Very few people will find this post interesting. You've been warned.
Traverse City Vacation
Day One: Nostalgia
I arrived in Traverse City around 2:45 on Saturday. Check-in at my hotel wasn't until 4pm, so I decided to get some sight-seeing in first. At the top of my list was to see all my favorite childhood vacation spots, and since this wasn't something I wanted to spend an entire day doing, it was perfect. From Traverse City, I drove up US-31 on my way to Torch Lake. My great-aunt Marilyn used to have a modest little cottage on Torch Lake and would let us vacation there for a week every Summer. The lake is nothing short of breathtaking, and I never take for granted all the time that we were able to spend there. She eventually had to sell it, which was understandable, although incredibly sad. So I decided to try to find it and do a little spying to find out what the new owners have done.
While driving, I came across Elk Rapids, which was a nearby small town where we would do our grocery shopping and sometimes catch a movie or an ice cream cone. I decided to stop and walk around a bit, and came to find they were having a street arts & crafts fair. I didn't really see anything I don't see all the time at the A2 art fair, but it was a nice festive atmosphere for me to tour the town a bit. I found the whole place unchanged from my memory.
Back to the road. I wasn't entirely sure how to find the cottage, but I knew where it sat on the lake, so I just needed to find the roads that would take me there. While I traveled North on US-31, I saw a house that I recognized by a road that I remember always turning on. It's amazing how those visual images from your childhood can stick with you! So I turned. Even more recognition came with the scenery around me, with the view of the lake peeking out from behind the hilly road before me. I came to a T in the road which I also recognized and instinctively knew to turn left. I'm telling you, it's amazing. Once I got to approximately the right area, it's like I was on autopilot. I never was really paying attention when my parents drove, and I haven't been up here in at least 15 years. But it all felt natural.
I pulled into the boat launch next to where the old cottage was. I found the lake itself to be unchanged. I was completely immersed into a plethora of memories from my childhood. Splashing around in the lake, scouring the small sandy coast hunting for petosky stones, paddling out to the raft in the lake with a stack of Archie comic books and some crackers trying not to get wet, learning how to water ski, hitting golf balls into the lake and then snorkling to retreive them, pretending to know how to play croquet in the dry, dead, and crispy front yard, etc. I poked my head through the trees and overgrown brush to try to see the property next door where the cottage stood in the past and found a completely different world there. An expansive mansion (or, at least as big as they could fit on the small property) stood in the place of the old cottage and most of the old yard. The house itself was quite impressive and wealthy-looking, and even though I always knew that someone had bought the property and fixed it up in their own way, it felt like a part of me had died while I looked at the sight before me. Those memories of my childhood now only existed in my memory--the physical space would now never be the same.
I then found my way around to the other side of the lake to visit Brownwood Acres, another favorite family vacation spot. It's a grouping of little general-store-type shops with a farm and a little cafe. I felt just like a kid again when I went into the country store (with the old familiar wooden indian statue out front) and saw a room full of candy sticks, taffy, and other sweets. I also went into the honey house, the original building, and chatted with the owner and the nice old ladies working there. The owner still raises all kinds of animals on the farm, although has a bit of trouble raising pigs. She gets too attached to them and can't bear to send them off to be butchered! So she tried to name them things like Bacon, Ham, and Pork Loin in an effort to not grow too attached, but it didn't work. We also chatted a bit about how expensive properties are now on the lake, how the area has changed (like the restaurant across from Brownwood, where we went growing up sometimes, which was shut down because they were caught three times serving alcohol to minors), the flea market, etc. I'm not usually one to strike up conversations with strangers due to that bit of shyness that still remains in me, but it really does add color to a trip and make it more of an experience.
Back to the hotel to check in, then to dinner in downtown Traverse City. I ate at a place called Phil's Out Front, which was very nice (I had the crab cakes--tasty!). And back to the hotel because I am exhausted! I have many exciting things planned for the next couple of days, which I hope to document. If you've gotten to the end of this--I'm not sure why you'd be so interested in every detail of my vacation, but I hope it at least wasn't terrible to read. :)