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Linda Lee Porter and Ms. B. at the Tridge |
Saturday, September 28, 2024: Return to Midland
On a note unrelated—at least directly—to our trip, I'm now seeing in graphic detail how devastating Hurricane Helene was in areas very close to home. Thankfully, our place doesn't appear to have been impacted, but to the east and west of us, there has been massive flooding, power outages, and property damage. We appear to have been very fortunate, and my heart goes out to those who've suffered terrible losses. As for Michigan, we've had a little rain but have remained out of harm's way, at least for this go-round.
I was up and at it pretty early this morning, as a couple of caches lay within easy walking distance of our Cheboygan lodgings. Since we're only three hours from Midland, we didn't rush to pack this morning, and we had a leisurely breakfast — from McDonalds — and then made ourselves marginally presentable.
Out on the road, we rocked out to 70s music and eventually turned off at Houghton Lakes, where we snagged lunch at a little place called the Back Door Saloon, home of the the Big Bad Wolf Burger — the "Best Burger in Michigan." I did not get one because it looked like a cardiac event in every mouthful, and it cost $22.00. I did get the Olive Burger, though, which was still damned big (and fairly tasty). The womenz wanted to stop in Harrison again to pick up some more cannabis, so while they bought weed, I went after a cache, but — sadly — it (and its host, an old payphone) had gone bye-bye. Sigh.
At Casa di Brugger, we hung with Del & Fern for most of the afternoon. Come dinnertime, our party headed down to Whichcraft, one of our regular Midland destinations, to meet Kim's friend, Linda; Linda's daughter, Hayley; and Hayley's new husband, Jake. After a decent dinner, we wandered over to Grape Beginnings, another of our traditional Midland hangouts. Sadly, we learned that they'll be closing their doors in the coming months. While Michigan wine may not be anyone's favorite go-to, Grape Beginnings makes some decent stuff, and we've always enjoyed our experiences there. We hate like hell to see them moving on.
Come time to leave, we stopped off at nearby Aviator Cookie Company, grabbed several absolutely incredible cookies, and returned to the homestead, where we killed cookies and downed a smidgen more wine with Del, Fern, and the Nelsons. Then it was sleepy time.
G'night!
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Terry, Beth, Old Dude (Terry said he produced the weird shadow on my
face for some anonymous requester, though I'm gonna find the culprit), Brugger, Linda, Hayley, Jake |
Sunday, September 29, 2024: Hoofin' it to Molasses and More
Unfortunately, I didn't get the best sleep last night, so I ended up staying
in a bed a bit later than usual. Once up, though, I downed a bucket of coffee,
which helped perk me up. To top it off, Del & Fern went out and grabbed a
box of donuts, which might not have been quite
Cops & Doughnuts
caliber, but they were still damned satisfying. And then I was ready to rock
& roll.
I'd been eyeing a couple of newish geocaches downtown,
and this morning seemed like a good time to go after them. The folks were keen
on going to
Molasses for
lunch, and since both the caches and the restaurant were downtown, I made up
my mind to hoof the four miles down there, hopefully snag the caches, and then
meet everyone for lunch. This plan worked out beautifully, especially since
the weather could not have been more perfect for a long walk: sunny but
relatively cool, with a consistent, comfortable breeze. It was about a
forty-minute walk on the nice, flat, mostly tree-lined roads. I saw lots of
folks putting up their outdoor Halloween decorations. My favorite moment was
encountering a little girl, probably five years old, dressed in a black
witch's costume, running around her yard and yelling, "WHO KILLED MY SISTER?
WHO KILLED MY SISTER?" This gave me a chuckle.
About halfway to my
destination, I realized I had walked off without a pen to sign the cache logs,
so I detoured to a convenience store along the way. They didn't have any pens
for sale, but the nice lady working the store gave me one of hers. I thanked
her profusely and assured her that I anticipated finding some very important
paperwork that required my signature.
