Family gathering in Manistee

We hadn't been home two weeks from our trip visiting family in New England before we were back on the road again, this time catching up with the extended Bergman clan. 

The Bergman family --  consisting of nieces Christina, Melissa, and Rachel and nephew Jonathan, their spouses and their various children (ages 5ish to 20ish) -- have been gathering together (along with their parents) for reunions for some years. This year they planned to gather at a VRBO rental just north of Manistee, MI thanks to dad Carl's intrepid searching for a place to accommodate all of them. 

photo courtesy of Joyce Caldwell

So we grabbed our backpacks, toiletries and sundry items and headed off to Manistee. It was a nice, short (2-hour) drive up US 31 and, notwithstanding the frequently terrible roads here, we zipped right along on a gorgeous afternoon. Once we arrived in Manistee we searched for our hotel and found it right on the beach overlooking Lake Michigan.

After checking in we made our way to where the clan had settled in for the better part of the week. 

It turns out that Tuesday night was taco night compliments of Jonathan and his wife Naomi. (The siblings had divvied up the cooking with each family group responsible for a night of cooking.)

We had the great privilege of joining them for dinner followed by a laugh-filled round of Bernice Game sitting outside next to the fire pit.

The next morning after a walk down the beach to the lake we checked out of our hotel and returned to the Bergman apartments for a serious round of Bingo with Prizes. 

Eventually we had to say adieu and, a little after noon, we headed east to McBain in Missaukee County to catch up with Harvey Lucas and his wife Ev. Cousins of Susan's mom, we had not seen Harv and Ev for perhaps a couple of years or more and needed to spend some time sharing news and stories.

After plenty of warm conversation we said our second round of adieus to family and headed back home.  

There's nothing like spending time with family: from cute kids to lovely seniors it was a truly wonderful 24 hours on the road!

Skip the John Ball Zoo

June 22.

The John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids has been around for a very long time, maybe too long. The space itself is actually built up a hill and although they provide a funicular to get folks to the top so they can walk down, when we were there in June it was not working and the staff members we spoke with didn't know why it wasn't functional and one person who worked at the park seemed confused by the word funicular.

    The grounds are also peppered with advertising billboards. Not the kind that might highlight the name of a company or organization that donated for a particular exhibit but just straightforward billboards placed here and there along the walkway. 

    And the overall feel of the grounds seemed very tired -- the aquarium smelled bad and barely lived up to its name.

    That said, the kids -- and there were a LOT of families about -- the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. And the otter exhibit was pretty cool it must be said.

    But Susie has such fond memories of going there as a child so the tip was worth it for that alone.

word is the lanterns scattered make for a most impressive night stroll

lots of kitschy decor and not all of it made much sense but the kids loved it!

the live music stage

aquarium

 

Chihuly in Grand Rapids

June 21.

In May of this year we popped over to Meijer Gardens to check out the latest Dale Chihuly indoor and outdoor glass exhibitions.  Some years ago we had the wonderful experience of seeing an outdoor exhibition of Chihuly's fantastic glass art at Kew Gardens in London and when we learned there was to be a brand new exhibition right across the street we jumped at the chance.

While we didn't see all the outdoor work -- we hope to rectify that in the coming weeks -- what we did see outdoors was lovely. And the indoor pieces were simply incredible.

Ikebana

Example of the collections of early glass baskets:

the Persians

The Fax Room, wallpaper of Dale Chihuly faxes consisting of his sketches, ideas and drawings from the 1990s:

Rotolo

We walked outside with map in hand to track down several of the outdoor glass installations.

Chartreuse Icicle Tower

Walla Wallas (as in the onions)

Turquoise Reeds

Mottled Trumpet Flowers and Plum Feathers

Blue Polyvitro Crystals at the Waterfalls

Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds

Go see for yourself.

Off to Maine and more family

Monday-Thursday, June 8-11.

We're back on the road again. But this time the drive was short. Boring but short.

We said adios to Dick and Dorothy and headed north for the Maine woods. Traffic was surprisingly light and we made good time on I-495 west of Boston and I-95 north through New Hampshire and on into Maine. Once we arrived close to Bangor we drove straight to nephew Jon's home where Joyce was watching her grandkids. 

