Earl
Babbie PhotoJournal
June 2009
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
| 01 |
02 |
03 |
04 |
05 Mary Ann |
06 |
|
| 07 |
08 |
09 |
10 Northward bound |
11 Northward bound |
12 Lilac Festival |
13 Lilac Festival |
| 14 Lilac Festival |
15 Luddington |
16 Luddington |
17 Luddington |
18 Luddington |
19 Homeward Bound |
20 |
| 21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 Civitan |
26 |
27 Beales |
| 28 |
29 |
30 |
June 05
As the HSV Civitan Club winds down, there are some loose ends that need tying up.
Tonight, we had a potluck social gathering that was really a surprise acknowledgement
of Mary Ann Witcraft, our award-winning newsletter editor.
These pictures, incidentally, are stills lifted from videos captured on a
FlipHD camcorder. I'm still learning to use it to best effect.
June 10
Let the Lilac Festival Adventure begin! This morning around six, we pulled
the Prius onto the road and headed north. Our now-familiar route to Michigan
begins with an Eastward leg to West Memphis, then a left turn up through
Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. Not only the route, but some of the landmarks
have become familiar.
Holy Cross, this must be Effingham, Illinois!
In past trips, we have stayed in Effingham, which is about halfway to Ludington, but this trip
has a more ambitious aim, so we felt we should press on a bit.
Champaign, IL, was about halfway from Hot Springs Village to Mackinac City, so we pulled into
a Microtel for the night. Not fancy but it did the job. (Hey, I can see my car from here.)
June 11
On the road by six this morning. Frankly, this trip has more than enough of:
¤ Trucks
¤ Rain
¤ Construction
Still, we pressed on. Once we passed Grand Rapids, the weather began improving, and
we were soon bathed in a sunny day.
We stopped at The Gobbler in Gaylord, a fabled turkey-dinner restaurant that Suze
remembered from earlier times. It was very good though a bigger lunch than either of
us probably needed.
We arrived in Mackinac City around 4:00 p.m., having lost an hour to time zones. Gypsie
(the GPS now has a name) found our hotel with no trouble. It was called the "Dockside"
Best Western, and it was definitely that. Our room overlooked the beach, piers, surf, Huron,
and seagulls.
After exploring the neighborhood and having dinner across the street from the
hotel, we settled into our room and fell asleep with the open porch door letting in
the pounding surf and seagulls.
June 12
Today, the Lilac Festival really begins for us. We repacked for the Island, had
breakfast in the hotel, and headed off in search of a ferry (there are a number to
choose from).
The logistics are very well worked out. The young men tagged our luggage and took it away.
Another one knew how a Prius works. Soon, we were in line and boarding a ferry.
We got some nice views of the Mackinac Bridge, once the longest suspension bridge in the world, now number three or four.
It hasn't gotten any shorter however.
There's the Grand Hotel as seen from the ferry.
Here we are entering the harbor.
After only 15-20 minutes, we were ashore.
There are no motor vehicles, but lots of bikes and horses. (And guys cleaning up after the horses.)
Here's why we came. It's the Lilac Festival, and we came to smell lilacs.
After wandering around the town, getting to know our new environs, we settled in
for a lunch at the Gate House restaurant, just down the hill from the Grand Hotel.
Thinking it was still a little early to check in at the hotel, we explored the town a bit more. Fudge is a big deal here.
We felt obliged to sample some. And some more.
Okay, enough dillying and dallying. Although it was still a couple of hours before the official check-in time,
I suggested we go for it. No problems. After all, this is the Grand Hotel.
The luggage we had surrended at the dock in town arrived shortly after we checked in. I followed the hotel
policy of no tipping, except that you can give a dollar per bag to the bellman.
The room was very nice. I had been a little worried since we had reserved an ordinary room, with nothing special.
I appreciated having a hallway big enough for two Priuses to pass each other.
Directly across the hall from our room is this reminder of "Somewhere in Time" with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeves.
After we got settled into the room and took a little nap to test it, we were ready to explore some of the hotel, especially
the porch. This is the longest "colonial" porch in the world or something like that. The 100 rocking chairs are all originals,
from the hotel's opening in 1887.
