Our Summer Michigan Trip - 2023. Festivities! Part 3 of ???

Northern Michigan is hopping in the summertime - and we hopped right into the hoppiness. Much to Kendall's delight, a few days after we arrived, Cheboygan, on the shores of Lake Huron, was hosting a car show. Much to my delight, one of my favorite runs (from Indian River to Topinabee on the North Central State Trail) was out that way. So I was more than happy to go to a car show if it meant I could make part of the trip on foot! It turned out the car show was in an absolutely gorgeous location, right on the shore of Lake Huron with Mackinac Island and the Mackinac Bridge off in the distance - and the show was quite manageable in size as the cars lined a fairly small circle drive.

As soon as I saw the artwork on the restroom of the
car show park, I knew this would be an O.K. event!

 

 

 

 

What's that toy dog doing to this spiffy car?

Kendall describes this McCormick Farmall as the
"Batmobile - if the Waynes were billionaire farmers"

Now we come to Kendall's favorite car of the show. Imagine his surprise when the owner invited him to sit in it!

He looks pretty good in it, eh?!

 

A week later, we went to the Bay Harbor car show - which, for some reason, attracts an astounding array of eye-popping cars. Being close to Petoskey, this time I got to run the entire wayto the car show.

A Pierce

Packard row

Austin Healey row

An Avanti

Ford GT row

Historic Soap Box Derby cars

 

Apparently, Bay Harbor car shows call for fancy hats!

 

Taz's favorite car was the Thomas Flyer - it offered the most shade!

Fortunately, there is more than just car shows to keep us entertained Up North!

For example: Petoskey hosted a Pride Parade again this year!

A wide variety of folks attended - including several churches with welcome rainbow signs and folks wearing an eclectic assortment of clothing choices

 

Flag waving ensued just prior to starting the parade to People's Park where we all gathered and cheered for all of the drivers who honked and waved as they passed by.

 

 

 

 

 

And of course there was the Fourth of July celebration - which started a day early with fireworks from Bay Harbor, followed by Petoskey's Fourth of July July 4th festivities including a parade, concert, and fireworks over the Bay - both sides of the Bay in fact as Harbor Springs and Petoskey decided to run their shows simultaneously this year. Lots of head swiveling going on.

July 3 sunset and fireworks:

Petoskey's parade

Crooked Tree Art Center - with
paintings almost as big as the car!

Petoskey High School Steel Drum Band
PHS Marching Band members start the parade then run back
to the Steel Drum Band truck that finishes the parade

 

Parade watchers Paula & Connie

 

PHS Steel Drum Band concert in the park

 

Happy days all!

Our Summer Michigan Trip 2023 - Part 2 of ??? Grand Celebration!

Perhaps *the* highlight of this trip was our visit to the Murphey Cottage (by Sleeping Bear Dunes) and Murphey-Meditch home (in Empire) to celebrate my cousins' (Carolyn and Kathleen) 80th birthday. Seeing the Murphey clan is always a party, and this was a special party indeed. Kendall and I stayed with John and Marcie at their home in Empire, and birthday partying took place at the Murphey cottage along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline. My Aunt Helen & Uncle Bill Murphey built the cottage in the early 50s (I think - cousin John and I were toddlers at most at the time) and it has been grandfathered into the National Shoreline. It is a very very special place cared for by very very special people.

The visit with John & Marcie started with a Jen/Paul wedding gnome sighting (John was one of the wedding photographers).

Taz and I followed that sighting with a quick walk to Empire beach (a herding dog must always check out the waves donchaknow).

On the way to the cottage for the birthday celebration, John, Marcie, Kendall & I went for a walk along the Lakeshore hoping for a peek at a piping plover or two. We did spot at least one adult and at least one baby - but from so far away (they are protected) we couldn't get pictures (and, of course, none of us remembered to bring binoculars which would have been very helpful for spotting the rare birds). Regardless, it was a dandy walk along the Lakeshore - as demonstrated by Marcie & John's smiles in the accompanying photo.

 

Now it's time for a birthday celebration for Carolyn and Kathleen!

Christoph, Carolyn's husband, makes a toast to the twins.

After a scrumptious meal, it's time for dessert! Two cakes!

And after dinner, it's time for some fun on the beach: 

Cousins gather and 

Taz runs (and runs and runs - I do believe this is his favorite beach since it seems to go on forever!)

John, Paula, Doris, Carolyn & Christoph's son Carl, and Marcie

Taz in full gallop

The next day we had an early walk back down to Empire beach. It's amazing what can be seen when the tourists aren't out and about yet.

A watchful deer

Morning mist over South Bar Lake

A Kendall bird watching photographer
with his trusty cattle dog

A heron standing in Lake Michigan, with Sleeping Bear Dunes in the background at sunrise

A glorious visit, smiles all around.

Our Summer Michigan Trip - 2023. Part One of who-knows-how-many!

 I figure I had better get started posting about our annual summer trip to Michigan (2023 edition) before the trip is over!  This first post of the trip is a quick one with a few highlights of the trip from Colorado to Michigan. Of course, "highlights" in my book, includes a fun run or two.

This first photo is of Kendall, ready to crank up Hedwig while holding Comi the gnome (from Paul & Jen's wedding) to be delivered to Petoskey Connie D. who watched the wedding via Zoom.

Once on the road, Taz points the way east.

Our first night out, we stop at a favorite campground in Grand Island (Hall County Park). Of course as soon as we stopped, Taz and I had to go for a wee run on one of the trails through the campground.

The next morning, running from the campground along a bike path, we discover buffalo - buffalo in Nebraska! What would Ralphie think?

The second night on the road, in our usual quest to avoid driving through Madison, Wisconsin, we stayed at a campground in DeForest. One huge draw for us with this campground is that it is near one of our favorite bakeries - the Windsor Bakery. Highly recommended - especially after a run. And what a run it was: I discovered a network of trails that took me the entire way (roughly 6 miles) from the campground almost to the bakery. I say "almost" because the bridge was out right where I was planning to hop off the trail to run the two remaining blocks to the bakery. Yikes! My choices were to wade through a river, run on an interstate, or turn around and have Kendall pick me up back up the trail wherever the nearest intersection with a road was (about a mile back). Doubling back was the chosen option and I had to let Kendall do all the decision making at the bakery (he did a marvelous job, btw). Photos are from the trail, highlighting the diverse terrain: wild flowers, riverside boardwalks, farm fields, and a critter (young dragon?) sculpture at the trailhead where Kendall picked me up.

 

Day 3 was traditions day:

Our first pastie of the trip!                                                 The Mackinac Bridge ("The Mighty Mac")

Culminating with Taz back at the waves of Little Traverse Bay