Taxi and Take Off !

This was a beautiful day, and thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow, so the instructors at College for Kids took the students up in the airplane today!

Before they flew, the instructor took them around the plane for the pre-flight check, and showed them everything that has to be done. And then it was time to take off.

Dylan was first - he taxied down the runway and assisted on take off. He sat in the captain's seat, and handled the controls. He flew the plane from TVC to the Sugar Loaf landing strip. Then the students traded places and he sat in back for the rest of the ride. It was very exciting - he was nervous at first, but he really loved it. On a scale of 1-10 he gave it a 9, which is pretty darn good.












After that historic flight, we all went to see Harry Potter. It got mixed review from us - I loved it, Dick not so much. Dylan thought it was the worst of the series, Laurie was disapppointed, and Chip thought it was too long. Oh well - at least the popcorn is cheap on Tuesdays!

Dinner at Bubba's and home after a very big day.

Take Flight!

Dylan is going to flight school at NMC's College For Kids. Today was the first day, so all of us went along to drop him off with his backpack and his sack lunch.

He seems to have really enjoyed his first day. He actually got to sit in a flight simulator and try landing a plane! (He crashed on the runway, because he wasn't tall enough to see over the control panel, and couldn't even see the runway!) He was really disappointed about that, but I think we all talked him out of it.

The Clark cousins had a wonderful day on the river. It was totally easy for us because Chris took charge of all of the details - spotting the cars, carrying canoes and kayaks, etc. He took care of all the pick up and delivery, so to speak - plus he was a hero and saved Loretta, who was stuck under a tree. It's a good feeling to have those watercraft used and in the river for a change. Chris and Shelly. Aunt Molly and Uncle Dino, Katie, Becky, Betsy and Loretta - we loved having them here.

Drew Baby

Doug and Odette came for breakfast - Dick made banana/pecan pancakes! Plus chocolate chip pancakes for Dylan. We had a lovely, leisurely Sunday morning breakfast and a great visit before D&O left for home.

This has been a beautiful and fun day. We all went cruising around downtown, and the Bay was so gorgeous - deep blue and dotted with white sails.

Then we just stayed around home and enjoyed the river and each other. Shelly, Chris and Drew stopped in to return the utility trailer. Drew is such a darling, active little 18 month old baby - it's a real treat to watch him! We turned over some of Dylan's old toys which are now just right for Drew! Laurie brought Dylan's outgrown winter jackets and other gear for Drew - it's great looking stuff and I hope Drew can get a lot of use out of it.

It seemed like a great time to have a pizza party - which is something we've been wanting to do all summer. Laurie and I got the low-fat low-calorie veggie pizza! Mancino's is the best! We had a really nice time.

The Gillespies

Doug and Odette are in town - it's a big weekend for them. Last night was Doug's class reunion. This morning they went to a memorial service for an old friend in Manistee, and this afternoon was the Van Pelt Family Reunion in Manton. We went to the reunion to get a chance to talk to them. The weather was miserable - cold and damp - and I'm guessing there were less than thirty people there. We had a good chance to catch up on all of their news and adventures.

Laurie, Chip and Dylan and the guinea pigs arrived from Niagara Falls around 6 p.m., just in time for burgers on the grill. It's so good to have them here - they'll stay for 3 or 4 weeks.

Folks and People

This summer has been wonderful so far. The weather has been perfect - not too hot, not too cold - this has been the ideal place to be!

We've had lots of visitors.

June 28th Tim and Susie were over in our area to do some caching, and we invited them to stop in for supper. I made Steiger Grundy because it can sit and wait to be served, but I didn't make any dessert. I think this is cosmic...half an hour before we expect T & S, Chris and Drew arrive with a cherry pie from the GT Pie Co.! Did you ever hear of such perfect timing? The pie was a thank you for the loan of our trailer. I think it worked out perfectly!

Then on the 4th of July Gary, Donna, Dan and Laura stopped by - I already blogged their visit
(see "Y'all Come!")

July 7th Sniders came to stay for a couple of days -it was so nice to have them here - and have somebody to play with!



We didn't really do much - talked about the kids, read books, got Gibby's French fries at the Cherry Festival. Really, we just hung out and had a good time.

Last Monday Capt. Bud and Halanski Expeditions dropped in for a brew after completing the TTT caches. It was a gorgeous day to sit out on the deck and trade some "cache talk".

Yesterday I got a call from June, a friend from the Class of '53 at Central High. She and her husband Jerry were in town and wanted to see us, so I said we're going to be here all day - come on out! We had a very pleasant visit - It was interesting to hear about their kids and their travels.

