Courtlin Saw 5 Million X-Mas Lights in Michigan This Weekend

Well, I'm back! After about 5 days of vacation in my home state of Michigan, I have officially returned, and I already can't wait to get back in 24 days for Christmas. My drive back to Iowa yesterday went very smoothly, but I definitely cannot say the same about my drive FROM Iowa on Wednesday. They say that the day before Thanksgiving is one of the worst traffic days of the year, and every year I continue to do it. Well, not anymore. Not after this year. Within the first two hours of my drive, I had already added over an hour onto my ETA. We were completely stopped for 10 minutes at a time and then had to be directed off the highway, which was closed down for several hours because of an accident. And then the hundreds of cars directed off all had to take the same one-lane road through this tiny Illinois town for several miles, which added on another 40 minutes to my trip. On top of that fiasco, my "Low Tire Pressure" light came on, so I had to mentally prepare myself for a possible flat the rest of my drive. It was a freaking nightmare.

Aside from that, I had a truly wonderful weekend with my family and friends (and dogs). Thursday we went to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm happy to announce that my taco dip was a huge hit! Later on that evening I was concerned that my heartburn would actually kill me, but luckily I survived. Friday morning, my mom and I got up at 5:30 to do a little Black Friday shopping, and on Saturday afternoon I went to visit my 99-year-old grandmother. Saturday night was pretty awesome because my best friend and I went to Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo. The whole zoo is decorated with 5 MILLION Christmas lights, and although I didn't see a single animal, it was still pretty awesome. And then on Sunday, my friends and I went to Downtown Detroit to check out all the Christmas decorations, and we stopped at a new restaurant in Midtown called Royale with Cheese. It was UNREAL. Seriously, look at these photos:

It's one of my new favorite restaurants in Detroit and I WILL be back.

Here are some other photos from my trip back to Michigan this weekend: