Just a short time ago Wisconsin had record breaking warm temperatures. With temperatures in the 80's I wasn't thinking how close to fall and winter we were. Today the high is 55 degrees and reality has set in. I want to write about the rest of my summer vacation before I have to shovel snow.
In part one of my summer vacation I wrote about our great trip to South Dakota. My oldest grandson was staying in my house so I had no worries about leaving. It made it even more relaxing not being concerned about leaving the lights on or forgetting to unplug something. When I returned home it was as if I hadn't left. I was home for a couple weeks and then it was time to visit Traverse City Michigan.
My sister and her husband live there and their children get together for a week every summer. For the past few years my daughter and family have joined them in the fun. This summer was no exception. We all had a wonderful time. Traverse City is so gorgeous and has become a popular place for well known celebrities. My sister has a famous neighbor but I won't mention the name. They need private time but I have to say I spied on them for an embarrassing amount of time.
The kids filled their time with many different activities. Those over 21 went on a wine and ale tour. I didn't go so I don't really know how it worked, but I do know they laughed a lot and had a great time traveling from place to place on a trolley/bus and sampling the products. We all met for pizza afterward. It was fantastic.
Most of the time the kids did their thing, and we did ours. We sat on the beach near the Mission Point lighthouse at the tip of the Old Mission peninsula, we ate out a few times, we watched my nieces darling little girl and spent a lot of quality time chatting. For a few of the major activities we went to watch the fun.
Traverse City Michigan has an outdoor experience called Wheels on Rails. They have modified rail cars with bicycle pedals allowing participants to pedal along existing rails that are out of service. I didn't actually see this activity, but the pictures looked like so much fun .
They climbed the Sleeping Bear dunes. It was quite a workout but everyone made it. I remember trying it several years ago, and it isn't easy to climb in sand.
Some of the younger kids had a parasailing experience over Traverse Bay. They were nervous but had a lot of fun. At my age I would never have been brave enough to do it, but it was great to watch from shore.
We attended a minor league baseball game. Traverse City's home team is called the Pit Spitters. The city is known for having a National Cherry Festival and produces 40% of the nations tart cherry crop so I guess the team name is based on spitting out cherry pits. They played the Kenosha Kingfish. Of course I cheered for the Wisconsin team. There were a lot of empty seats, but it was a great night for baseball.
Right up there with parasailing was the most unusual activity of the week. The entire group took curling lessons at a local curling club. Most had never played before and knew nothing about the sport, but they caught on quickly. Many of the group are very competitive so it was fun to watch. Afterward the club provided a great dinner.
I am sure I missed some of the things we did during the week like getting ice cream and shopping, but overall a lot of fun was packed into one week. A lot of memories were made again this year.
