Michigan 's highpoint at 1979 feet was not a physical challenge for me, but it was special for several reasons. First, I grew up in Michigan. It's where my brother, my nieces and nephews, their families, and my best friend Jeff still live. So, it was the perfect place to combine a celebration of Steve and Lynn's 40th wedding anniversary in Charlevoix, a visit to Jeff in Traverse City and a journey to the "summit" of Mt Arvon.
After flying into Detroit Metro just in time for the City of Detroit to declare bankruptcy, we spent the night in Troy with Steve and Lynn. Early the next morning we began the drive to Charlevoix, arriving for check in at the Weathervane Hotel at lunchtime. After a quick walk on the main street of Charlevoix we had lunch. By the end of the day, we were 21 Duffys, Wrights, and Taylors ready for a good time together. It had been nearly three years since I had my "entire" family together, I was missing my sons Zach and Chris, but it was wonderful to just be with my Michigan family.
From that point the week slowly unfolded, with lots of beach time, catching up on one another's lives, laughing, floating on beautiful Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, having a lovely Anniversary Dinner for Steve and Lynn, running each morning with Sarah and Jo, sharing a beer with Ben and Dan, Steve, Micah, and my brother. The evenings usually ended with a picnic together and fishing on the Piers. Living in New York City, so far from them, it was nice to feel the love and warmth of my family. As the week ended, I felt a warm glow of peace and love wash over me as we watched another beautiful Lake Michigan sunset, laughed together with my arm around Debby, while we sat on the pier listening to Ben read his event summarizing poem.
The next morning, we began our journey to L'Anse Michigan, the nearest sizable city to Mt Arvon. Debby and I had read little about the walk "up" Mt Arvon so we were not sure what to expect. Our drive took us north over the Mackinac Bridge into the UP (Upper Peninsula). Michigan is big! You never notice how big until you attempt to drive nearly the length of the entire lower peninsula and much of the width of it's UP. So, after nearly five hours of driving, arriving in Munising, home of Picture Rocks National Seashore we were ready for a stretch, some information from a park ranger and lunch. Finally, at around 3:00 pm we arrived in L'Anse at the Baraga County tourist office, where Nicole gave us the "beta" on the final approach to Mt Arvon. A winding logging road took us to within 200 feet of the top, as it turned out. There wasn't much of a hike or a view, but we were greeted by a nice picnic area, a summit marker and register and we had dodged the predicted thunder showers up to that point.
The forest was beautiful and there were swarms of butterflies!! At 4:36 pm we signed the summit register as we swatted away mosquitoes and stable flies, took some pictures and headed back to the hotel we had reserved in Munising. As it turned out the return trip was the adventure. The radio engaged the emergency broadcast system and warned of winds up to 80 miles per hour, hail the size of quarters and pouring rain. We drove and watched the sky with anticipation as giant thunderhead clouds developed and rain came down. We persevered in our drive back to Munising, but at about 7:30 pm, when the radio warned us that we were driving into the severe thunderstorm, we took shelter in a nice local restaurant 45 minutes west of Munising to have dinner and wait for it to pass. When we did arrive at the hotel, the check in clerk had an excited look as she gleefully described her view as the storm rolled off of Lake Michigan right at them and the saw two large waterspouts while the lighting lite the sky.
Tired and satisfied we retired to bed. Waking the next morning for breakfast we plotted the days activities, determined to se some of the beauty of Picture Rocks and reach Jeff's house in Traverse City at a decent hour. We set a limit, a drop dead hit the road time of 11:00 am, which we nearly kept! It gave us time to traverse the scenic drive and jump out of the car for three short "hikes" to notable Picture Rock Landmarks, The Castle, Minor Falls and The Slide. Once again chased away by a hoared of stable flies we leaped into the car and raced for Traverse City. One stop for food and gas and five more hours of driving I was hugging my best friend Jeff Tibbetts and his wife Keena. We had a great visit rangling little grand children, playing golf, watching golf, eating turtle sundaes and other things, hiking up a beautiful sand dune to view the sunset, catching up with each other and celebrating Phil Mickelson's victory in The Open Championship! Keena and Jeff were the best!
As usual! Debby and I were contemplating further adventures as we headed back to Detroit to view a bankrupt Detroit one last time before flying back to NYC.
But, we settled on a visit to Gallagher Farms to collect as large a volume of cherry salsa as possible, and a visit to East Lansing so Debby could see my Alma Mater, Michigan State. It was a great vacation and a notable high point because it was home for me in every sense of the word. Steve and Lynn welcomed us at their house in Troy at the end of the day for a final nights sleep before our flight back to New York.
