So, as we left Interlochen, MI, in Part 2, we headed south to the middle of the lower peninsula of Michigan to the Lake Higgins area to stay at the new home of my cousin (Joyce) and her husband (Rick). This was a short trip through some back roads which took us through what might be called Christmas Tree Country. We drove along one tree farm after another. In a little over an hour or so we were at a point where our Google Maps would kick in.
My cousin (Joyce) and her husband (Rick) had been spending the last couple of Summers in this area at a rental home, but this year they came to buy – making themselves official snowbirds – folks who have a place to live in the North and the South so that they don’t have to live in the worst weather of each part of the country. It’s a great idea if you can work it out. By the time we arrived they had found a house – less than a mile from their rental and had already been living in the new place a month. It was a very nice house with a very nice yard. The backyard show here was a mother deer and her two does – who seem to pass through every day.
(Joyce & Rick) are retired. I hate to say this, and I’m sure she does too, but (Joyce) is the same age as me, but I’m going to be working for the next million years. I chose photo processing and publishing an arts newspaper – she was an investment counselor who got out before the big economy collapse. Is she smart or what? We made a deal over the next few days that if I ever win the lottery – she’ll be the first person I call. And I will – call her that is – if I can ever get in the habit of buying lottery tickets. It seems to be a stumbling block.
Again, Google did its duty and when we arrived we unloaded the car, did the tour and talked a bit – had a nice dinner. Again, we were being given four star treatment. By the late afternoon they had a regular habit of going over to the state park and watching the sunset, so we headed over there. This state park would become a big part of our stay at Higgins Lake.
When we got to the park we had to pass a general store there that just happened to sell hand scooped ice cream – imagine that. We watched the boats come into the marina there and saw the sunset and then headed back to their home.
When you are retired you begin to develop a routine. (Joyce & Rick) had several regular things they did most days. (Joyce is an early riser (around 5:30am) so she spends the early morning checking e-mail and other things on the computer. Around 8am (Rick) gets up and they go over to the state park and walk for an hour (they’re both very fit) and then come home to eat breakfast. When it wasn’t raining – it seemed to rain there every day for months, they did some work in the yard or around the house. By late afternoon they would go back to the park for sunset and in the evenings they don’t watch current TV much – they watch Netflix movies or TV shows.
While we were there they were finishing up the second to the last season of JAG – a show we used to watch and still do at times in reruns. Each evening they might watch two episodes. Well, (Ric) would watch two episodes while (Joyce) would get what she claimed was – some of her best sleep.
The next morning when they went for their walk I went along. I had been riding a stationary bike for 10 miles in the mornings at home to get in shape for this reunion. I’ll admit it. So I had no fear that I could walk for an hour around the park. I might not have expected to walk at the pace they were used to and talk at the same time, but I did it all while we were there. I was glad to get some regular exercise – I was worried about coming home after the trip and getting on that bike again and making it through the ten miles, but as it turned out I lost weight and kept fit during the trip.
Linda came to the park each morning to check e-mail – that general store also had WIFI too, beside hand scooped ice cream and coffee – something Linda’s day must start out with. When you’re a 911 dispatcher you need a little jump start in the morning – it’s a 12 hour day.
A Trip to Lake Huron
(Joyce & Rick) wanted to take us on a trip to Mackinac Island, which is a resort island in Lake Huron near the Straits of Mackinac where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together and the Mackinac Bridge connects the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. The Mackinac Bridge is currently the third longest suspension bridge in the world.
You have to ferry to the island and there are no cars allowed on the island so getting around is by foot, bike or carriage. It would have been nice to go there, but we felt is was a little too expensive a trip for us on this trip. And, we didn’t want anyone picking up the tab for us on such an adventure. It would have been nice to go to Mackinac Island – I’ve never been there, so it leaves something to do for another trip. But, we made just as interesting a trip the next day by going over to Tawas City, MI, (the other side of the state) where her brother (Ron) lives with his wife (Dorta), an exchange student from my high school days. They have a maritime antique and sandwich shop there – right on Lake Huron. They wanted to talk with us as one of their sons is moving to Charleston, SC. That’s right folks there will soon be another Starland in the area.
We had a nice lunch of grilled brats on their patio, fed corn to the ducks in the lake and met a couple of their grandchildren who were staying for the Summer. They were going to have their hands full.
Business is not so good in Michigan, but it seemed that our visit that day brought in plenty of customers – more than they had seen in days. (Ron) had just retired from teaching at my old high school – in fact he did his teacher training there when I was a senior. He was one of two of my cousins who taught while I was there with three other cousins – two others in my own class and one in the class above. The result was – if we did anything wrong at school your parents heard about it right away. In elementary school – my aunt was the principal of the school. That puts a new twist on being sent to the principal’s office.
My family used to camp a lot at Tawas (I’m not sure when it became Tawas City). There was a state park there right on Lake Huron and a long fishing pier – that’s right where my dad could fish for perch. He and one of my uncles would also go there to ice fish in the Winter. Today that campground is a city park and looks nothing like I remember. Tawas had over grown the small community it once was. The state park had moved out to Tawas Point where a lighthouse is. We went there and checked it out too.
Lumberjackin’
On the trip back to Higgins Lake we went to Lumberman’s Monument, another place we visited a lot in my youth. This place was pretty much the same. The Monument is a 14-foot tall bronze statue, by Robert Aitken, which overlooks the Au Sable River.
The Lumberman’s Monument was erected in 1931 as a lasting memorial to the lumberman that harvested Michigan’s giant white pines. The three figures represent various stages of the historic lumbering operation. In the center the timber cruiser holds a compass, to his left; a sawyer holds an ax and cross-cut saw. The river rat is on the right using a peavey.