Dinner at the Grand Hotel is a dress-up affair, so I had shaken the moth balls out of a jacket and tie. Actually it felt good,
or at least elegant. It seemed appropriate to the setting.
This beautiful lady could be a reemergence from that bygone era. Notice the white gloves. Ladies were encouraged to wear
them, but I think I escorted the only lady at dinner.
The dining room will seat 1000 diners, though we guessed there were only a little over half that tonight. I was very impressed
when we found our selves in a fairly long line at the door to the dining room and hardly stopped as we moved slowly into the
dining room and off to a table.
I had expected something a little more intimate, but the setting was fine. And the service and food were superb.
The buffet tables unfortunately featured in this photo were for the children. The rest of us enjoyed
sit-down, five-course meals. Here's an empty section of the dining room.
June 13
Today was our full day at the Grand Hotel. It began with breakfast in the hotel
dining room. It was a joyous occasion, as you can probably tell.
The main event today was a horse and buggy tour of the island. We were the
guests of Heather, Joyce, and Aaron. (Aaron was the one sitting down.)
Here we are having just passed the Grand Hotel to our right and heading up into the West Bluff area.
This mansion was on display at the 1897 World's Fair. It was purchased by someone, who
had it disassembled, brought to the Island, and reassembled here. Guess he had money.
The grounds keepers up here have a lot of time on their hands, evidently.
This is the back of the golf course. Apparently the front and back nines are separated by a
fair distance, and since the golf carts can't be driven on the streets, the golfers are ferried
from one course to the other by horse carriages--probably another unique feature of Mackinac
Island.
This picture is on the East Bluff, where I took the first picture (above) of the horses and buggy.
There were great views of the harbor and town from up here.
During mid-afternoon, we decided to sample the High Tea, offered in the lobby/salon.
After devouring all the goodies, we took our champagne out onto the porch,
where we rocked and relaxed.
After another dress-up dinner, we retired to the lobby/salon and listened to
a pianist for awhile. It was the perfect ending for a perfect day.
June 14
Originally, we had planned this trip around the Lilac Festival, which would culminate
in the Lilac Festival Parade, featuring the Lilac Festival Queen, the 34-year mayor of
Mackinac Island. All this sounded good until we learned that the parade would begin at
5:00 p.m. After sketching out the remaining logistics for the day, we decided we were
complete with the festival. We had had a wonderful time, which couldn't be improved
by trying to catch the 6:00 or 7:00 ferry to the mainland, where we would begin our
drive to Ludington and Suze's brother, David.
New plan: we had a leisurely breakfast, packed, did a little more shopping in town
and caught the noon ferry. When we arrived back in Mackinac City, both the Prius and
our luggage were waiting as promised, and we were soon on our way to Ludington,
leisurely driving the scenic costal route.
We arrived in Ludington around 4:30 and had a relaxed evening with David and
his new bride, Linda.
In the background of the above photos is a new addition to the Roberts place
in Ludington: a garage made from scratch, not a prefab, not a kit. David covered
all the bases from visionary and architect to contractor and carpenter. These photos
by Suze give a good sense of the quality of the creation.
If the Ludington sign and the trim on the garage are suggestive of a train
station, that reflects David's career as a railroad engineer.
David is also an imaginative and creative gourmet cook, so we had a grand dinner,
plus a wonderful evening of conversation with David and Linda.
June 15
Today began our relaxation from the Mackinac Island excursion. I worked on my
computer while Suze took off in the car to re-visit her growing-up haunts. Linda was
at work.
Then, mid-afternoon, David suggested that he and I take his powerboat out on Lake
Michigan to be sure the re-engineered motor really worked and wouldn't die, stranding
the hapless boaters on a vast body of water, waiting to die of exposure . . . well, he
didn't put it quite like that, but it occurred to me.
So I said, sure.
As you may be able to tell, this is a beautifully restored wooden boat.
So far so good.
Camera ready.
The Ludington lighthouse is a familiar landmark.
