Sunday, June 27, 2010

Letter 12 Michigan II

Monday, June 21 we moved to Traverse City, MI. on the way we turned off the road to see the Betsie Point Lighthouse. We knew it would be a dead end because it would run into the lake, but since the Jones like lighthouses and the sign didn’t warn RV’s or say no turn around, we took a chance that backfired! Ralph said, “OH, #$%*! Fortunately there was a good little side road to turn into and back on the road. Ralph was very nervous as he doesn’t like to back up. He has a short bed pickup which reduces maneuverability. We did walk down to the lighthouse and waded for Petosky rocks. The water was so clear and no waves. Several people tried to show us, but no one found one.

We found our new home at Traverse City State Park and we can see the lake from the trailer.

Tuesday, June 22, 47 years of marriage for us. It’s seems like yesterday we were marching up the aisle together.

We drove out to see the little finger of Michigan. It is an interesting triangle, starting with
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. The Indian lore story is there was a fire in Wisconsin and a mother bear and her two cubs tried to swim to Michigan. Along the way the two cubs didn’t make it and the mother laid down and waited. One of the dunes is called the sleeping bear. The two islands off shore are the two cubs. We drove through Pierce Stocking Scenic drive and when we arrived at the peak for a beautiful view
we only saw white! Fog! Back down lower we watched people
climbing another dune before going to the little town and life guard station. They explained their preferred method would be
to shoot a line to the ship in peril and send out a basket to retrieve the stranded men on ship, before they would risk heading out in their
little boats.

On down the road we visited LeLand and their old
Fishtown. We enjoyed wandering though the shops and seeing the
river behind the shops.

Back at the trailer we cooked steaks and put together supper with the Jones. It was a nice anniversary supper.

Fred had some new friends to visit. We have seen very bushy tail grey squirrels but these very brave
little black ones almost jumped in our laps.

Later we met and visited with our neighbors, three female students attending a week long college credit intensive class who decided to save the motel cost and camp out. Another neighbor had given us some firewood, so we shared a campfire and they furnished some-mores.

One of the students wasn’t up to visiting with us old folks, but two of them were very engaging. They made the four of us very welcome at their campfire. Nancy was from Ann Arbor, Mi. Her background was Hawaiian/Japanese and Black/Indian. She is working toward being a Physician’s Assistant and also working in the hospital in Ann Arbor. Fred talked mostly with Caroline, born in Oklahoma, but is now a resident Kansas and going to school in Michigan. She has two more years of college. She will receive her masters in sociology and anthropology. We discussed thrilling things like skull shapes by ethnicity! Seriously, conversing with her was most interesting. She is a focused and motivated student. Very excited about her subject matter. After graduation, she plans to follow two relatives in working for the federal government. We don’t worry about the future of the USA with students like these. We missed getting their emails and addresses so we could keep up with them, so Nancy & Caroline if you are reading this, please send us your info.

Wednesday, June 23 we drove out the Mission Peninsula to the very tip. Almost to the end we stopped to see the Old Mission Church erected in 1839 by a Presbyterian missionary who came here from Mackinaw. We also visited the little
General Store that was full of
old stuff and some new. We found they had Moolishus (brand) ice cream and decided to go back after lunch to have some.

We stopped at a city park and waded - hunting for Petoskey stones then drove to the tip and a visit to the lighthouse and yet another wade for the stones on the
45th Parallel. We only found a few at the park.
Then back to the store for some Cherry Moolishus Ice cream and other flavors.

We followed the coast line of both shores of the peninsula and ended up at the
Black Star Farm for a wine tasting. We didn’t care for any of the wines, except their “Ice” wine. The grapes are picked when frozen and juiced the same day. Very sweet.

According to the internet this was our last Wal-mart going north so we stocked up on our needs from there to last us a while.

Olivia had put on a pot of pinto beans so we shared and had beans, cornbread, bacon, chopped onions & sour pickles, and sliced tomatoes for supper. This is Olivia’s favorite meal and the Jones seemed to like it too.

Thursday, June 24 as we moved we saw
petunias planted on the curb for about a mile in Cheboygan. Home for us this time was Petoskey, MI, home of the Petoskey stones, and their municipal campground. Wonders never cease. Olivia had hunted and hunted for a good campground in this area and had almost given up, when she found this one, AND it is right on the lake. After supper the Jones and Olivia walked the beach looking for
Petoskey stones. Fred said he had enough of looking for rocks!

