We had a hard time finding a place to stay for 4th of July, since I started looking only a month in advance. There was only one state park in northwest Michigan that had a place for us, a rustic campground called Fisherman's Island. We'd have no electricity, water, showers, dump station, or cell phone coverage, and we hoped it would have something to offer in return. We got one of the nicest surprises of the trip.
When we arrived, we saw that Fisherman's Island State Park (not on an island, by the way) was a pretty wooded place right on the shore of Lake Michigan. Campsites do not back up to the water, but is an easy walk to the shore (of course, I tried walking there a couple times and never made it, but more about that later). The dirt road was potholed, washboardy, and long, but the trees were immense and the sites shady and private. The first site they assigned us (#48 for the first night, #44 the 2nd and 3rd nights) was too unlevel, and we crossed our fingers that something else would be open. There was one: number 64. It looked great--here it was:
And somehow it was available for all three nights. It had some of the biggest birch trees I have ever seen--some over a foot in diameter.
As soon as we pulled in, we saw two women and a child walking down the street. The little girl looked about Katie's age, and as we got out of the car, they spotted us and stopped and came over. The little girl, Paige, clung to her mommy's leg as we made introductions, meeting Paige's mom (Julie) and their friend Diane. Paige is four years old and tall like her mom. We promised to come back and play later, after exploring the town of Charlevoix. Katie seemed happy to meet a little girl her age, and they were staying right next to our campsite.
We explored town, which was small and charming, with a park and marina on one side of the highway and shops on the other, flowers hanging from baskets on every lightpost, a great ice cream shop (we tasted their products), and a bridge that opens every 30 minutes to let ships go out into Lake Michigan. Also we walked to a big, sandy beach on Lake Michigan, which had a playground for Katie and pretty pebbles for me. We were pleased with where we'd ended up for the holiday. But it got better.
We got back to camp and Paige ran over, this time not shy, and eventually we all made our way over to her campsite, where we met her dad, his brother James, and chatted with them and Diane (James' girlfriend) and Julie. Here are Paige, Julie and David (Paige's dad):
They offered me a glass of wine, and James had some really great hardwood burning in the fire pit, and well, we stuck around for hours and kept them up till the kids fell asleep, and made plans to go to a 4th of July parade in a little town nearby, that they always attend.
Katie and Paige were such a good match, with very similar temperaments, and Julie (a massage therapist) and David (an automotive designer) were a lot of fun. I was really glad we had to move from spot 48.
Monday, July 4
Paige came over and had her fingernails and toenails painted red, white & blue, and Katie wanted hers like that too, and Julie (who was once a manicurist) said okay. Here she is making them up:
We drove over to the little town of Horton Bay for their annual 4th of July parade, this year the theme was college (they don't have one). All the entries were self-created and a often a little raunchy but always funny. Here are a few:
The Horton Bay "child left behind." He was reading a comic book upside down.
the meter was expired...
It ain't over until the fat lady sings. Here were the auditions:
my personal favorite
the winner
Katie got to sit with some folks who were 5th generation from that town, and they told us about the various entrants. Katie didn't like being up in front, though, and objected when the nice folks tried taking our picture:
After the parade, Paige and Katie danced in the street:
and had ice cream:
Then we left Paige and her family, and wandered down to Boyne City, which was having a street fair and fireworks later on. Boyne City, another small town, was actually having fireworks every night that week, I think. Boy they know how to party in Michigan! But Katie was pooped, and so was I, so we left before the big show, and took a tiny 4-car ferry across to get back to Charlemoix. Here's the cable ferry:
Tuesday, July 5
By this time, Katie is uninterested in us, and only wants to spend time with Paige, or, failing that, her family. Unfortunately, her family does have some plans of their own, and today her dad takes her for a hike, to Katie's dismay. But we try occupying her by driving southwest over to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, where there are huge sand dunes created in the last ice age. One is 450 feet above lake level, and, despite signs warning "it is a long climb back up," lots of fools can be heard whooping and yelling on the way down, and wheezing and panting on the way back up. It looked too steep and I said "no" to us doing it, but Mark would have, if it had been just him and a buddy. Here are the shots:
as close as Katie could go
"I could do that"
the view from the side. you can see tiny crazy people if you look close.
A little ways away, there was a smaller, safer hill reserved for climbing and running down. Mark and Katie did it about four times. Here they go:
here it is from the side--not so scary.
We heard that north of there, the Leelenau peninsula was supposed to be very pretty, but we'd been eating out a lot lately, so we headed home early and had spaghetti. Paige and her family showed up and had their spaghetti too, and then we drank more of their wine and burned more of their hardwood, and had a good ole time. Diane had given Paige a beading kit with little letter beads in it, and Julie helped the girls make little anklets together. They looked so grown up with their braids and their anklets! Katie took a picture of hers on her leg, I discovered, just after we arrived at our next spot, the next day. Here's her shot:
It was so nice meeting Julie and David. I will miss them, maybe longer than Katie will remember Paige. Perhaps they'll come our way someday and we can repay them in wine and fires.