The motor is still working well. And the lighthouse is getting really far behind us.
However, we were staying pretty close to shore.
When Suze was Michigan State, she spent one summer as a mail carrier.
She took the civil service test and did so well they couldn't turn her down, but
the postal folks were clearly not thrilled to have a teenage girl challenging the
"snow, sleet, and dark of night." Here's the Epworth Heights area she was assigned
to serve.
By the way, here's a look into the past.
Those who know Suze will understand that she was a rate-buster, delivering
her route faster and earlier than anyone had done before. She was surprised
when people along the route would invite her in for milk and cookies, which she
always turned down since the mail had to go through.
Anyway, back to the boat ride.
Ludington is known to many as one terminal for the ferry that crosses Lake
Michigan between Wisconsin and Michigan. The rusty ship above is the Spartan,
now retired from service and being cannabalized for parts.
Well, as you may have guessed, we made it safely back to shore without
drowning or being hijacked by Somali pirates. Had another grand dinner and
an evening of conversation with David and Linda.
June 16
Took a trip today to explore Grand Rapids (the second largest city in Michigan)
and Grand Haven. In part, we explored local architecture. . .
. . . and thrift-shop shopping.
We had come to Grand Haven for the "Musical Fountain." However, when we
discovered that it wouldn't begin until 10:10 p.m., we had dinner and headed home.
Here's what we missed.
You can learn more about the fountain here.
There are some more photos here.
June 17
Touring again, today took us to Traverse City and the environs. We had lunch at an
interesting restaurant where Linda and David had stayed earlier.
The shortcake was especially good.
The flowers were a special photo-op.
After a fun exploration of another sector of Michigan, we returned home for
more dinner and conversation.
June 18
One more road trip today: to Baldwin to visit the Shrine of the Pines collection
of hand-crafted furniture by Raymond W. Overholser. For the most part, the
pieces were carved out of single logs of pine.
Evidently, Henry Ford offered Overholser $50,000 for the above table, but the
carver wasn't into selling (or using) his creations.
The "R" in "REST" below took years to find.
We all found this rocking chair to be astoundingly comfortable.
And the love seat works.
June 19
As we packed and made plans to leave last night, the weather channel was
not encouraging. The southern part of Michigan, through Chicago, and the full
length of Illinois were scheduled for:
- Thunder and lightning
- 2-inch hail capable of smashing a windshield
- Tornados capable of taking your mind off the smashed windshield
the day began to lighten up, the rain came, and we were dodging trucks in a heavy
downpour. There was a dramatic lightning show in the distance . . . where we were
headed. Southern Michigan was pretty nasty.
Then we swung around south of Chicago on Route 80, always an unhappy
adventure. However, this morning, the rain let up, the skies lightened, and the
traffic was unusually light.
We made it past Chicago, swing south on Route 57, then Route 55, and the
biggest problem was that my left arm was getting sunburned by the . . . SUN!
Fifteen hours after departing Ludington with the aforementioned trepidation, we
completed the 915 miles to Hot Springs Village.
June 25
Tonight was the final meeting of the Hot Springs Village Civitan Club. A poll of the
membership resulted in a unanimous decision to disband. Some of the members will
join the Hot Springs club, and others will focus more attention on other volunteering
activities.
All the supplies from the club have been put in storage, in case there is an interest
in starting it again. In fact, the club existed some years ago and disbanded, prior to
this latest incarnation, which started four years ago.
June 27
Warren Beales was Aaron's best friend during high school, and Aaron was Warren's
best man when he and Tricia married. In one of life's little coincidences, Tricia's mom,
Margot, now lives in the Village.
Warren, Tricia, Jenna, and Justine arrived in the Village for a visit while Suze and I
were in Michigan. Tonight, we finally all got together for dinner. Since our dining room
was too small to accommodate seven of us, we decided to set up a table on the deck.
Nothing fancy, of course, just a simple repast on the edge of the
forest, in the fresh air.
Of course, the fresh air was 100° F, and there was a touch of humidity.
However, we had a wonderful time.