Now we have so much to look forward to...Doug and Odette will be in town this weekend, and Laurie, Chip and Dylan will arrive either Saturday night or Sunday for their annual month of living with us! So here we go - the rest of the summer should be a blast!

The Outback Adventure

Professional tandem racers in ultra light carbon fiber canoes start on Brown Bridge pond at 10 a.m. Paddlers will do a 10 minute loop on the pond, then portage Brown Bridge Dam and head downstream, portaging Cass and Sabin dams and finishing the 22-mile course at Hull Park.

And they went right past our house! At least two canoes had both women paddlers - You go, girls! (Women? Ladies?)













After the canoe race, we washed the winter grime off the golf car. With a bright and shiny golf car I couldn't resist taking neighbor Mary for a tour of the property. We went all the way down to Woodhenge, and used most of the paths - have to save something for next time.



Dropped a unique travel bug at Dennis' house, and then went to take in the sights at the Cherry Festival - mobs and mobs of people everywhere. Kathee said they had 3,000visitors at the Visitor Center yesterday...the usual daily count in the summertime is around 250!

The Unique travel bug is named PeeWee and he originated in Minnesota.

Y'all Come!

Gary and Donna (CoyChev) and Dan and Laura (Light People) came to T.C. today to do our Trekking Traverse Trails caches. I found out on Facebook that they were heading this way, so I said stop in at Basswood Bend! They had a terrific day of caching - the weather was perfect, and they finished the whole series in about 7 hours.

When they were finished, they came out to the river. Dick grilled some hot dogs and we had the typical great time trading cache talk :)



It was a very pleasant way to end the holiday.

Goodbye Uncle Fritz

Frederick V. Geib was my mother's only brother. He passed away on June 23rd at the age of 93. His memorial service was this morning. Rick and Mary did a beautiful job of planning the service, and everything was perfect - the weather, the setting, the remembrances, and the coffee, cookies, and fellowship afterward. It took place in the garden at the Presbyterian Church - how lovely. Uncle Fritz would have loved it.

Me and my Block cousins - Rick and Ken

Here Comes the Barn!

Here comes the barn! This was quite an adventure. Abe not only built the barn, but he delivered it and then proceeded to back it in and set it down singlehandedly. Well... he did have a miracle hydramatic high-tech trailer with a remote control so he could lower the barn down and set it in place with his thumb! It was a bit scary to watch - at one point I thought that he was just going to drop it down like a load of wood from a dump truck! It was quite a challenge for Abe to back the trailer around and into position to place the barn in the right spot. Here he's beginning the turn! This is when I was becoming a Nervous Nellie: Oops! That looks dangerous! Holy Moly! TA DA! You can see the entire "download" of the barn as done by Abe holding the remote control. Watch in amazement!

Landscaping-Palooza

Richard planted the bushes in front of the house eighteen years ago when we first retired. It looked really nice until just a couple of years ago when the potentilla decided not to bloom so profusely, and the rhodos got very tempermental about whether they would bloom or not. It was time for a change. Keith from Traverse Outdoor came up with a plan, and now it's a reality!

Oh boy oh boy - hydrangeas and dwarf lilacs in front of the covered porch! What a nice change. There's a great view from my bedroom window.




The front porch 18 year old potentilla bushes and rhodos have been replaced by carpet roses, veronica, serviceberry tree, viburnum, spirea, juniper and some flowering perennials. Mike and Brad from Traverse Outdoor did the work (on those 95 degree days!).

Our new entrance with fresh baby plantings:



Soon there will be a mini-barn delivered - it's for the golf cart, snowbolower and kayaks. Mike and Brad also cut down seven or eight trees to make room for the barn. Then they played with the Bobcat to level off the site and add gravel.


OK, the site is all prepared and level and we're ready for the barn - bring it on!

Father's Day 2009

The Hardy Family included us in their Father's Day brunch at the Great Wolf Lodge - what a great idea that was! Peter and Melissa and the girls stayed there for Father's Day, and they had a ball doing all of the quests with the magic wand. Autumn could make the bear talk, and make the lights on the tree come on - what a good time!

Brunch was wonderful - I'm glad we had a chance to talk to Barb and Jim, and it was just nice to see everybody. I haven't seen Betsy for ages, and I'm glad she was there too. Altogether there were 5 fathers there to be honored, counting Adam - he's already a step-father and will be a new Dad on July 2. Barb and Jim had 3 and a half grandchildren there.