And thus it was. I turned up
both caches, which were nicely placed, signed the logs, and trucked on over to
Molasses. I arrived a few minutes early, so I ordered a beer and waited for
the party. Once they arrived and we were all settled in, I enjoyed one of the
finest lunches I've had in I don't know how long. This is why Molasses
is probably my favorite BBQ restaurant anywhere: a perfect brisket platter,
with green beans, BBQ fried rice, and delicious cornbread. I think everyone
enjoyed their meals at least as much as I did.
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One of many nearby houses with the Halloween decorations going up |
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When Flamingos Attack |
A bit later, she and I headed out to Meijer for a few more provisions, and then, for the rest of the day and evening, I worked on some edits for my upcoming novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond.
A mellow evening with the folks.
Monday, September 30, 2024: Frankenmuth
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Frankenmuth's Bavarian Inn Lodge |
We rolled into Frankenmuth a few minutes past noon, and headed straight for Prost! Wine Bar & Charcuterie, where we had a nice, light lunch and a couple of glasses of wine each. Afterward, as is our custom, the womenz went shopping, Terry went barhopping, and I went geocaching. It was a target-rich area, so I put in a good couple of hours snagging numerous traditional, virtual, and Adventure Lab caches. For this spell, I put in about four miles of hoofing it, but there was a good bit more walking to come. Frankenmuth proved to be a reasonably cool place, with entertaining architecture and some appealing shops and taverns.
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Brugger and the Bear at Bronner's |
Our next destination was the famous, big-ass Bronner's Christmas Wonderland a short distance south of town — at Brugger and Beth's request, as they wanted to start looking at Christmas gifts early. A bunch of caches lurked around this place too, so I set right to it. I put in another couple of miles on foot over the next hour, not to mention snagged another cool bunch of caches. Once I was done, I went into this gigantic store, not quite sure what to expect. Lord have mercy, if I were ever to work in this place, I'm quite sure it would put me off Christmas permanently. It's thousands of square feet of glittering Christmas trees, ornaments, and knick-knacks, with loops of Christmas music playing constantly. Gaudy without being tasteful. Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Christmas. Seriously, I do. But in its traditional season and in reasonable portions. This could be the very place that prompted Charlie Brown to lament the gross commercialization of Christmas.
But whatever. If you like this kind of thing, then you like it, and that's perfectly fine. I don't claim to have the world's finest taste in anything. And Brugger found a handful of things she liked and planned to give as gifts. They really are nice.
From there, we drove back to Midland. At Del & Fern's, I sawed down some problematic branches from one of their trees in the backyard. Terry clipped the large cuttings into small cuttings and smushed them into refuse containers to be dumped later. Following the manual labor, we sought dinner at Entré Amigos Mexican Restaurant, where we dove into a massive Mexican feast, complete with top-shelf margaritas. It was my first time at this place, and I foresee it becoming a new Midland tradition.
Once back at Casa di Brugger, we set about packing up for our return trip home, which begins in the morning. Then...the mellow evening with the folks.
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Holz-Brücke Covered Bridge |
I took a fairly lengthy walk around the downtown area and gathered information for a couple of EarthCaches. Afterward, for dinner, we picked up some Asian food from nearby Ichiban II Hibachi Steakhouse (which, on my first visit here, a few years ago, was a Mexican/Italian restaurant that actually had delicious food). Then we watched The Mothman Prophecies, as seemed only proper, which we have on our regular Halloween rotation anyway. Though it takes great liberties with the actual Mothman legend, it's one of my favorite creepy films.
The vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance followed. I don't imagine it swayed anyone to any great degree, but its civility and focus on issues rather than personalities was a refreshing change from the exhausting, nonsensical orange baboon noise.
After that, bedtime, and in the morning, we'll set out on the final leg of our trip home. It's been a wonderful week-plus for our little troupe. We were so fortunate to have been spared the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene; our house/cat sitter told us our house is fine, for which I'm immensely thankful. The effect it's had on so many people is almost beyond belief.
Until the next time...
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Our Point Pleasant AirB&B |
Lovely Mothman decor!
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| Lil Mothman Dude! |