On of the major features of this park is the observation area overlooking the mighty Au Sable River and the stairway down to the river – 280 steps down a 150 foot vertical drop from the high bluff down to the river bank. If there is anything I remember from my childhood – it was those steps. My cousin (Joyce) wondered aloud if I was going to go down the steps. That’s a cousin for you. But, unlike the other three in our party I had every intention of going down those steps and hopefully making it back up them. And I had my camera with me to take pictures along the way to prove it. Some say I paid some kid to go down and take the pictures, but no kid could match my photography skills and I wouldn’t trust any of those kids I saw there not to just run off with my camera.
At the bottom of the river looking over at the sand dune area.
Starting up from the bottom.
Many more stairs to go.
I went down the steps – all 280 of them very carefully – taking my time not to go too fast and take in the sights, but on the way back it only took me 5 minutes – and I stopped a few times to take pictures. As a kid I remember these stairs as the death march stairs – easy to run down – but it took the rest of the day to walk back up. I guess I was in better shape than I thought. The others walked over to a big sand dune bluff overlooking the river.
Since the days of my youth the US Forest Service had added a Visitor Center and some exhibits describing the life of a lumberman. I know this was new as I wouldn’t have forgotten such a cool gift shop.
Later that day or maybe it was the next, it’s all getting a little fuzzy now, we went by a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Museum – these were the people who replanted the forest in Michigan those lumberman cleaned out. The buildings were closed – cutbacks due to the economy, but we got a little idea of what their life was like – rebuilding a forest.
The next few days we spent driving around the area to Houghton Lake, the lake below Higgins Lake and around Higgins Lake, which is so big and popular it has a state park at the North and South end. We never did go swimming as the temps were in the mid-70’s and the lake was too cold for some – no names mentioned, but it wasn’t me.
Every time we drove somewhere we passed a place called Nibble’s. It was a popular hand scooped ice cream stand, but it was either too early in the morning or there was a long line of people waiting, so we never stopped. We had been eating so much ice cream on this trip that I was beginning to have the ice cream DT’s. I wanted some more black cherry.
Reunion Preparations
The day before our Saturday reunion (Joyce) wanted to drive by a cabin at the lake owned by the family of a neighbor who went to high school with us who was living in Arizona that she had lost contact with. We joked about the fact that we had lost contact with a lot of people, but since Higgins Lake and Houghton Lake were popular summer vacation spots -some of our friends could be up at the lake right now, so we headed over to find her neighbor’s family cabin in hopes that someone would be there and we could learn how to get in touch with our old classmate (Diane). It took some searching, but we finally found the road where the cabin was and as we drove up to the place there was a car in the parking space with Arizona plates. The joke was on us.
Long story short (if you believe that) (Diane) wasn’t there, nor was her family, but across the street was another family from her old neighborhood and we wondered if they had a number to call – they did, (Joyce) talked to (Diane’s) mother and we got her number – then got her on the phone at work. (Diane) works for the city of Phoenix, AZ, and guess what? (Diane) was on her way to Michigan and was coming to the lake house. But, it wouldn’t be until the next weekend. It was a great discovery and this extended the reunion into a two weekend event. We were only there for Part 1.
The Reunion
Well, Saturday morning started with the walk in the state park while Linda checked e-mail again. (Pati) came about mid-day, just in time for the Lunch & Open Bar break, so there we were – three classmates from 1969. (Joyce) had baked a nice pie for our lunch. I helped peel the apples. I was going to buy a cherry pie at a store, but (Joyce) volunteered to make one. It was goooood.
We had an agenda for the day.
10am – Coffee Break (I don’t drink coffee)
11am – Yearbook Signing (Joyce signed my book 41 years late)
Noon – Women’s Volley Ball (It was kind of hard for Joyce since Pati had not arrived yet)
1pm – Men’s Volley Ball (I was the only guy there from our class)
2pm – Lunch & Open Bar (we had a great lunch with homemade apple pie for desert)
3pm – Conversations about those who didn’t come to the reunion (this extended into the next time frame – as so many didn’t make it)
4pm – Yearbook Signing (Pati signed my book 41 years late)
5pm – Strip Poker (no details – sorry guys, you didn’t make it)
6pm – Open Bar Shut Down
7pm – EMS arrives.
Actually, I don’t think we made it to 7pm as (Pati) had to drive home, but I think we had a good time – I know I did. I mean think about it – how many guys get to go to a high school reunion and they’re the only guy who shows up?
(Joyce), me, and (Pati)
There’s a lot more to tell about this reunion, but I think that’s a private affair and I’m saving those stories for a Reunion Blog I’ll be creating to get people ready for the one coming in two years.
The Last Day at the Lake
Sunday we packed up the car while (Joyce & Rick) went to church. When they got back we had a big breakfast – I still can’t believe we lost weight on this trip, but we did. If I had known that all my friends were going to turn out to be such good cooks I might not have left Michigan in the first place. As we were saying our good-byes the sun came out for the first time in a week. This was good as (Joyce & Rick) were hoping to get a coat of paint on their backyard deck. I talked with (Joyce) a few days ago and it was still raining almost every day at the lake, but they did get that deck finished and a few more things. So much for retirement.
So, now we were once again back in the car, this time heading South down the middle of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan towards Williamston to catch a few hours of visiting with another high school friend (Michael and his wife Mindy and their two children). (Michael) just couldn’t get his schedule to work out for the reunion, but I wasn’t coming to Michigan without seeing him after all these years. The last time I saw him was at our official 30th reunion. But, that story will be told in Part 3.5.
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Tags: Higgins Lake, Nibble’s Ice Cream, South Higgins Lake State Park