Achieving Perspective

Pack the car, grab a map and don’t forget your hiking booties because it’s Nooorthern Michigan! (I’ve seen Groundhog Day a few too many times).

You guessed it. I just returned from a vacation to what we Southern Michigan folk call Northern Michigan (we rarely remember to include the U.P. in our state).

An hour in to the road trip and we stop for lunch and what I still consider the best pizza place ever (and I live in Ann Arbor with Pizza House AND Cottage Inn) — Uno Chicago Grill. It’s a chain and they’re everywhere (EXCEPT ANN ARBOR! – because they decided to close the one that used to be here). My recommendation: anything deep dish, especially Shrooms.

Back on the road, drifting in and out of my food coma, we headed to Trout Creek, a resort where we rented a condo for the week. Three pools, tennis courts, and mosquito-infested nature trails – Welcome to Trout Creek, where we keep our pond stocked to satisfy your fishing needs (a concept that has always baffled me). The resort is located in Harbor Springs, just a few miles away from Petoskey. Our condo was very cute (almost too cute?) and obviously set up for the winter months when skiers come to show off their skills at Boyne Mountain or Nub’s Nob: fire place, a place to store your skis and framed signs reminding you to remove your boots (signed Jason and Jason’s mom – who apparently has no name).

Though we were on vacation, we were torn between enjoying the outdoors and watching the Olympics – after all, they only happen once every four years. Our schedule ended up as vacation-related activities during the day and Olympics at night (which worked out well with the 12-hour time difference between here and Beijing). Warning to future visitors of the Petoskey area: no restaurants are open on Sunday nights.

Fun fact: Wherever you are in Michigan, you will always been within 6 miles of water. My trip was proof. Round lake (not very round – more triangular), Crooked lake (kind of crooked), Walloon lake (surrounded by camps), Lake Michigan (big).

We dedicated one day to exploring Mackinac Island (still unsure if it’s with a c or w). We took a boat over to the island and decided to explore Fort Mackinaw first. We arrived just in time for the cannon firing, which was demonstrated by a clever man dressed in wool (in 85 degree heat) and who knew just when and how long to pause to allow the crowd to chuckle at his scripted jokes. We then took a tour, guided by another man dressed in wool (they really know how to treat their employees) and learned about how we created, lost and then won the fort from those darn British. We looked in every building, discovered that people used to be much short based on the size of their bunk beds, and got slightly sunburned before we headed to the other side of the town to enjoy lunch at the Grand Hotel restaurant (not actually in the Grand Hotel, but close by).

After my sister found half a fly in her salad (thoroughly grossing her out), we decided to do the mandatory bike ride around the island. I discovered that sometimes riding a bike is not like “riding a bike”, especially on a rented 1-gear bike with high handle bars. Along the way, my mom examined each house and tried to convince my family that we should live there. Her goal in life and in retirement is to own a house on a lake or an ocean.

We decided the perfect way to finish off the trip was to buy $50 worth of fudge (don’t worry, most of it was gifts… most ). We decided on Murdick’s, which we believe is better than Ryba’s. After canceling out our bike ride with a slab of fudge is our bellies, we boarded the boat back to the mainland.

Our resort was only a few miles from the Petoskey State Park so we headed over, my sister and I determined to start a collection of petoskey stones. I was disappointed and how few petoskey stones there were. It ended up being a who-can-find-the-coolest-rock contest. I won.

We filled our nights by watching the Olympics and playing board games. My dad murdered us at scrabble… and at any kind of card game. But he failed to dominate the best game ever: Blockus. It was the Mensa Select Game of 2003. It is so much fun, but also frustrating and easy to make enemies. Great for all ages! (I should get paid for this).

The most interesting find of the trip was our last full day when we decided to drive around and visit Walloon lake. We were in the middle of no where surrounded by nothing but trees and the occasional cabin, and our gas light went on. We would see a sign for a town and feel a slight wave a relief, but the towns consist of two buildings: antiques and a small convenience store. Our gas tank was running dry (as were our hopes of ever making it) when we saw a sign for Cross Village, a very small town consisting of a car garage, a gas station (yay!) and Legs Inn, which is the weirdest place I’ve ever been (with the possible exception of Frankenmuth). It is a polish restaurant looking over Lake Michigan that served hundreds of kinds of beer, including from Sri Lanka (where my sister went for a few months so it was a blast from the past for her). The view from the patio was absolutely breath taking – blue sky, gorgeous lake, the smell of pierogies. Unfortunately I had a terrible stomach ache and polish cuisine consists of meat and potatoes (heavy heavy heavy). I munched on a salad while my family enjoyed potato pancakes, blintzes and stuffed cabbage. The Legs Inn building itself is very strange. It gets its name from the decoration around the roof – hundreds of little white oven legs. Why? I don’t know. Inside it looks like a hunting lodge with stuffed animals every where and everything is made of raw wood. There was a large room, big enough for a decent polka ho-down, even with the 20 totem poles that surrounded the room. There was also an odd wood sculpture that was a cross between a bear, a pile of fish and a physical representation of the Bush Administration. I have a picture, but I think it’s better left to your imagination. The Legs Inn also has some important history behind it, which I knew at one point before I was blind sighted by the giant moose head. Who knew that there was this gem hidden in Northern Michigan.

Summary of my trip:
Fudge is good
Mosquitoes love me
Legs Inn makes me sound like a crazy person