June 27-29, 2018 Petosky, MI

our new small portable grill 

Our campsite in Petosky State Park was nicely wooded and near the beach in the Tannery Creek section. Late afternoon, we walked to the beach and began to get hooked on looking for Petosky stones.  A young lady & her Mom were doing some serious collecting & gave us some pointers.  We found more Charlevoix stones than Petosky but we did find a few keepers. We went back to the beach for a beautiful sunset walk & view.  Sunset happened late here: 9:30 PM.

The Little Traverse Wheelway is a fantastic mostly paved 23 mile bike trail that leads from Charlevoix all the way to Harbor Springs.  Much of the trail follows the shoreline of Lake Michigan. In the morning, we set our course for Charlevoix.  We were able to leave on our bikes right from our campsite & hit the trail. The day was sunny with deep blue skies & mild, 70 degrees, a perfect biking day. Lake Michigan water is so clear with different deep shades of blue. When we arrived in Charlevoix, we walked the main street, where a Farmers Market was just closing. We found a restaurant for lunching al fresco.  We did stop in some of their interesting shops too. On our way back from Charlevoix, we stopped at Bay Harbor Inn & Resort, where about 6 years ago, Lathrop had treated some of us executives & wives to a luxurious weekend at this beautiful spot. Now, we could afford to stop there for ice cream, haha!

June 25-27, 2018 Sutton's Bay/Traverse City: Cousins

My cousin Sue & her husband Duane own a cottage in Sutton's Bay, Michigan. Duane grew up going to this area because his Grandfather owned cabins on Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.  Eventually Duane's father, David inherited all of the property, replaced the cabins with great 2 story 2 unit townhouses. David & his wife Donna also built themselves a beautiful log home next door to the townhouses. Duane & Sue have purchased one of the 2 story units for their own.  We parked Summer Dreams in David & Donna's driveway in front of a huge garage & workshop which Doug was drooling over.  Duane, Sue, Doug & I biked to the town of Sutton's Bay & checked out the cute little shops & the Municipal Marina. Along the way, we saw tons of cherry trees & some grape vines.  The cherries were just starting to turn pink. That night we had a bonfire on the beach & cooked sweet corn & s'more's in the fire-yum. The next day, the four of us drove out Old Mission Peninsula to the Lighthouse.  After a bit of hiking & touring, we stopped in Traverse City for delicious ice cream at Milk & Honey-my new favorite ice cream shop.

The lighthouse @ Old Mission

Sue & Duane's view

Sue & Duane's beach

When we left Sue & Duane, we planned on driving to see Doug's cousin Geri's new house in Traverse City.  Little did we know, it was a whopping 8 miles from my cousin Sue's place.  Geri & Rick built a gorgeous house right down the street from their daughter & family. Geri's sister Goog (Claudia) was there visiting along with her son, Gavin. We also met Geri's granddaughter Alice named after Geri & Claudia's Mom. Speaking of Aunt Alice, she is now living in an Assisted Living apartment only 8 miles from Geri so after a tour of the new house & a quick visit, we left to visit Aunt Alice. We stopped on the way because Doug wanted to bring her some flowers. She has a nice small apartment with a wonderful view of trees & a small lake. She is a sweetie. She called Doug "little Paul".

Cousin Geri had a framed copy of a survey describing the land on Brockway Mountain where Doug & their Great Grandparents homesteaded.  It was a valley off the top of the Mountain, desolate & isolated.  They were some mighty strong, tough individuals.

After our visit with Aunt Alice, we drove 80 miles, a short distance, to our next campsite in Petosky State Park.

June 23-25, 2018 Maumee Bay State Park

We hoped to see more of our friends from home, so we left MBI and camped for 2 nights at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio.  Just as I hoped, we did have many visitors.  Terrie & Jim Huster were our first guests then Diane Hider stopped by.  Before she left Janet & Gary DeLong arrived and this was all on Saturday afternoon. (sorry to say, we neglected to take pics of our afternoon guests)

On Saturday evening our first guests, Ray & Patty came for cocktails & to give my hair a trim.  The four of us met Dianne & Larry Banachowski and Carol & Phil Toney up at the IceBreaker Lounge in the Maumee Bay Lodge for pizza.  Arriving fashionably late was Wayne & Tana but in time for dessert.  We all headed back to our site after dinner & dessert, to enjoy some time around the campfire.  Catching up & reminiscing made for lots of laughs.

