Sunday, July 11, 2010

Traverse City, Michigan

Growing up, we went to Traverse City, Michigan every year and it was fun, but ordinary. Now that I live 1500 miles south, I cherish the memories and long for the opportunity to go back. It's amazing how so many things have changed since my first memories, but so many things are the same.

This year, we packed the kids in the airplane and went on a cross country journey. We flew, a lot. They whined, a lot. We had to stop, a lot. It took longer than I hoped, a lot... But it was still worth it! Going by private plane is very much like a road trip, but instead, you are in the air. I think it sounds so cool, until you are actually suffering through the trip. The GPS had this nifty little feature that told you how long until you arrive. The problem is, it lied. This thing defied physics. I would look at it and think, ok, two hours and 28 minutes. I would distract myself for some time, look back and it would say, two hours and 31 minutes. Frustrating!

On the trip up, we wanted to make it to Zionsville, Indiana on the first day. Unfortunately, around 9 pm we had to stop in Louisville, KY. It's about a 2.5 hour drive or a 45 minute flight. Anyway, since it was late, we had to stop at the big airport. We pull into this private airport thing called a FBO. It was fancy. We were like the Beverly Hillbillies in our dinky Cessna 182 and surrounded by private jets. I didn't think we would be treated very well... I was wrong, I felt like the rich and famous and loved the pampering and attention. Until I paid the bill the next morning. Almost twice as much as the dinky little FBO's. So my ego loved it and my wallet hated it!

Anyway... I'll share more stories soon, I wanted to post a few pictures!

This is the view from the front yard of my grandpa's house. He passed away 9 years ago, but my family kept the property. In the distance you can see the boat and jet ski. Beautiful sunrises, but you have to be unfortunate enough to be awake at 5 am!

We take this row boat out to the big boat. But... since we didn't get the big boat started, this was our boat trip. The boys didn't know the difference; they loved the row boat!!

One of the jet skis. We didn't use this one because it was too much of a pain to pull it into the water.


We discovered the fun of Geocaching. We spent time in some pretty beautiful places. One park is just a few miles from my Grandpa's house and I never knew it existed. It's beautiful!



I have a picture from a few years ago of the boys riding this same cow outside of a yummy winery near Sutton's Bay. This winery also has a great petting zoo and beautiful scenery.




We didn't actually see the real performance of the Blue Angels, just the practice. Incredible, nonetheless! In fact, on the last day there, we saw them from the front yard! We are a good 5 miles outside of town and they still flew overhead.




Ryan learning to pull the stems off of cherries. This was while we watching the Blue Angels practice. It was a cool 68 degrees and Ryan is wearing his winter fleece!



Cherry trees and fresh cherries. Does it get any better? Notice the fleece and "winter" jacket? We are such whimps, but loved the cool weather!

1 comment:

Reaching the Stars step by step said...

I grew up in Marshall Michigan and I am also so found of the memorys I made as a child..went home last month and loved it