A Petoskey stone is a rock and a fossil, often pebble-shaped, that is composed of a fossilized coral, Hexagonaria percarinate. The stones were formed as a result of glaciation, in which sheets of ice plucked stones from the bedrock, grinding off their rough edges and depositing them in the northwestern portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula. We have been told they are all over the place, but they haven’t been where we looked.

We noticed a lot of Victorian homes along the waterfront and then saw a sign stating, “Bay View Association, United Methodist Church.” A Chautauqua on Lake Michigan.

This was a surprise, so we drove into it. We stopped some people chatting at an intersection and a very knowledgeable man came to answer our questions.

Founded in 1875 by Michigan Methodists as a camp meeting, this association encouraged scientific and intellectual development within a religious community. In 1885 a summer educational assembly program was created. Inspired by the Chautauqua of New York, Bay View organized schools of art, cooking, elocution and music. In addition cottagers participated in religious study, reading circles, dramatic and recreational activities. In 1890 Evelyn Hall was built for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

William Jennings Bryan, Bruce Catoon, Lillian Hellman, Helen Keller and Booker T Washington were among the speakers in
this auditorium.

Begun as a retreat for revival meetings and spiritual refreshment, within the first decade, It expressed its “Methodist concern” for intellectual enlightenment and cultural growth. As a result it became a pioneering institution in public education with an ambitious summer university, a Chautauqua series attracting tens of thousands of visitors, and a home study program enrolling men and women across the nation. During the same period, the raw territory of the early “tent city” developed into a resort community of such Victorian charm that it has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. It continues to follow closely the principles of spiritual growth and cultural advancement initiated and steadfastly practiced by its Methodist founders.

We walked to the administration building where we were met with a very friendly lady who told us there are 30 public buildings and 420 cottages, 12’x20’ built during the 1870’s and later have been added on to. Sweeping verandas and stately turrets
characterize the Queen Anne style evident in the cottages and public buildings. Methodist camps at Martha’s Vineyard and Ocean Grove, NJ influenced Bay View’s founders.

WOW!

We saw
Epworth Home built and maintained by Epworth Leauge, the forerunner to MYF. The Methodist youth saved their pennies to pay for the construction of Epworth Hall.

University summer school was held on this campus before the big Ivy League universities realized summer school was a good thing. Many of those professors came here to teach for the summer. As we walked through the commons we heard music coming from the Hall and from other large buildings we could hear very talented voices practicing their scales. So they are continuing the original goals of the association.

There is still a
Chautauqua cottage standing on the grounds and now is used for Women’s Council. In the 1880’s and 90’s, the cottage was used by the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles which had a membership of over 2,000 people.

In another section of the commons, people were playing
croquet. Dress in white was the dress code to play on this court. Next was a lawn bowling court and members were measuring out the lanes. Is this really in the 21st century?

We drove the twisting streets looking at all the
charming homes. It’s amazing they started out as 12x20’ structures. That’s the same square footage as our trailer. Not only have they been added on, but decorated in the Victorian style with appropriate landscaping. All had been personally named, and some have been in the
same family for 5 generations. Olivia like the way this one had a partially enclosed front porch.

On the way back to the trailer we stopped at the Pleasantview vineyards winery and enjoyed a free tasting of ten wines. The owner was our server and was entertainer extraordinaire. He knew his facts and his spiel was fun. The Jones had decided they would not go into Canada, so we bought a couple of bottles to send home with them.

Friday night we dressed up a little and drove to Boyne Highlands to see the
Young Americans. This large Swiss chalet style building is not only home to the Young American’s in the summer but a busy
ski lodge in the winter. The program started at 6:30 with snacks and a cash bar. The YA’s not only waited on everyone they stopped to chat too. At the end of happy hour they gathered and
started singing. The gray haired man visiting the food table is the founder of YA. He started it in 1961. It is based in southern California to provide training for talented Young American student performers (15-23 years of age). They are to use this training, good will and optimisn to support International Music Outreach Workshops along with performing.

