I say Yes! To Michigan!

I'm really into Michigan. We spent the past few days staying in a hotel right outside of Ann Arbor. Like in Illinois, we had some time off. Unlike in Illinois, those days were interesting.

Liz is from the Ann Arbor area, so after we dropped her off at her house, the remaining four of us checked into our hotel, where Jeremy decided that it would be a great idea to force me and Stacie to watch "Paranormal Activity" with him. To put it lightly, horror is not my favorite film genre. In fact, I don't know if, prior to this trip, I've ever really watched a horror movie all the way through. Sometimes I get scared just reading summaries of horror movies on Wikipedia.

I spent much of "Paranormal Activity" with my hand over my face, wondering when it would end. Stacie and I had already realized that one of Jeremy's great passions in life is scaring people. He likes to hide in various locations and jump out at random times. So as soon as the movie was over and Jeremy went back to the room he was sharing with Katie, we locked our adjoining door, knowing that he would seize any opportunity to capitalize on how freaked out we were. We watched a couple of happy videos online to distract ourselves from thoughts of demons and death, and then I started to get blocked calls on my phone. Whenever I answered, I was met with complete silence on the other end. I wasn't scared because I knew they were from Jeremy, but he kept calling and calling (about 20 times in 5 minutes) so finally Stacie and I opened the door to tell him to stop. When we opened the door, he came into our room to talk to us for a bit, and then told us that we should come into his room to watch a funny video that we "just had to see." So we went, and ended up watching stuff on his bed for about 15 minutes while he supposedly went into the hall to talk on the phone. Eventually, Katie said that she was going to bed (it was now about 3 in the morning) so Stacie and I walked back into our room with growing suspicion. Together, we undertook a thorough search of the room, looking under tables and behind curtains. Finally, we advanced towards the bathroom. As we opened the door, Jeremy jumped out from behind the shower curtain, and it was terrifying.

Turns out that when he came into our room to talk to us after the phone calls, he sat down next to our key and pocketed it. Thank goodness that we checked the room before going to bed, because if we hadn't found him, his plan was to wait until we had turned out the lights, and then stand over our beds for a little while before jumping on us.

Other exciting events from Michigan: We went horseback riding! Liz took us to this national park outside of Ann Arbor, where we got to ride on this absolutely beautiful trail through the woods. The day was perfect, with the leaves in full autumn turning mode. I haven't ridden a horse except for once at a birthday party in elementary school, so I was a bit nervous (especially when I had to sign my life away.) But my horse, Danny, was big and gentle and very methodical about going up and down hills. All the horses had done the trail so often that they seemed to be on auto-pilot, even seeming to know when the lady leading us was going to have us trot (kind of painful but also super-fun.) After the hour on horseback, we played around on the swings and just enjoyed the weather and being outdoors, out of a city. Other activities included bowling, poking around vintage shops in Ann Arbor, and attending a Grease sing-a-long replete with goody bags and a costume contest.

But the most wonderful part of Michigan was, without doubt, the theater in which we got to perform. The Michigan Theater, located smack-dab in the middle of Ann Arbor, doesn't necessarily look like much from the outside. At first I thought it was just a cute, old-style movie theater with a big old marquee out front. But then I walked into the gigantic lobby, with its open staircases leading to the balcony, chandeliers, and high, high ornamented ceiling. This theater is gorgeous, covered in gold patterned designs. Also, it's freaking huge, easily seating over 1500 people. AND! They have an organ, painted gold and red, that raises up to stage height so that, before shows, an organist can sit there and play beautiful music while people file in! Before our show, the organist played a whole bunch of classic showtunes which just added to the old-time theater-y feel of it all. While I do actually (surprisingly?) enjoy performing in school gyms, it was so nice to be on a professional stage. And they even printed lovely programs for us and put us on the marquee! We had some minor freak outs of joy when we saw "Amber Brown Is Not A Crayon" listed all over this big old marquee while walking down a major city street. If you want to see pretty pictures of the theater, here's their slideshow: http://michtheater.org/about.php

After the show, we went out to meet the kids and sign autographs. They were, as always, really adorable. Some were super-shy while others just barged right up to us and started chatting away about their favorite parts and their favorite colors and their lives in general. In the midst of all the craziness, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see a woman holding her daughter by the hand. She asked me if I could please explain to the little girl what it meant to be an actor, and that the play wasn't actually real. At first I thought that she wanted me to explain because her daughter was interested in acting, but then I realized that the little girl was sobbing. She thought that my best friend really was moving away, and that devastated her. I tried to tell her that it was just make believe and that, even if he did move away, we would still stay best friends. But nothing could console her. And then I realized that her mom was crying a little bit too, hating to see her daughter upset. Part of me felt kind of guilty that we'd caused this girl to be so sad. But the more selfish part of me was excited to see proof that we'd actually made people feel things. Sometimes during the show I worry that the kids stop paying attention as soon as we move past the worms and the chewing gum and into the more serious parts, that we're just up there acting for children who would rather be elsewhere. This was a nice reminder that, even if some kids bounce up and down in their seats, others do care (maybe, as in the case of this little girl, too much.)

And then, we moved on! Stories about Indiana and more upstate New York adventures to come soon...