Day Tripper

On a gorgeous Friday morning, we headed down M37 to do some caching around Manistee.  Haven't been down this road in a coon's age.  It really hasn't changed much - not much development going on around these parts.  The forest is dense and lush, and it makes for a beautiful, relaxing drive.

The new Douglas Park on Lake Michigan right in the town of Manistee is a well planned, fresh new facility.  It's right on the shore, of course - with a sugar sand beach.  There's a terrific playground for kids, great picnic opportunities, brand new bathrooms - just an A-1 place to visit.  Today the Lake was smooth and deep blue - such great scenery.

We had lunch at The House of Flavors - an old favorite.  I wish we had one in T.C., but they're just in Ludington and Manistee.

We got the cache for today - number 16 for August....plus a few more :)

08/16/2013	You found Treasures of Frankfort #7		Visit Log
This was our second find in town and our last of the day as we were getting tired and decided to just head straight home. Thanks for the cache.
08/16/2013	You found Treasures of Frankfort #6		Visit Log
We drove over today to view the Lake and harbor. We couldn't resist grabbing a couple of caches while in town. Made the find, signed the log and replaced as found.
08/16/2013	You found Turkey Trot Series 9 - On a Seasonal Road		Visit Log
We are on a driving tour "Down Memory Lane". Down 37 and back up 22 with a break for the occasional cache. We haven't been able to catch the Turkey Trot event the past few years because of scheduling conflicts so it was fun for us to combine our love for the back roads with the grab of this cache. Made the find, signed the log and traded our flashlight for a small hand sanitizer. Thanks for the fun.
08/16/2013	You couldn't find Sledding in Manistee		Visit Log
Not today, couldn't even spot the tree.
08/16/2013	You found Cricket's Favorite Park		Visit Log
We came down to Manistee today for two reasons. One was a trip down memory lane, we had many visits with our friends who were here have since moved on, and the second was to log Day 16 of the 31 day Challenge. We have been having a bad week caching, on Monday we logged 4 DNF's before we made a find. Since our kids gave us an iPad mini with the geocaching app for Christmas, it, and the iPhone have been our GPSr of choice. However, this past week it has let us down a bit and so for this trip I went back to the old faithful Garmin as backup. While loading it with caches, we spotted the caching wonderdog's favorite park cache and highlighted it. Thank the Lord I had loaded the Garmin because we could not get enough of a signal from Verizon to work the Apple devices. We waited out the friendly lady with the puppy but our hunt turned out to be under the supervision of the frisky fellow who arrived just after she left. We kept our back to him and told his human that I was looking for bird signs. Thanks for placing the cache here where it added to our day of memories and gave us our souvenir for Day 16.

If At First...

08/15/2013	You found Trail Starter		Visit Log
We came out the other day and were using the iPad. We had to claim a DNF. As I was posting it I saw the log by Boxman Crew with the revised cords. I don't know how or if you can adjust the cords on an iPad so I came back today with the revised cords loaded into the Garmin. Bingo!! This gives us our souvenir for Day 15 of the 31 day challenge.

Another Day in Paradise!

It was a little strange driving through town this morning.  There was significantly less traffic than we've seen all summer.  Couldn't figure out why those left turns were so much easier today!  There did seem to be a lot of touristy foot-traffic on Front Street, just less traffic over all.

 Then we were off to get a cache for today - the 14th day in a row!  We wanted to capture the Glen Haven cache that we couldn't find the other day - we still couldn't find it.

It was another gorgeous day for driving around Leelanau County, and we really enjoyed it.  Lunch at Art's is a firm tradition - today we had good timing and were seated right away.  The tavern was full of families with small children - we always enjoy watching the antics of the kids - and then we enjoy driving away without them ;)

08/14/2013	You found CRO- Canoe Portage		Visit Log
The 31 days of Geocaching gave us an excuse to head up to Glen Arbor and have lunch at Art's. Chicken Jalapeno soup! YUM!! After lunch we claimed this find. Thanks for placing it here, it gives us our Day 14 souvenir and a great lunch stop.

August 13

This was Mother Gen's birthday.  It's also the birthday of our sister-in-law Emilie.  So Happy Birthday, then and now :)

08/13/2013	You found Rest In Down		Visit Log
We are working on the 31 Days of Geocaching challenge and need to score one for 8/13. It's my mom's birthday. Traverse City's citizen of the year in 1962, she would have been 118 today. Yesterday was our worst day of caching in our 10 years. Four DNF's before we could make a find and that one the owner practically led me by the hand, they sent a picture for Pete's sake! My puzzle for today is - Why can I find Peppermintpatti's evil hides but not Team*Churinga's? Oh well, maybe tomorrow. Anyway, made the find, signed the log and replaced as found. Thanks guys for giving us the souvenir for Day 13

Quail Meadow Office Sofa

Dylan, Laurie and Chip are over at our Quail Meadow condo .  They're putting together our office sleep sofa.  The guys are carefully reading the insructions - yay!

