Les Flâneurs

Arrival in L'Anse

September 21.

It was a gorgeous day for a road trip and for us that trip would take us to the wilds of the Upper Peninsula, to L'Anse at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula to be precise.

We packed the car with our bags and a cooler full of food and left Grand Rapids about 9:30 a.m. We stopped for our packed lunch at the welcome center just across the Mackinac bridge (not very welcoming, though, since the information portion was closed). Once we'd fueled up just outside of St. Ignace, Susie spelled me at the wheel for the next couple of legs as we pushed on westward.

The trip was pretty uneventful although Susie did experience two different eagle sightings overhead. Love that.

We pulled into L'Anse a little before 6 PM and drove along the lake shore for a few miles outside of town before finding our house for the next four days.

the bench in the center is now up against the tree on the right and there are now chairs by the firepit

After unpacking and settling in we opened a bottle of prosecco and grabbed a seat to watch the sunset.

Back inside we enjoyed a bowl of chili brought from our home larder, accompanied by a glass of Beaujolais, then settled in for the night.

Tomorrow after a leisurely morning it's off to Copper Harbor so stay tuned!

Trip to the Upper Peninsula and Beyond

Monday to Monday, September 21-28.

Tomorrow we leave for L'Anse, Michigan where we will spend four nights at a house rental along the southern shore of Lake Superior. OK, if you're going to get technical, it's along the Bay of L'Anse which empties into Keweenaw Bay which empties into Lake Superior.

After exploring the Keweenaw Peninsula (the peninsula within a peninsula) we'll drive five or six hours to Minneapolis where we will visit our niece Rachel and her husband Steve. After two nights in the Twin Cities (really Bloomington) we head south to the suburbs of Chicago to meet up with my brother Greg and his wife Joyce for a night and then back to Grand Rapids.

Should be about a week altogether.

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.