It was the first plane ride for Ms. B. and me since before the pandemic began.
We were a couple of early birds on Thursday, September 2 — our flight took off
at 5:10 a.m., so we were up and at it by 3:30 a.m. Fortunately, from start to
finish, everyone around us was masked up, as required, and of course, Ms. B.
and I had our COVID-19 shots a few months back (as did her parents). We headed
from Greensboro to Flint via Charlotte, on full flights,
both of which were on time, smooth, and trouble-free.
We arrived in Midland, MI, early in the afternoon, had some
lunch, drank coffee, and spent a good portion of the afternoon hanging with
the parents. Rather than go out geocaching, I stayed in and worked hard to
complete a short story for an upcoming anthology. Mission accomplished! I feel
like the story did everything it set out to do, and I hope the editor will
feel the same. Of course, I will post any news on that front whenever there is
any news on that front to post. Despite having gotten up well before the
ass-crack of dawn, we both stayed up to the wee hours watching cooking shows
on the Food Network, which has become long-standing tradition whenever we're
in Midland.
Friday turned out to be quite a productive day, geocaching-wise. I got
up early and, as has been my custom on the past several visits here, set out
on the bicycle for big ol' caching run. I found a fair bunch, couldn't find a
couple of others, and put in seven or eight miles of pedaling.
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| Do you see the cache? It's right there, in the picture.... |
Drank coffee.
After lunch, the lot of us hit the road, headed for Clare, about 30
miles from Midland, so that Ms. B. and her folks could explore an antique shop
or two. Naturally, while they did this, I wandered off to hunt caches. I
discovered Clare's very large, very old graveyard, which was quite lovely —
one of those graveyards so picturesque they surely take some of the sting out
of being buried. We had intended to stop at the famous
Cops 'n' Doughnuts doughnut shop, but it — like most of the rest of the
little town — was overrun with specimens of the human species, a huge number
of which were stopping through on their journeys north to the annual Labor Day
walk across the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's upper and
lower peninsulas. So we opted to forgo doughnuts (though I did get to snag a
cache there). Once our business was concluded in Clare, we moved a few miles
back eastward to Sanford, a tiny little town that damn near came to an
end a year or so ago. An incredible amount of rainfall swelled the
Titabawasee River to unprecedented proportions, which resulted in
the destruction of two dams and massive flooding in and around Sanford. When
we visited here last September, we went to Sanford to view the damage
(see "Midland with a Twist," September 18, 2020). Since then, most of the town has been as restored as restored can be, but
the river and Sanford Lake are just plain gone, with only marsh and destroyed
property remaining in their places. The folks found a decent antique mall
north of town, while I again set out on an enjoyable cache run.
After a nice dinner with the folks, Ms. B. and I made the pilgrimage to
Whine!, which is pretty much our regular Midland wine bar — though, rather than
wine, I decided to give their gin martini a try. I found it pleasing. And, as
per usual, upon our return we sat up late with the folks watching cooking
shows. I always wonder why I feel so hungry when I'm here.
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| A view of the old cemetery in Clare |
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| Alleyway art behind Cops 'n' Doughnuts in Clare |
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| Big-ass weeping willow, little Ms. B. |
Drank coffee.
For dinner, Kimberly and I constructed shrimp tacos, which everyone enjoyed.
And then it was a quiet, homebody-type evening in front of the TV.
Another relatively early-morning bike ride
got Sunday started for the old geocacher. This one turned
out to be another long ride with few cache finds, but I did get to spend
some quality time on the hunt. One — at a picnic shelter at
Optimist Park
— was rated high on the difficulty scale, and I never did find the damned
thing after almost an hour of searching. I'm sure that little fucker is
there; it's just a really tough hide. I got in a bit of trail riding at
nearby
Stratford Woods Park, and at least there, I did find the cache. Drank coffee.
After this, Ms. B. and I headed downtown, where we completed an
Adventure Lab cache that led us to several noteworthy locations
along Main Street. That was fun, and I also picked up an additional
cache along the way. During the afternoon, she and her folks went out to
hunt more antiques, while I stayed home to rest and recuperate after all the
rigorous pedaling. And I got a bunch of this blog written.
Drank more
coffee.
Come dinnertime, we decided to hit a couple of different downtown
destinations to split up the courses. We began at
Café Zinc — out on the lovely terrace — with a dirty gin martini for the old
dude (which would have been exemplary but for the non-regulation
martini glass, which sits poorly with certain of us drink snobs), a
not-at-all-oaky Chardonnay for the lady (feh), and a shrimp cocktail to
share (bravissimo). We followed this by trucking ourselves a couple
of doors down to
Gratzi, which we had visited once before, a couple of years back. On that
experience, the food left more than a little to be desired, though the
drinks were perfection and the service exemplary. This time, I ordered the
veal Bolognese, and Kimberly went with meatballs with marinara sauce. Hers
was delicious, mine was good, though not exceptional. As before, the service
couldn't have been better and the atmosphere there is top-notch. For these,
we'll give the place a solid thumbs-up.
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| View of the hidden trail that leads toward Stratford Woods Park |
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| Heading for the cache in Stratford Woods |
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| Ms. B. in front of "Santa's House" in downtown Midland |
And that was our long Labor Day weekend Midland trip. Mostly relaxing, with fun caching, bike riding, dining, drinking, and wonderful family time. Drank coffee. The weather was absolutely perfect this time around; I sort of suspect that, on our next trip, it may be cold. Damned cold. Michigan cold.
Till then.
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| Big bug or little cache? |