This will be Auntie Jana's bed when she comes to Florida in December.  We'll be ready!  Dylan is making it look super comfortable :)

Here's the couch version of the sofa.  Dylan is making this look super comfortable too  :)
I think it looks terrific!

We bought this sofa at IKEA in West Palm Beach.  Don't ever go there - that store was a zoo.  But we're very happy with the results.

Thank you Gillespies one and all.

08/11/2013	You found Townline Road Escape to Nature		Visit Log
We made a run to recycling and then around the corner to find a cache on 8/11. Haven't been back here since doing Whittard's Al Quacka series. Made the find and signed the log, left 0, took 0 except the two Lunchable packs some one had strewn along the path. Sure hope it wasn't a fellow cacher. Can't get into the mindset of why someone would do that. If you can carry it to someplace, you ought to be able to carry it back. Oh well! At any rate, we earned our souvenir for Day 11 of the 31 day challenge. Thank you for placing and maintaining caches for us to enjoy.

Day 10

Back over in Leelanau County today!

08/10/2013	You enabled Lovers Lane		Visit Log
Replaced and it's ready to go
08/10/2013	You performed maintenance for S2S Empire		Visit Log
Stopped by today and checked, the numbers had come off the lid. Replaced, it is now good to go. Grabbed the teddy.
08/10/2013	You couldn't find MLT Glen Haven		Visit Log
We found all the stages but blanked on the final. Maybe another day.
08/10/2013	You found Going, Going, Gone!		Visit Log
We were out today on maintenance mission for our Lovers Lane cache in Suttons Bay and the S2S one in Empire. As lunch time approached the question was Art's or the Early Bird, this time the Early Bird won. Since we were in Leland we picked this one for our Day 10 souvenir. Today the field was a place where a half a dozen young kids were throwing balls to their well behaved dogs. Made the find and signed the log. Thanks for placing the cache in such an interesting place and thanks for giving us a find on Day 10, only 21 to go.

31 Days of August

The challenge is to find a geocache every day in August, 2013.  Dick has joyfully tackled this challenge, and here are the first 9 finds in August, one per day.

	08/09/2013	basswoodbend found Pull My Cache	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/08/2013	basswoodbend found Owls' Perch	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/07/2013	basswoodbend found The Covered Cache	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/06/2013	basswoodbend found Merry Christmas 2012	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/05/2013	basswoodbend found Boone Farm, Clem's Gems	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/04/2013	basswoodbend found Love Means Nothing in Tennis	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/03/2013	basswoodbend found GRF#76 - 1st for Michigan	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/02/2013	basswoodbend found River Side Ammo	Michigan	Visit Log
	08/01/2013	basswoodbend found Its NOT Apples and Oranges	Michigan	Visit Log

All Gone

Jana flew out in the morning.

The Gillespies drove away in the afternoon.

If somebody should happen to buy our house, this summer will have been the last time we are all here together on the River.

Brunch and Bye Bye

Brunch at John and Susan's lovely home on an absolutely perfect day!  It was a treat to have a chance to touch base with Annette, "Baby" Annette and Jackie.   It was very relaxing for all of us, and a nice way to unwind after the exhilaration of yesterday.

 The brunch was scrumptious - I have to admit that the special bread was my favorite.  Thank you John and Susan.  Susan's friends hosted the brunch and provided the food - such good friends!

After the fun at the brunch, we drove Tom to the airport for his trip home.  Hugs and then too quickly he's gone again.

The drive home was uneventful.  We had good conversations and pleasant weather - can't ask for more than that.  We stopped for dinner in Cadillac at The Dawg House.  I can't complain because I chose it!

Tomorrow, everyone else is leaving.

Molly and Laith

Molly and Laith Hermiz

It was such a lovely wedding!  Our entire family was able to attend, and we had a marvelous time.

Dick rented a van, so all seven of us could travel to Grand Rapids together.  We had rooms at City Flats Hotel, the same venue as the reception.

The ceremony was at the East Congregational Church - a beautiful setting.  We were all so impressed with the really special stained glass windows.  The officiant was very personable and added many family details - he was well acquainted with the Lichtenbergs.

The reception room was beautifully decorated, and just the right size for all of us.  I believe there were approximately 180 or so attendees.  We were all seated at the same table, and the rest of the T.C. relatives were at the next table - very thoughtful seating.  The chocolate pretzel favors were yummy, the dinner was very nice, but for us the most fun was watching the dancing!  Tom and Dylan always enjoy it so much, and tonight was no exception.  The DJ alternated between rock and Chaldean - and both were extremely entertaining.

We had a chance to meet Laith - had a nice conversation with him and with Molly too.  We loved every minute of this event.

Congratulations Molly and Laith!

Cousins!

 

 

Big time dancers!  Dylan and Laurie, Lauren and Lydia