Uncle Doug giving Paul advice, lol!

Sunday morning, Paul & Jessie came & picked us up for breakfast at Hy Flash just outside of the park.  They then drove us to their new house in Perrysbury or is it Rossford? I'm not sure what the mailing address is. It's charming & they have made it their home with lots of added touches like new paint and wall hangings. The Clevelands picked us up and took us back to the State Park and provided us a feast for lunch. Their daughter Sabrina is getting big & she's oh so smart. After lunch, Linda & Fritz drove on in and then along came Donna with her 2 dogs in tow.  Our biggest surprise was Preston, oh wait, Dr. Preston Benjamin officially now, took time to come see us on his way back from Grand Rapids MI. It made my heart so happy to see everyone this last week and I thank them all for taking time out of their busy lives to see us.  It means the world to us!

Congratulations to Dr Preston Benjamin, Chiropractor

June 13-22, 2018 Middle Bass Island

Say Good-bye to Day Dreams & Hello to Summer Dreams.  We are off on our next adventure. Currenty we are heading north to Lake Erie. Our first stop for the night is Statesville North Carolina at a KOA. Second stop, Canton Ohio in another KOA.  You know, for years we drove to & from Florida without stopping, now we have stopped twice-boy are we OLD or just retired!

The week-end group

Saturday morning & we arrive at Miller's Ferry to take the 1:15 PM ferry to Middle Bass Island.  Our friends Dan & Kathy met us at the ferry & are joining us for the weekend. Craig, Cheryl, Paul & Jessie arrived later in the day via the Pozlure. Like we did two years ago, we parked Summer Dreams next to the cottage & plugged him in. It's the perfect set up.  Our first night all together, (except for Jeri & Jerry who are on their way to Alaska), we had a campfire & Paul enthralled us describing his exploits in India. The next day, Paul & Doug took Paul's jet ski out for a ride & some of us golfed for the first time this season. We stopped at the BB Fish Fry & caught up with some of our island friends.













We stayed a week at the cottage while others came & went. Doris & Jerry came to visit for a day & we heard all about their once in a lifetime trip to Iceland.  I reunited @ PIB with Linda, Barb & Janet for a day. The Mayflys came for a visit too but not as bad as some years.

spitting seeds

When Paul was 10, C&C and Doug & I took Paul over to Pelee Island Canada and we visited the winery. We all have great memories from that day so it has taken 15 years but we finally made it back as a group.  The five of us plus Jessie & island neighbor EJ took off in the Pozlure & Paul's jet ski with our passports and cruised northeast to Pelee Island, which is only 7 miles from MBI.   Checking into Canada has become much more complicated than 15 years ago but after a half hour on the pay phone located on shore at the West End Dock, we were all cleared to stay in Canada for the day. We walked to the Winery which isn't far at all when you dock at the West End. One of Paul's memories was spitting sunflower seeds at each other while walking through the vine covered trellis at the winery, we wanted to relive his fun childhood memory so we brought sunflower seeds and boy did we have fun with those.  Jessie may not agree though! Usually checking into US Customs is tougher than Canada but we all were able to use a new App called Roam which made check-in a breeze-all done on-line quickly & efficiently.

drinking wine in a barrel!

Lonz Winery is now owned by the State & has been designated a State Park.  They have kept the facade & opened the wine cellars for tours.  It's not like it used to be, with the wine flowing & the drunks dancing & puking but it holds fond memories for us.

We thank Craig & Cheryl for their wonderful generosity & hospitality and know we are very lucky to have such good friends. We also thank Paul & Jessie for taking time off work to spend with us-we love you!

Godfather & Godson

saying Good-bye to our Island Van

3 important items on MBI: Lonz, Sonny S & Miller Ferry