After spending a nice afternoon reconnecting with several of the Bergman kids and watching grandma help them with sewing projects we drove Joyce home where we caught up with Avery.

The plan was for us to check into our hotel, unpack and return to take them out for dinner.

And so we did.

Marsh Island Brewery

The four of us went to Marsh Island, a relatively recent addition to the eateries in Hampden. The service was very good, the outside semi-enclosed room quiet enough to have a decent conversation. The food was OK -- the fried cauliflower appetizer was very tasty and the girls had wedge salads which they enjoyed. Avery had fish and chips which he deemed delicious. I was the odd man out. I ordered the fried chicken plate and after a few bites thought the chicken quite "spongy" and oddly difficult to cut. Having gotten used to cooking with the superb Otto's chicken from Middleville, MI, this was a disappointment by comparison. But the local beer was tasty.

fried cauliflower

my fried chicken plate - note the beer looks like grapefruit juice 

wedge salad with pulled chicken

After dropping Joyce and Avery off back at their home we returned to the hotel and tucked in for the night. 

Tuesday morning opened cool and crisp. Since we had no agenda for today other than meeting up with family later this afternoon we relaxed over coffee in our room. We had brought our mini Nespresso with us on this trip -- in fact we usually bring it with us on long road trips -- so we always have pretty good coffee. Hotel coffee in places like Hampton Inn etc can often be dark but in actuality mostly brown water. Ya gotta be prepared when you travel, right?

Anyway, while Susan spent some quality time in the hotel pool, which she had all to herself, I worked on my Duolingo (I suppose I should call it my Triolingo: Spanish, Italian and German.) Early afternoon gave Susan and Joyce some time to chat and share many thoughts and feelings about life - the good and the not always so good.

Later afternoon we returned to Joyce and Avery's and, after a short visit spent with their gorgeous rhododendron, the four of us convoyed over to Bangor and Angelo's Pizzeria for dinner. There we met up with the Bergman clan: Jonathan, Naomi and their four kids, Addie, Johanna ("JoJo"), Abe and Eliza. Run by a Greek -- the tipoff were the series of (very old) photos of Athens and the Acropolis - the food was tasty and filling. I had a roast beef wrap, Susie had a custom pizza with chicken and broccoli while the group shared a variety of tasty pies.

Sisters Joyce and Susan

Susie's pie

We said our goodbyes to the Bergmans but that's only temporary. We'll see them all again later this month at the Bergman clan reunion in Manistee.

Joyce and Avery followed us back to our hotel and after parking we walked next door to Fielder's Choice for some of their delicious homemade ice cream. Apparently much of Bangor had the same idea and the place was packed, some of course playing mini golf, and the queue for the ice cream was serious.

It was a lovely evening and watching Americans lining up for food and entertainment is always fun.

The following morning we packed up, loaded the car and headed over to J&A's to say our final goodbyes (although they plan to be in Manistee as well). Susie also wanted to pick up a goat's beard plant that Joyce had split up for her -- and we were not surprised to see her in full Maine outdoor garb -- the black flies are terrible this time of year and this morning was no exception.

We were on the road by about 8:30 and made good time retracing our steps to Mass before turning due east and stopping for the night in Utica, NY. After checking in to our hotel we made our way to Ancora for dinner. Located right up Genesee Street from our hotel, we ate here in the winter of 2012 while passing through town and recalled a pleasant experience then. Although they had expanded somewhat in the intervening years we were not disappointed: Susie had a very nice chicken Caesar and I had chicken with orzo and asparagus.

The next morning we were back on the road for our final leg to Grand Rapids. Before leaving we submitted a number of complaints about the room -- it was really quite dumpy and broken -- and made our way back to the Thruway. 

The drive home took us about 9.5 hours but time went by rather fast we thought and our border crossings went off without a hitch. In fact we zipped right into Canada and thanks to our Global entry passes right into the US, no waiting thank you very much.

All in all a wonderful trip; seeing family and a few friends, experiencing new places and old, all at the price of a few dollars in tolls (OK maybe more than a few), and about 2500 miles. 

Not bad I'd say, not bad at all.

Oh, and we did make reservations on Air BnB for a home in the Upper Peninsula for four nights in late September. Stay tuned!