant called The Lighthouse, and as you can see, Kelly enjoyed the murals on the wall.. and had to have a Titanic moment. 



(How could you NOT have this photo op?)


The room we had the shower in was decorated as a flower garden, and again, we had some fun posing in the daisies.




Then we headed over to Plath's Meat Market. No, it's not a strip club. Plath's is world famous for their prime rib, sausages and various other cuts of meat. You can't come to Rogers City and not pose with the Plath's hot dog. In fact, we had to wait in line behind a little boy who was posing with his finger stuck up the hot dog's nose. Good times.


(That's Nicole and Flat Kelly together - and Nicole's outfit is totally cute)



After that, we took a little drive down to Lake Huron, but it was so overcast, you can't quite tell the lake from the sky. You can however, see the huge Lady Liberty Fist of Freedom that is built entirely of steel. We did not get to see the pirate ship, the soldier's head, or the eagle, but really.. the Fist of Freedom is pretty awesome.



You would think after that, Nicole and Kelly would just hang out at Nicole's mom's house and lay low. Oh no. All sorts of shenanigans happen at Nicole's mom's house..


Real Life Kelly is super jealous of this Princess Di cardboard cutout. 



Dinosaur attack - say what?! 

 
Needless to say, Nicole and Kelly had a great time in Michigan!

And I had a great time going through the photos! Thank you very much for hosting Flat Kelly as she returned to the US and for helping me to live many of my pop-culture dreams (Titanic photo shoot, Jurassic park re-enactments, meeting Princess Di... good times, Michigan, good times). 


Up next - FK heads to the Midwest! 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Flat Kelly's Lost Weeks in Canada...

After the lovely Elaine took Flat Kelly around the eastern part of Canada, she was sent on to Miss Rachael for the western part of Canada, and things got a little crazy... 

Along with losing her camera, Rachael also ended up with a virus on her computer, which is why this blog post took a little longer than the others. Read below for Rachael's account of their time together! 


Welcome to Canada Kelly! 





Sadly Flat Kelly came to me right in the middle of finals and job searching. Her first nights here she spent listening to me memorize poems from the romantic era and watching me pull an all nighter studying for a final on Canadian corrections. 

However once finals were over, Kelly and I hit the streets of east Vancouver for what was supposed to be dinner and drinks bit turned into me waking up with a mans phone number written on my jeans. 













Kelly soon became my close pal as we went from interview to interview. Our favourite was the seafood restaurant where the interview took place next to a tank of live crabs. We wanted to bring one home as a pet. 



We drank together. 



Did laundry together.



We drank together.



We ran from the cops. Twice. (No pictures of that one! Rachael is very talented, but that would have been a little difficult to pose for). Kelly even got to spend a little time in my rugby bag going to netball practice. I'm sorry if she smells like my feet. 

And FK's travel journal is there too!


Hands down the best outting was when I took Kelly to my Starbucks. The manager insisted that no photos were allowed to be taken and said that if I tried then I'd be asked to leave. And then one of her employees posed for a pic of Kelly while the guy with stretchers in his nose called me crazy. A man with a nose piercing that you could fit a straw through in each nostril called me crazy.  I also spent two hours in there with Kelly writing as we enjoyed our blended lemonade.


Ha! Take that, snooty manager. 


And that was Kelly's life with me. Well the life that I remember since I got black out drunk one might and wrote a letter to myself. I put that in the book.
All in all...Flat Kelly's life in the greater Vancouver area turned out nicely. And by nicely I mean that I didn't lose her or wind up in jail with her. 
And look, she learned how to play pool! Or billiards. Or whatever those Canadians call it... 

Thank you so very much, Rachael, for taking Flat Kelly all around Vancouver with you! It sounds like she had many, many adventures (some things that happen in Vancouver, however, must stay in Vancouver...) I love the pictures and it looks like a blast! Plus, the infamous Starbucks! Thank you, thank you!