They consist of 200 members from over 37 states and seven countries interested in music education, fine arts, motion pictures, television, radio, Broadway and recording. There is no political or religious affiliation. They start this track with one year in their college with like tuition.
Not only did they perform in a group, but some even
climbed on the wall. For dinner we were
seated toward the end of the room. The recommendation had been to sit in the middle rear, but being opening night there were lots of family, directors, and former YA’s that were treated to the best seats. But that’s ok, we still had good seats.

Our meal consisted of salad, prime rib with veggies and a fancy chocolate cupcake with goo inside, all served by the YA’s.

They performed their hearts out. We wished for just the energy in their little finger. Olivia lost count on the costume changes and there were very strenuous routines. One section was famous singers, including
Dolly Parton and
Ray Charles.

Another was on Scotland and the
Highland Fling and still another was on famous musicals and the cutest was the
birds in Little Mermaid. And on and on. We really wished for Daniel, Blaire and Rachel to have been with us. They would have enjoyed it much more than we did and that's saying a lot. If you ever have a chance to see this group, run don't walk to get tickets. For more information please go to www.youngamericans.org

Saturday, June 26 was a full day. Don’t say we aren’t diverse! We started the day with a float trip on the Sturgeon River. We received our
instructions after much debate as to whether to take a one or two hour trip. We would be on a rubber raft. With guidance from the Big Bear employee we chose the one hour. We were the most glamorous group on the river!

They took us to the drop off point and we were on our own. The river was pretty and swift with
low hanging limbs, piles of driftwood and frequent curves, which made us work as a team. We did pretty good for
four old folks and didn’t lose anyone. One time Sandy was knocked into the raft by a tree limb and lost her paddle, but it was easily retrieved. We were surprised we made the trip in just a little over one hour. We docked at the Burt Lake State Park and left our gear to be picked up later. All together we were pretty proud of ourselves. Fred decided 1 1/2 hour sitting on the edge of the raft was plenty!

Nearby the town of Wolverine was having a three day Lumberjack Festival including a Lumberjack show, so off we went to see the 2:00 o’clock show. There were five competitions between two lumberjacks. One was to
climb a fallen timber and cut off the end. Another was to
put boards into the tree and cut the top off. The
ax throwing was next, finished by the
log running contest. The man in blue won the competition. All the sawing was done with chainsaws.

The community had chicken dinners, with half a chicken, so we bought one to go for supper.

Sunday, June 27, the Bay View Assembly shows the relationship to the church can also be seen in the programs of the Association. Among the committees specified in the By-Laws is a Committee on Worship and Religious Life. Members of this committee oversee the religious activities of Bay View, including
Sunday morning worship services during the summer Assembly, where outstanding preachers from different denominations are brought to the memorial pulpit in their John M. Hall Auditorium. So we chose to attend this service where Rev. Dr. Carol M. Bechtel, Professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI, was the preacher for this Sunday.

After church their original speakers stand,
now museum was open with a display of assembly quilts. The first thing we saw was their
original podium, made of one of the trees. They had many pretty quilts including a whole room of silk
“Crazy Quilts” and
other items too.

For those of you in Waxahachie that are interested in our Waxahachie Chautauqua Association you may want to go to Bay View’s web site for ideas. www.bayviewassociation.org They also have a hotel on the campus and would prove a very interesting and enjoyable stay to interested persons.

Sunday night we attended the celebration of Evelyn Hall being on the campus for 120 years. At first we thought this was a woman’s name, but it was the building. In fact it was built for Evelyn Peters by her husband, a lumber tycoon of the 1880’s. We were introduced to the President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union who told about her being a woman’s activist long before starting the WCTU. Mr Peter’s followed by telling of his success and wealth that allowed him to build this hall for the women to have a summer headquarters.

From there we walked over to the auditorium to the Vespers Concert, a tribute to the men and women serving or have served in our armed forces. The concert, was book-ended by the Navy Hymn and the National Hymn. The choir and group hymns were most inspiring.

As we left the auditorium we noticed the largeopen windows, similar in size to the opening of our Chautauqua building and Fred wondered how big the window weights were to hold these massive windows open.

When we drove out of the association we admired another one of theircottages all dress up.

We heard this day news about an F1 tornado in Michigan killing a camper, north of Detroit. Sad news. It wasn’t near us, it was in the thumb and we were at the tip of the mitten in the lower peninsula of the state. Thanks for your concern.

As always we love hearing from you and look forward to those emails, so keep the coming. Just click on Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com

Next letter: Michigan III
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