The Great Wolf Lodge is a perfect place for families, especially children. Everything looks very lodgy and campy and comfortable, and the water park is great fun for everyone. In the lobby there's a computer for public use, and a young man was playing WoW! With all of the other things to do - he was probably just checking his auctions.

After that pleasant start to the day, we were off to do some geocaching - what else would you do to celebrate Father's Day? It was the perfect day. All in all, we found 7 caches, and Dick had a great adventure to help make this a memorable Father's Day!

We started our Fathers Day outing with a family brunch at the Great Wolf Lodge. What a great facility for kids no matter how old they are. Can't think of a better way to spend the day than by collecting some caches that have cropped up this spring. This one just cropped up this morning and after noting the location just up the road, put it in the Garmin. Unfortunately for us, our Palm got fried a couple of months ago and we've been using paper again. Not much info on the page so I didn't bother to print it. I didn't note the terrain either.
Anyway, the day was drawing to the end and we were tired but, what the heck, why not one more. Found a place to park with a faint path heading straight toward the cache. Took off on a solo which should have been a warning. Maybe I should have stayed in the car.

After about .5 mile, the path forked - right or left? Straight ahead led to a steep drop. Oh well, as Yogi said, when the path forks, take it. One led in the right direction. For a while. Then the GPS started counting up. Bushwack time! Down the hill into - - a swamp.

Now I'm still dressed for Sunday Brunch, white sneakers, tan shorts and a polo shirt, and the wise one is "patiently" waiting in the car. (Which I now realize I forgot to mark) There's no turning back. Forge ahead along the edge of the swamp and come to -- a creek. Found a downed log and teeter my way across. I almost made it but I needed a new pair of grubby shoes any way.

Once I was in range, I found the cache quickly as well as a water supply and an easy path complete with boardwalks and bridge for the trip out.


It was a good adventure, a FTF (too tired to dance) and a trail I didn't know about. On the way in I was thinking of stopping at the store and picking up a couple of T-Bones to grill for supper. When I got back to the car, (just about an hour round trip) I just wanted to get home, mix a drink, and settle for anything, A PB&J sandwich sounded good. TN.LN.SL. Thanks for a most memorable adventure.

Actually, I made a hamburger hot dish for supper (low fat). It was quite good in my opinion, but no match for T-bones!

We left home this morning at 9:30 a.m., and returned at six o'clock this evening - a full, fun-packed Father's Day 2009.

Northport Lighthouse and Maritime Festival

Big day today in Northport. Lighthouses, schooners, and a fish boil on top of that! How could anyone stay away?

On the way up M22 we stopped in Suttons Bay at an earth cache called Suttons Bay Wetlands. There's a trail with informative signs behind the Inland Seas Education Center. I'm sure at one time it was a nice little trail, but it hasn't been kept up, and it's crying out for some maintenance. The signs are aimed at school children, and I think it would still be a valuable field trip for a class studying eco-systems. These pictures went on our log of the cache:




Hooray! We found the festival! Northport was buzzing with activity this afternoon. It was a nice, small event - there was a craft fair, lots of child-centered activities, ships at the dock, and of course, the food tent.




For me, the highlight was Kitty Donohoe, a folk singer from Ann Arbor. She sings wonderful songs about Michigan, the Great Lakes, lighthouses, rivers, and lumberjacks. I enjoyed it immensely, and bought one of her CDs for the car.



After the festivities, it was time for a stop at PlantMasters in Suttons Bay, since it seems that all imminent danger of frost is over. Annuals and a couple of perennials filled up our cart. The colors in this tent of annuals knocked our socks off.



As we drove away, we said, "Didn't we used to do this at the end of May?" It has been a cold, cold Spring.

Back in T.C., West Bay was just filled with boating activity of all sorts! It makes for a very picturesque sight on such a blue sky day.



But for me, the prettiest view is always a tall ship under full sail.

Trekking Traverse Trails

"Trekking Traverse Trails" - new cache series by Basswood Bend!

It will be spectacular - I know because I have watched its creation.

Trails have been hiked,

lock'n'locks have been covered with camo tape,

coordinates have been recorded,

permission has been granted to display the brochures in the Visitor Center,

brochures and stickers have been designed and ordered,

permission was granted by the Visitor Center to use their logo on the brochures and the pathtags,

pathtags have been designed and ordered,

sleep has been interrupted by new ideas,

caches have been placed,

and so on and so on.

If you're a cacher, you will love it! Each find earns you a smilie, and if you collect all ten stickers and place them in your brochure, you will get a pathtag.

We're hoping it won't be too many more days before Trekking Traverse Trails will be published.