Lake Michigan

JULY 2006
Because of high fuel costs and the fact that we had extra time on our hands, we decided to take the Amtrak out to Michigan. We also wanted to go to Chicago, so taking the train made sense. We love train travel and have had good experiences in Africa and southeast Asia. A few years ago, I took the train all the way to California and back. Plus, the new train station opened up 6 miles from our house. So why not?

It was well over 95 degrees on our departure day. We arrived at the station a little early, and then proceeded to wait over two hours for the train to arrive from Boston. What they told us later was that the train has to go slower when it is so hot outside. Strange excuse. We brought our laptop along and settled in to watch a movie on the way out. Our night was not particularly restful - the tracks were being worked on and the ride was bumpy. Plus, the two chaps behind us were chattering like fishwives. But it did feel like the adventure we were looking for.

We probably only got 6 hours of sleep and woke up at dawn. This was incredible to watch the sun rise, as the rest of the passengers were still sleeping (especially the two behind us). We passed through Gary, Indiana - a massive sprawling area of decrepit steel manufacturing buildings that had seen better days. We arrived in Chicago just one hour late at 10:00 am. We put our bags in storage and then set out into the city. With a cloud cover overhead and a slight breeze, we walked over three miles down through the city to the waterfront and over to Navy Pier, where we were rewarded with some great barbeque. Other great finds included farmer's markets along our way, amazing architecture, Grant Park, and the Smith Museum of Stained Glass, the only museum of its kind in the country. Playing true to the tourists that we were, we went up to the top of the Sears Tower, looked around, and then exhausted by the day, dragged ourselves back to Union Station, where we found that our train to Grand Rapids was cancelled because last night's thunderstorm knocked out the powergrid. More waiting until a bus fetched us and brought us 5 hours north. Arriving in Grand Rapids late at night, we crashed hard.

We did sleep well at the appropriately named Sleep Inn, and then rented a car and picked up mom and dad at the airport. They had taken the red-eye flight from Los Angeles, but were in good spirits. We drove two and half hours north to Beulah, which is close to Traverse City. Beulah, as we would come to discover, seemed to be like Cape Cod 50 years ago. A laid back town, with no traffic and no crowds to speak of, with small locally owned businesses, it was situated on the good-sized Crystal Lake. The house that we stayed in was a stone's throw from the lake, and had a private beach that we essentially could call our own. This was all just a couple of miles from the oceanic Lake Michigan. My sister Beth, Max, and the kids were already there, and it was a lovely reunion. The boys referred to the house as a four level one - it had a finished basement, two living floors, and then a finished attic, which they loved to call their own fort. The house was quietly tucked away in the woods. After Marshall and Zack showed us the lay of the land, we all gathered in the kitchen to eat and catch up with each other.

Here is where hours spilled into days and days turned into a week. There was no real sense of time. We slept in, hung out, read, played with the boys and Faith, walked endlessly, ventured into town, hiked in the woods, bathed in the lake, cooked and ate well, and soaked up as much relaxation as we could.

One outing was at Sleeping Bear Dunes - a national park that featured towering sand dunes, the likes we had not seen since Namibia. It was a great deal of fun walking up and running down them.  We rented a small sailboat and took the boys out in that one day. Unfortunately, for most of the week, there was either not enough wind or too much wind, but for one day it was perfect.

Another day, we went over to Interlochen and the music school there. Other people went to Traverse City. We all went out for ice cream several times. The Point Bessie Lighthouse was also a frequented place, as it was closeby, on a nice beach on Lake Michigan, and seemed to be the perfect place to hunt for Petrosky (fossilized) stones.

Loved spending time with everyone. The house was big enough to give everyone the space they needed and yet was so nice to have us all under the same roof.

After dropping mom and dad off at the airport, we had some time to ourselves. The Murphy's met us for lunch in Grand Rapids at the Big Boy, which is the boys' newest favorite place to eat.

Back in Chicago, we went over the Field Musuem. It is the premier natural history museum in my mind. We were there for the King Tut exhibit. I had been to the first Tut exhibit 28 years ago and was eager to see it again and share it with Russ. While spectacular, my expectations were too grand and I was slightly disappointed. We were tired and only got through a fraction of the immense building. They did have an incredible interactive exhibit on life in Africa. More walking around town. Saw the large Picasso sculture in the center of the city. Ended up eating at a nouveau German restaurant that had a lot of character. Loved it.

Went back to Union Station and waited for our night train to leave. Again, it was a couple of hours late, and without a plausible excuse, it was a little frustraing in the crowded terminal. We slept a little better once we got settled in though.